Editing ACT UP (section)

==={{anchor|"Stop the Church"}}"Stop the Church"===
{{main|Stop the Church}}
{{See also|Anti-Catholicism in the United States}}
ACT UP disagreed with Cardinal [[John O'Connor (cardinal)|John Joseph O'Connor]] on the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York|Roman Catholic Archdiocese]]'s public stand against [[safe sex]] education in New York City Public Schools, [[condom]] distribution, the Cardinal's public condemnation of homosexuality, as well as the Church's opposition to [[abortion]]. This led to the first Stop the Church protest on December 10, 1989, at [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York]].<ref name="ACTUPNY"/><ref name=pose/><ref name=crouch/>{{sfn|Faderman|2015|p=434}}

Originally, the plan was just to be a "die-in" during the homily but it descended into "pandemonium."<ref name=pose/> A few dozen activists interrupted Mass, chanted slogans, blew whistles, "kept up a banchee screech," chained themselves to pews, threw condoms in the air, waved their fists, and lay down in the aisles to stage a "die-in."<ref name=Wages/>{{sfn|Faderman|2015|pp=433-435}}<ref name=Hunter>{{cite book |last=Hunter |first=James Davison |title=Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America |publisher=Basic Books |date=1991 |page=153 |isbn=978-0975372500}}</ref><ref name=pose/><ref name=plague1>{{cite podcast |url= https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/01/surviving-aids-crisis-gay-catholic |title= Surviving the AIDS crisis as a gay Catholic |website= Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS & the Catholic Church  |publisher=[[America (magazine)|America]] |host= Michael O'Loughlin |date= 1 December 2019|access-date= 10 January 2019}}</ref> While O'Connor went on with mass, activists stood up and announced why they were protesting.{{sfn|Faderman|2015|p=434}} One protester, "in a gesture large enough for all to see,"{{sfn|Faderman|2015|pp=434-435}} [[Host desecration|desecrated the Eucharist]] by spitting it out of his mouth, crumbling it into pieces, and dropping them to the floor.<ref name=rude/><ref name=keane/><ref name="ACTUPNY"/><ref name=Wages/><ref name=scalia/><ref name=carroll/><ref name=plague1/>{{excessive citations inline|date=September 2022}}

One hundred and eleven protesters were arrested, including 43 inside the church.<ref name=Sindelar>{{cite web|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/before-pussy-riot-act-up-confronted-church-and-won/24668230.html|title=Decades Before Pussy Riot, U.S. Group Protested Catholic Church -- And Got Results|author=Daisy Sindelar|date=2012-08-06|publisher=Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty}}</ref> Some who refused to move had to be carried out of the church on stretchers.<ref name=pose/> The protests were widely condemned by public and church officials, members of the public, the mainstream media, and some in the gay community.<ref name=carroll/>