ACT UP at 40 Calendar Launch: A celebration of 40 years of resistance and collective power!
Sunday 15th November 7-9pm, at Category Is Books, 34 Allison Street, Govanhill, Glasgow, G42 8NN
In 2027, ‘AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power’ (ACT UP) turns 40. To mark four decades of radical HIV/AIDS activism, Category Is Books will launch the ACT UP at 40: Celebrating Resistance and Demanding Healthcare for All — Calendar 2027, bringing together previously unseen photographs and footage from ACT UP chapters around the world alongside daily reminders of protest. The launch will be accompanied by a conversation with activists, photographers and filmmakers who documented and participated in the early years of ACT UP in Edinburgh and Glasgow and a new generation of organisers to ask: What can ACT UP teach us now? Followed by Queer Herstory Quiz in Adrian’s Bar.
Calendars will be on sale for the first time!
The night is dedicated to Antar - a Palestinian rapper lost to the Israeli genocide by and medical apartheid.
Buy yours now - please state your name and contact clearly when you purchase.
Purchase yours here at Etsy for £15.00 RRP (Recommended Retail Price) + P+P - available for posting mid-October.
Tickets are donation based and there are very limited spaces - all profits go to support the calendar tour and the ‘Fund Healthcare Not Warfare’ international demo in 2027.
ABOUT ACT UP
“Plague! We are in the middle of a fucking plague … what are we gonna do about it?” Larry Kramer demanded at the New York LGBT+ Centre on 10 March 1987. Hundreds gathered that day to establish ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power: united in anger and committed to non-violent direct action to end the AIDS crisis.
Forty years on, that urgency still reverberates. As cuts to HIV and AIDS funding put millions of lives at risk, the answer remains the same: ACT UP until there is healthcare for all.
This calendar brings together ACT UP chapters — old, new and newly reactivated — from around the world. It celebrates the extraordinary diversity of our creative activism and the power of our insurrectionary imaginations: from mass die-ins in Trafalgar square and pharmaceutical occupations to political funerals and ashes thrown over the White House gates.
ACT UP has saved countless lives and shown what people power can achieve. This calendar is an international kaleidoscope of that history, creativity and resistance — and an invitation to pass the flame on.
ABOUT CATEGORY IS BOOKS
Category Is Books is an independent queer bookshop in the southside of Glasgow. Started by Bug and Fin Duffy-Scott, we hope to create a space for the LGBTQIA+ community to learn about, be inspired by and share in our love of queer books, art, history, activism, writing and storytelling.
As queer trans people that grew up under Section 28, it wasn’t until later in life that we started to explore our own queer history and culture in more depth - discovering in the process an expansive world of books, magazines, comics, zines, films and art, created by queers - that was completely life changing. ✨ 📚✨
We were delighted to find a shopfront just round the corner from our home in Govanhill and spent a summer DIY-ing it up ourselves. The doors opened in September 2018.
Testimonials
“We are so grateful for the opportunity to be seen and share our story. The ACT UP Latina/o Caucus continues to challenge stigma and assert the visibility of LGBT Latinos.” Julian de Mayo, ACT UP Latina/o Caucus
“This calendar has connected us with ACT UP chapters across the world and strengthened our sense of pride and belonging. It has helped us understand our local history as part of an international movement fighting for four decades.” ACT UP Argentina
“Working with surviving members on this calendar reignited their pride in what they achieved, and offers a chance to share that flame with ACT UP chapters and followers around the world.” Mark Andrew, ACT UP Montreal
DRESS CODE - Dress to Celebrate!
ACCESSIBILITY - Category is Books shop is level-access for wheelchair users. Sometimes the other half of the door needs opened, but just wave and we will get over to you! We try to make sure that the main floor area of the shop always has at least 100cm between furniture items so that customers can move around easily. Most things are on castors so just shout if you need anything changed.
There are a number of seats around the shop, so please take a rest whenever you need it. We are also happy to bring books to you while sitting. We are able to give guidance, read blurbs and support anyone with visual impairment. We also keep paper and pen by the till for anyone with hearing difficulties. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make the shop more accessible for your needs, we hope we are creating an inclusive, friendly and safe space for all.