This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day. I'm Gay Bluesiay, And today we're looking at a one of a kind protest from the early nineteen nineties, the day when a huge fabric condom rose above the house of a sitting senator. The day was September fifth, nineteen ninety one. A group of protesters draped a giant, inflatable condom over the home of North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. The goal of the unusual demonstration was to protest Republican lawmakers, Helms in particular, who were vehemently opposed to gay rights and to funding AIDS research and treatments. To help get their point across, the group's sdenseled a message in big block letters on the front of the fabric condom. It read, quote, a condom to stop unsafe politics. Helms is deadlier than a virus. During his thirty year career in the Senate, Jesse Helms was known for his hard edged conservatism and his dogged efforts to block any legislation he opposed. This earned him the nickname Senator No, and Helms took great pride in living up to it. As North Carolina's Senator, he said no to all sorts of things, including civil rights, foreign aid, affirmative action, tax increases, a woman's right to choose, and even modern art. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Helms was most provocative on subjects of race and homosexuality. In nineteen eighty three, he was the only Senator to vote against making Martin Luther King Junior's birthday a national holiday, and he even led a sixteen day a filibuster to try to stop the measure from passing. Less than a decade later, Helms fought just as strongly to block federal spending on HIV research, treatment, and prevention. He called the LGBT community quote perverted human beings and insisted that they were to blame for the AIDS crisis due to their quote deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct. In nineteen eighty eight, Helms turned his fiery rhetoric into legislation by introducing an amendment that would prohibit the use of any federal funds to quote promote, encourage, or condone homosexual activities. It passed with only two objections in the Senate and just forty seven no votes in the House. It's hard to gauge the true impact of the so called Helm's Amendment, but it's reasonable to think that some people may not have gotten sick or died if they had been able to learn about safe section practices from the government's HIV prevention campaign. Thousands of Americans wrote protest letters condemning the Helm's Amendment and the government's general disregard for the HIV AIDS crisis. Then, in the summer of nineteen ninety one, AIDS activist Peter Staley decided to take the fight to Helm's own doorstep. The group he had co founded, act UP, was about to launch a new AIDS organization that would focus solely on spurring the development and approval of anti HIV medications. This new affiliate was called the Treatment Action Group, or TAG, and Staley wanted to announce its arrival by staging an eye catching act of civil disobedience. As one of the most vocal opponents of their cause, Senator Helms was an obvious target, and it didn't take Staley long to hit on the idea of covering his house in a condom as the activists later recalled a supposed public servant had contributed to the death of my friends and was standing in the way of fighting the disease. Someone needed to confront him to make him uncomfortable. My goal was to criticize him and get people to laugh at him at the same time. So I dreamed big, a big condom, that is. Staley put together a team, which he called the tag Helm seven, and with the help of a gay friend who worked in the Senate, they were able to find out the senator's home address. It was a two story brick colonial home in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Virginia. The team took a reconnaissance trip to see it in person so that they could better estimate how large a condom they would need to cover it. Once they had worked out the dimensions, Staley reached out to several novelty companies, the kind that make those big inflatable animals that you might find outside a car dealership. Estimates for the custom condom ranged from third twenty five hundred dollars to fifteen thousand dollars, all of which was well beyond the price range of the newly minted group. In the end, It was legendary record executive and film producer David Geffen who footed the bill for the condom. Staley's boyfriend at the time was good friends with Geffen, and after sharing their plans with him, Geffen handed them a thick wad of cash and warned them to be careful. Shortly after, the team placed in order for a thirty five hundred dollars inflatable condom to be made from the same material as a parachute. Once it arrived from California, they took it to an act up member's country home in upstate New York so that they could practice unfurling it and blowing it up. Then they stencil painted their biting message onto the front and headed to northern Virginia. The protesters scheduled their demonstration for September fifth, nineteen ninety one, during the Senate's summer recess. They purposely chose a date when Senator Helms was out of town, and they even knocked on his door the night beforehand to confirm that no one was home. The tag team also told CNN and all the local TV stations that they were