February 1, 2008
ARRESTING DEVELOPMENTS
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Oyola-Santiago and Guaylupo pre-arrest |
Last spring, during a demo marking its 20th anniversary, ACT UP showed it could still cause a ruckus: 22 protesters were arrested in a traffic-blocking die-in demanding single-payer health care. Ten months later, the last case against one of those activists, Housing Works' Johnny Guaylupo, has finally been dismissed.
Because of a minor prior conviction, Guaylupo wasn't offered an Adjourned in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD), a mild form of probation frequently offered to first-time offenders that is essentially probation without an officer. Only one of the other ACT UP demonstrators was in the same situation as Guaylupo, and her case was dismissed three months after her arrest. But Guaylupo, a 26-year-old HIV-positive activist and Housing Works case manager, has been showing up in court month after month, only to have the judge postpone his case each time. “With nothing else against him, it seems the D.A. is trying to punish Johnny with court appearances for as long as he can,” ACT UP New York's Aaron Boyle said in an e-mail to supporters before Guaylupo's final court appearance. Finally, the amount of postponements exceeded the limit allowed by law, and Wednesday the case against Guaylupo was finally dismissed.Puerto Rican pride
Despite this week’s victory, Guaylupo, who has been arrested four times for participating in civil disobedience actions, has another day in court. He was one of 12 activists arrested at a November civil disobedience demo calling attention to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) inaction regarding Puerto Rico’s AIDS crisis. At a Tuesday court appearance, the judge presiding over the case would not make ACD offers to any arrestees with prior ACDs or convictions.
The tight-knit group stuck together: None of the 12 arrestees accepted an ACD out of solidarity with those who could not receive one. All the activists return to court on April 2. Housing Works New York City Issues Organizer Tamara Oyola-Santiago was one of the protestors declining the ACD. “It’s an act of support,” she said. “We thought the judge was being unfair to check for prior ACDs and convictions.”
For Guaylupo, direct action is an essential part of the struggle to end AIDS, and court appearances are just a minor annoyance.
"I want to get other young people like me who come from poor communities to become AIDS activists. Doing direct action brings attention to the AIDS crisis," said Guaylupo, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1998 and became an activist through the Campaign to End AIDS. "I have a lot of respect for the privileged kids who go to universities, but here I am. I'm Latino, I'm gay, I'm positive. We've got to have faces from different types of populations."
Guaylupo is careful to add that he doesn’t participate in direct action because it’s fun or exciting. He believes in all the causes for which he’s been arrested. "Sometimes you just gotta feel it," he said.