That was a funny time for the New York City Police. Not only were they caught entirely unprepared by the emergence of video recorders, but ACT-UP had simply created a more sophisticated activist. The cops were not at all happy with the legal observers, and general preparedness of these new protesters.

On the other hand, the cops were slightly less inclined to beat the shit out of them, because ACTUP training emphasized that the cops were not the enemy, just the prop against which to be photographed. In civil disobedience training we were trained to think of the cops as neutral, and not go the sixties route of making them the enemy. We were in a battle to change public opinion, not win a battle with armed police.

They still had to confiscate Clayton Patterson's video tape and
conveniently "lost" the film while it was in evidence. Because they beat the shit out of a lot of people for no other reason than that they had always done it that way. But as someone who was a bit part of protests then and now, ACT-UP played a role in changing the game as well. Nice piece, Choire!

I can assure you, Cincinnati is NOT more awesome than you remember. I was arrested once for standing on the sidewalk in front of a gay bar at 2 am. It is a town run by right wing hoo-has who never fail to make the city a laughingstock every few years; arresting the curator of the Contemporary Arts Center, dragging him out of the Mapplethorpe opening in handcuffs. Blowing up their local abortion clinic so that the beautiful second empire house that planned Parenthood once occupied could be replaced by a hugely efficient, prison-like abortion factory. Wasting millions on the Larry Flynt witchhunt, the Mapplethorpe trial... believe me I could go on. Thanks Cincinnati! The city teeters on insolvency while the sports stadiums thrive. The long suffering citizens just roll their eyes and carry on with self deprecating humor. But most of the people I grew up with there got the hell out. They're hostile to art, to culture, and patricularly to the gays, who can be relied upon to bring out the base whenever a gay rights or gay marriage issue is at the polls. There is fun to be had there in spite of all this, I guess, but awesome...NO.