planning to cover a US senator's home with a condom. They wouldn't say who the target was, though. Instead they had the press meet them at their Virginia motel and then followed their rented U haul truck to the mystery senator's home. Once they arrived, everyone sprang into action. A few of the team members scrambled up a twenty eight foot extension ladder and began unpacking the condom from a duffel bag. They laid out the enormous prophylactic and connected it to a large blower with a custom built stand made just for Helm's roof. Other team members pinned the bottom of the condom to the grass below using plastic stakes and rubber mallets. Then they plugged the long extension cord into a portable generator and cheered with the light as the giant condom rose into the air. It covered the entire roof and the front of the house, standing nearly thirty five feet tall at full length. The first police car arrived just a few minutes after the condom was fully inflated. The participants expected to be arrested on the spot, but much to their surprise, they were eventually allowed to go free. The police said it was up to the Senator whether or not to press charges, and Helms ultimately declined to do so, hoping to keep the incident from becoming an even bigger news story than it was already guaranteed to be. At the police's request, the protesters took down the inflatable condom and packed it away, leaving Helms's home just the way they had found it. The group was even allowed to keep the condom, which they later donated to the one National Gay and Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles. In the end, the tag Helm seven walked away with nothing but a parking ticket, apparently they had parked their truck on the wrong side of the street. The only other thing the team had failed to account for was the presence of Helm's housekeeper. It was later discovered that she had spent a rather confusing morning trapped inside the house, unable to get out until the condom was removed. Later that evening, TV stations across the country covered the incident, sharing the group's rebuke of Senator Helms and demonstrating the playful side of political activism. As for Helms, he responded about as you'd expect. He complained about the stunt on the Senate floor and denounced the perpetrators as quote radical homosexuals. Still, he never did press charges, and more importantly, he never passed another harmful aid's amendment. And while we can't say for certain that the giant inflatable condom caused him to back down, well it probably didn't hurt. I'm Gabe Blues Gay and hopefully you now know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class

This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day. I'm Gay Bluesiay, And today we're looking at a one of a kind protest from the early nineteen nineties, the day when a huge fabric condom rose above the house of a sitting senator. The day was September fifth, nineteen ninety one. A group of protesters draped a giant, inflatable condom over the home of North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. The goal of the unusual demonstration was to protest Republican lawmakers, Helms in particular, who were vehemently opposed to gay rights and to funding AIDS research and treatments. To help get their point across, the group's sdenseled a message in big block letters on the front of the fabric condom. It read, quote, a condom to stop unsafe politics. Helms is deadlier than a virus. During his thirty year career in the Senate, Jesse Helms was known for his hard edged conservatism and his dogged efforts to block any legislation he opposed. This earned him the nickname Senator No, and Helms took great pride in living up to it. As North Carolina's Senator, he said no to all sorts of things, including civil rights, foreign aid, affirmative action, tax increases, a woman's right to choose, and even modern art. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Helms was most provocative on subjects of race and homosexuality. In nineteen eighty three, he was the only Senator to vote against making Martin Luther King Junior's birthday a national holiday, and he even led a sixteen day a filibuster to try to stop the measure from passing. Less than a decade later, Helms fought just as strongly to block federal spending on HIV research, treatment, and prevention. He called the LGBT community quote perverted human beings and insisted that they were to blame for the AIDS crisis due to their quote deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct. In nineteen eighty eight, Helms turned his fiery rhetoric into legislation by introducing an amendment that would prohibit the use of any federal funds to quote promote, encourage, or condone homosexual activities. It passed with only two objections in the Senate and just forty seven no votes in the House. It's hard to gauge the true impact of the so called Helm's Amendment, but it's reasonable to think that some people may not have gotten sick or died if they had been able to learn about safe section practices from the government's HIV prevention campaign. Thousands of Americans wrote protest letters condemning the Helm's Amendment and the government's general disregard for the HIV AIDS crisis. Then, in the summer of nineteen ninety one, AIDS activist Peter Staley decided to