Disrupted then Governor Mario Cuomo’s press conference
With ACT UP, he and his mother stormed the FDA and the NIH and he disrupted then Governor Mario Cuomo’s press conference announcing his five-year AIDS plan for New York State that was going to remain unfunded for another year because of bureaucratic foot-dragging. Not one of the major New York newspapers deemed the Homecoming of his Run newsworthy but his disruption of Cuomo’s conference earned him a photo on the front page of the New York Times Metropolitan Section.
Nicholson Earle continued his AIDS activism
Following the completion of his Run around America, Nicholson Earle continued his AIDS activism by joining the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), committing his first of many acts of civil disobedience with them at Wall Street II in March of 1988.
“My Run may be finished but the race against AIDS is far from over” –Nicholson Earle
On October 31, 1987, when the Run finally returned to New York, Leighton produced a spectacular Homecoming that included a pledge run for the People With AIDS Coalition from the George Washington Bridge, to a rally in Union Square hosted by Joseph Papp and Raquel Welch and attended by more than 4,000 people. As a way of illustrating his closing remark, “My Run may be finished but the race against AIDS is far from over,” Nicholson Earle ran the New York Marathon the next day!
The American Run for the End of AIDS
March 1, 1986 - October 31, 1987
A 20-month, 9,000 mile run
by Brent Nicholson Earle
