In the fall of 1989, New York City resident Mark Woodley saw a Help Wanted ad in the papers: Macy's was hiring mall Santas for the holiday season. Woodley, an architect by trade, applied for the job, figuring a little holiday cheer would cheer him up as he had recently lost a good friend to HIV and was himself diagnosed with the virus. He was hired, did his duties as Santa Claus over the '89 holiday season, and went back to his normal routine. When the 1990 holidays arrived, Woodley decided to sign up again. This time Macy's asked him to take a routine medical exam a result of which he admitted to being HIV-positive and also on mental health medications. To Woodley's dismay, the doctor's attitude changed and he did not get re-hired as Santa. Macy's claimed it was because of his antidepressant meds, but he insisted it was really because he was HIV positive and filed a class action lawsuit against the department store chain.
While this was going on, Jon Winkleman, a young gay man from Rhode Island, was organizing with the AIDS activist group ACT UP when he heard about Woodley's case in the papers. He told the group they should just do something about it. On Black Friday 1991, twenty-two activists in Santa suits descended on Macy's. When they reached the cosmetics aisle they chained themselves together in a circle singing lyrics like "Santa Claus has HIV, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la/Macy’s won’t rehire he, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!" Police arrested 19 of the activists for disorderly conduct, including Winkleman. "We forced the media and the public to talk about AIDS when they really didn’t want to talk about it,” Winkleman said. “We had a sense of humor in our stuff, but the backdrop was people we loved were dying."
Woodley eventually settled with Macy's out of court and went on to play Santa at pediatric AIDS clinics in New York City. When asked for comments, the store maintained their claim that they didn't hire him because of his mental health medications. In 2011, the 30th anniversary of the protests, Macy's said they could not publicly disclose the reasons for not hiring Woodley due to the amount of time that had elapsed and because they were unable to reveal private employment details. They added that the store had long supported HIV charities, before it was commonplace.
>>18766777>>18766773>>18766774Stunning and powerful.
>>18766773>>18766774the Reagan-Bush years were a dark time for the gay community. so many souls lost to the AIDS epidemic and radical Christian fundies given tons of political influence.
>>18766773>filed a class action lawsuit against the department store chainWhy was this allowed?
>wanting your son to sit in a faggot's lapYeah I don't think so.
AIDS wasn't transmitted through drinking coffee. Just saying is all.
>>18766773AIDS discriminates against straight men
>>18766835Enjoy hell
>>18766824yeah like what the fuck. im not getting hired for any job for no good reason but you can sue for not being allowed to handle children while on meds and having aids? death to all faggots
i wouldn't want my son sitting in a faggot mall Santa's lap and neither would you