take the fight to Helm's own doorstep. The group he had co founded, act UP, was about to launch a new AIDS organization that would focus solely on spurring the development and approval of anti HIV medications. This new affiliate was called the Treatment Action Group, or TAG, and Staley wanted to announce its arrival by staging an eye catching act of civil disobedience. As one of the most vocal opponents of their cause, Senator Helms was an obvious target, and it didn't take Staley long to hit on the idea of covering his house in a condom as the activists later recalled a supposed public servant had contributed to the death of my friends and was standing in the way of fighting the disease. Someone needed to confront him to make him uncomfortable. My goal was to criticize him and get people to laugh at him at the same time. So I dreamed big, a big condom, that is. Staley put together a team, which he called the tag Helm seven, and with the help of a gay friend who worked in the Senate, they were able to find out the senator's home address. It was a two story brick colonial home in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Virginia. The team took a reconnaissance trip to see it in person so that they could better estimate how large a condom they would need to cover it. Once they had worked out the dimensions, Staley reached out to several novelty companies, the kind that make those big inflatable animals that you might find outside a car dealership. Estimates for the custom condom ranged from third twenty five hundred dollars to fifteen thousand dollars, all of which was well beyond the price range of the newly minted group. In the end, It was legendary record executive and film producer David Geffen who footed the bill for the condom. Staley's boyfriend at the time was good friends with Geffen, and after sharing their plans with him, Geffen handed them a thick wad of cash and warned them to be careful. Shortly after, the team placed in order for a thirty five hundred dollars inflatable condom to be made from the same material as a parachute. Once it arrived from California, they took it to an act up member's country home in upstate New York so that they could practice unfurling it and blowing it up. Then they stencil painted their biting message onto the front and headed to northern Virginia. The protesters scheduled their demonstration for September fifth, nineteen ninety one, during the Senate's summer recess. They purposely chose a date when Senator Helms was out of town, and they even knocked on his door the night beforehand to confirm that no one was home. The tag team also told CNN and all the local TV stations that they were planning to cover a US senator's home with a condom. They wouldn't say who the target was, though. Instead they had the press meet them at their Virginia motel and then followed their rented U haul truck to the mystery senator's home. Once they arrived, everyone sprang into action. A few of the team members scrambled up a twenty eight foot extension ladder and began unpacking the condom from a duffel bag. They laid out the enormous prophylactic and connected it to a large blower with a custom built stand made just for Helm's roof. Other team members pinned the bottom of the condom to the grass below using plastic stakes and rubber mallets. Then they plugged the long extension cord into a portable generator and cheered with the light as the giant condom rose into the air. It covered the entire roof and the front of the house, standing nearly thirty five feet tall at full length. The first police car arrived just a few minutes after the condom was fully inflated. The participants expected to be arrested on the spot, but much to their surprise, they were eventually allowed to go free. The police said it was up to the Senator whether or not to press charges, and Helms ultimately declined to do so, hoping to keep the incident from becoming an even bigger news story than it was already guaranteed to be. At the police's request, the protesters took down the inflatable condom and packed it away, leaving Helms's home just the way they had found it. The group was even allowed to keep the condom, which they later donated to the one National Gay and Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles. In the end, the tag Helm seven walked away with nothing but a parking ticket, apparently they had parked their truck on the wrong side of the street. The only other thing the team had failed to account for was the presence of Helm's housekeeper. It was later discovered that she had spent a rather confusing morning trapped inside the house, unable to get out until the condom was removed. Later that evening, TV stations across the country covered the incident, sharing the group's rebuke of Senator Helms and demonstrating the playful side of political activism. As for Helms, he responded about as you'd expect. He complained about the stunt on the Senate floor and denounced the perpetrators as quote radical homosexuals. Still, he never did press charges, and more importantly, he never passed another harmful aid's amendment. And while we can't say for certain that the giant inflatable condom caused him to back down, well it probably didn't hurt. I'm Gabe Blues Gay and hopefully you now know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class