NEW YORK, NY March 14, 2007 —The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is marking the 20th anniversary of ACT-UP. The radical protest group, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was founded at a lecture there in 1987. Organizers re-created that event last night. WNYC's Richard Hake reports.

REPORTER: At that meeting 20 years ago, author and playwright, Larry Kramer spoke about how HIV/AIDS was taking its toll on the gay community and Act-Up was born. The group became infamous for its protests throughout the late 80s and 90s and Kramer reflected on what they did.

KRAMER: We closed the tunnels and bridges of New York and San Francisco. Our Catholic kids stormed St. Patricks at Sunday mass and spit out Cardinal O'Connor's host. We tossed the ashes from dead bodies from their urns on the White House lawn.

REPORTER: Members, like Ann Northrop, acknowledged that their tactics were harsh, but they needed to get their message out - silence equals death.

NORTHROP: We used to think gay people were weak and wimpy and now we think gay people are strong and angry.

REPORTER: Act Up did get its message out, but according to Larry Kramer, has now lost its momentum.

KRAMER: There were 41 cases when I started, there are some 75 million right now. It takes an awful lot of help from an awful lot of enemies to rack up a tally like that.

REPORTER: Kramer challenged meeting goers to speak out once again. On the spot, the group voted and planned a march on the Army recruiting station in Times Square for Thursday. They will protest the Pentagon's top general and his comments about homosexuality being immoral. For WNYC, I'm Richard Hake.