HIV Aids Activists Identified ‘Greedy Monster’ Trump YEARS Ago (VIDEO)

You probably could have predicted it.

The LGBT community has known for years that Donald Trump is a selfish, money obsessed, egomaniac. They’ve known for a long time that he is a danger to them and to every other marginalized American citizen.

It turns out that way back in 1989, activists from the HIV Aids support group ACT UP protested against the billionaire businessman at his new Trump Tower in the heart of Manhattan.

The protest took place on Halloween night that year, making the activists even more flamboyant and outrageous than a group of protesting queers usually were. One protestor was dressed as Dorothy from the movie The Wizard of Oz. He carried a sign saying:

“Surrender Donald!”

Oh, how we wish he had.

The protest at the time was focused on the huge tax breaks that the city of New York had given to Trump in order to build the glitzy Trump Tower.

ACT UP is a group of activists who work to support research and treatment for people with HIV Aids. In 1989, when the disease was in the the headlines every day, they were concerned about the stigma assigned to those who suffered from the disease. They had a reputation as loud, disruptive protestors who were unapologetic in their demand for better and faster treatments for the horrific epidemic.

They targeted Trump Tower because they saw the brash tackiness of the building as the perfect symbol of income inequality. A year earlier, in fact, on Black Friday of 1988, protestors marched at Trump Tower. They wanted to point out that as the very wealthy shopped for overpriced knicknacks, thousands of homeless people were struggling with HIV Aids.

Trump received a 6.2 million dollar tax break to help him build the upscale tower with its glitzy stores and overpriced offices and apartments. Activists were angry because a lot of vacant buildings could have been renovated to house the sick and homeless with kind of money.

Instead, the city gave a gift to Trump, the man who loves to brag about how rich he is.

So here we are, 27 years after that protest, and Donald J. Trump, the man who those activists called a “greedy monster” is now the President elect.

His Vice President elect is a man who believes in “conversion therapy”to cure homosexuality. He once referred to marriage equality as “societal collapse.”

The gay community recognized a long time ago that Donald J. Trump is a threat to everyone’s freedom, everyone’s right to be in love, everyone’s chance to share in a healthy and happy future.

I really hope that there will be a group of gay activists marching at Trump’s Inauguration.  I hope they are dressed in really flashy, feathery, glamorous outfits. I hope they make a hell of a lot of noise.

And I hope that they are marching behind a big, rainbow colored banner that reads, “We Told You So!”

Featured image via YouTube screengrab.

Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life"