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After Peter Staley gave an abridged account of his life and accomplishments, the topic of conversation turned to the present and future.
He was conflicted as to whether ACT UP would have the success it did if it started in today's social and political climate.
A poll conducted at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis showed that 80% of Americans agreed that the U.S. should spend more money on AIDS research.
"You can't do that now," Staley said, referencing getting 80% of Americans to agree on anything.
Staley invoked the Black Lives Matter movement in describing how he thought American society would react to ACT UP now: The group would have been branded a "threat" by conservative media, he said.
Even in his current work in PrEP4All, Staley finds it hard to stay positive sometimes.
"We're in an age of frustrated optimism," he said.
Many of the people he works with are in their 20s and 30s, and though his viewpoint trends toward the pessimistic, he said he is inspired by the drive of the youngsters he works with.
"Ultimately, we need vaccines and a cure [for HIV]," he said.
He is "sticking with" his guess from several years ago that a vaccine will be available by 2030.
Then Staley fielded questions from the audience, the first of which was about his feelings on social media.
"Social media became a great activist tool," at its inception, Staley said.
ACT UP would have to plan demonstrations way in advance, but with social media, groups could organize in an afternoon.
A drawback, however, is that groups don't strategize as much for demonstrations anymore, he said.
ACT UP's demonstrations would be unified in messaging, from the slogans on actual picket signs, to the chants the crowd would shout, to the actual actions of the group.
Staley said that, even with applications like Zoom, organizers have a harder time picking up on the emotional temperature of the room.
For example, he said, if a group wanted to stage a demonstration at Penn College, it would be easy to pick up on a subtle groan if someone suggested protesting outside the president's office. If another in the room pitched the idea of painting something on campus bright-red in protest, a few interested "oohs" and "aahs" would be enough to get the ball rolling on making that vision a reality.
Another question Staley answered was about the current "culture war" that conservatives across the country are waging on the LGBTQ+ community, especially against transgender kids.
Staley called the "pendulum swing" a bit "frightening." But then he said that he was "encouraged" by the unity shown in the LGBTQ+ community when the Trump administration started going after transgender Americans way back in 2017.
"I think the pendulum swing is looking pretty pathetic..." he said.
"We will win this."
The final question Staley considered was about the current "face" of HIV diagnoses -- specifically, how that face is becoming less white
Staley said that even at its inception, ACT UP had a bit of a diversity problem: An estimated 80% of the members were gay white men, while 7% at most were people of color.
He emphasized the need for other HIV stories to be told, and he was encouraged by the emergence of shows like "Pose" that are "correcting" the narrative of HIV in America today.