In Memory of Jesse Helms, and The Condom On His House

[JackBeck]

Peter's POZ Blog
Founder & Advisory Editor, AIDSmeds.com

On September 5th, 1991, I put a giant condom over Jesse Helms’ house.

Why? Because, as the condom said, “Helms is deadlier than a virus.” Senator Jesse Helms was one of the chief architects of AIDS-related stigma in the U.S. He fought against any federal spending on HIV research, treatment or prevention. He once said, referring to homosexuals, “it's their deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct that is responsible for the disease.” Here’s another choice one: “There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy.”

By saying words like this on the floor of the Senate, Helms gave a veil of legitimacy to every parent who threw their HIV positive kid out of the house. ACT UP New York was filled with angry young men who experienced this kind of Helms-related hatred.

He proposed and passed laws that are still on the books, enshrining this stigma as official government policy. People with HIV couldn’t travel to the U.S. The CDC was not permitted to spend money on preventing the spread of HIV among gay men. Our country never launched a single well-funded HIV prevention campaign because of Jesse Helms. To this day, fifty thousand Americans become infected each year in no small part due to “Senator No”.

In the summer of 1991, it was bugging me that gay and AIDS activists had largely left him alone. Sure, there were thousands of angry words said and written excoriating the man for his hate-filled agenda, but no one got up-close-and-personal with a response. We needed to send a proverbial shot across his bow.

One of the best tools an activist can use is humor. If you can get folks laughing at your target’s expense, you diminish his power. I wanted the country to have a good laugh at Helms’ expense. I wanted his fellow senators to have a little chuckle behind his back. And I wanted Senator Helms to realize that his free ride was up – if he hit us again, we’d hit back.

Much more on the planning and execution of the event, as well as raw footage at Helm's house at:

http://blogs.poz.com/peter/archives/2008/07/in_memory_of_je.html

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bngtgTwvKcE&eurl=http://blogs.poz.com/peter/archives/2008/07/in_memory_of_je.html

[JackBeck]

1. Edited: To add picture. n/t