Editing ACT UP (section)

===Women and the CDC's AIDS Definition===
Following their participation in the Cosmopolitan protest, ACT UP's Women's Caucus targeted the Center for Disease Control for its narrow definition of what constituted HIV/AIDS. While causes of HIV transmission, like unprotected vaginal or anal sex, were similar among both men and women, the symptoms of the virus varied greatly. As historian Jennifer Brier noted, "for men, full-blown AIDS often caused [[Kaposi's sarcoma]], while women experienced bacterial pneumonia, pelvic inflammatory disease, and cervical cancer." Since the CDC's definition did not account for such symptoms as a result of AIDS, American women in the 1980s were often diagnosed with AIDS Related Complex (or ARC) or HIV. "In this process," Brier explained, "these women effectively were denied the Social Security benefits that men with AIDS had fought hard to secure, and won, in the late 1980s."<ref>Brier 2009, p. 173.</ref>
In October 1990, attorney Theresa McGovern filed suit representing 19 New Yorkers who claimed they were unfairly denied disability benefits because of the CDC's narrow definition of AIDS. At an October 2, 1990, protest to raise attention for McGovern's lawsuit, two hundred ACT UP protesters gathered in Washington and chanted "How many more have to die before you say they qualify," and carried posters to the rally with the tagline "Women Don't Get AIDS/ They Just Die From It."<ref name = brier174>Brier 2009, p. 174.</ref>
The CDC's initial reaction to calls of the revising the AIDS definition included setting the threshold of AIDS for both men and women at a T cell count of under 200. However, McGovern dismissed this suggestion. "Lots of women who show up at hospitals don't get T cells taken. No one knows they have HIV. I knew how many of our clients were dying of AIDS and not counted."  Rather, McGovern, along with the ACLU and the New Jersey Women and AIDS Network, called for adding fifteen conditions to the list of the CDC's surveillance case definition, which was eventually adopted in January 1993. Six months later, the Clinton administration revised federal criteria for evaluating HIV status and making it easier for women with AIDS to secure Social Security benefits.<ref>Laurence 1997, p. 148-149</ref> The Women's Caucus's role in altering the CDC's definition helped to not only drastically increase availability of federal benefits to American women, but helped uncover a more accurate number of HIV/AIDS infected women in the United States; "under the new model, the number of women with AIDS in the United States increased almost 50 percent."<ref name = brier174/>

Members of the ACT UP Women's Caucus collectively authored a handbook for two teach-ins held prior to the 1989 CDC demonstration, where ACT UP members learned about issues motivating the action. The handbook, edited by [[Maria Maggenti]], formed the basis for the ACT UP/New York Women and AIDS Book Group's book titled Women, AIDS and Activism, edited by Cynthia Chris and Monica Pearl, and assembled by Marion Banzhaf, Kim Christensen, Alexis Danzig, Risa Denenberg, [[Zoe Leonard]], Deb Levine, Rachel (Sam) Lurie, [[Catherine Gund|Catherine Saalfield (Gund)]], Polly Thistlethwaite, Judith Walker, and Brigitte Weil.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The ACT UP women's caucus: women and AIDS handbook|last1=Rosenblum|first1=Illith|last2=Maggenti|first2=Maria|last3=ACT UP (Organization)|date=1989|publisher=AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power|location=New York, N.Y.|language=en|oclc = 23144032}}</ref> The book was published in Spanish in 1993 titled La Mujer, el SIDA, y el Activismo.<ref>{{Cite book|title=La mujer, el SIDA y el activismo|last1=Banzhaf|first1=Marion|last2=ACT UP (Organization)|last3=New York Women and AIDS Book Group|date=1993|publisher=South End Press|isbn=0896084558|location=Boston, Mass.|language=es|oclc = 32616186}}</ref> Members of the original Women and AIDS Handbook Group included Amy (Jamie) Bauer, Heidi Dorow, Ellen Neipris, [[Ann Northrop]], Sydney Pokorney, Karen Ramspacher, [[Maxine Wolfe]], and Brian Zabcik.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}