AIDS activists stage naked protest on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON -- Seven protesters disrobed in the office of House Speaker John Boehner Tuesday afternoon as part of a staged protest against cuts to funding for AIDS programs.
Their bodies painted with slogans such as “AIDS cuts kill,” the group stood in Boehner’s office for about 20 minutes until the protest was broken up by Capitol Police, according to Sahil Kapur, a reporter for Talking Points Memo, who witnessed the protest and posted a continuous stream of tweets and photos.
“Boehner, Boehner, don’t be a ...., budget cuts will make us sick,” the group of nude men and women chanted.
Three women were arrested for lewd and indecent acts. It is unclear what happened to the men in the group, but Shennell Antrobus, a spokesman for the Capitol Police, said that “all those people that were witnessed committing violations” were arrested.
One of the protesters, Jennifer Flynn, told Kapur that the group was objecting to budget cuts that will take place under sequestration, the automatic spending reductions that could occur next year.
“People with AIDS have been stripped naked for years – Medicaid has been cut, states are [struggling] … there are waiting lists in this country where people with AIDS are dying,” Flynn said.
Another activist told Kapur that the group had also made a visit to the Democratic National Committee headquarters near Capitol Hill.
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