Gerri Wells, a veteran activist for LGBTQ, feminist and AIDS causes in New York City and nationally, died on February 14, 2025, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. She had battled poor health for several years, including strokes and breast cancer, and succumbed to advanced heart disease, according to her daughter, Erin Wells. Wells was 70.
Wells was known for activism that dated back to the late 1980s. She was a founding member of three major progressive New York City-based organizations: ACT UP, the iconic AIDS activist group; Housing Works, which lobbies for housing people with AIDS; and the Pink Panther Patrol, a street group that fought gay bashing.
Gerri Wells was born September 25, 1954, in Inwood, New York, to Gerard Wells and Bridget (Coady) Weldon. After graduating from George Washington High School, Wells briefly served in the 1970s as a New York City Police Department officer in the Child Abuse unit. In 1979, Wells started her own business. Lady Contractors was an anomaly in the male-dominated field, and was committed to hiring women and gay men.
When Wells’ brother Easton contracted HIV in the mid-1980s, she was a constant presence at his hospital bed, lobbying for proper care at a time when staff would leave meals outside the door. Easton Wells died of AIDS complications in 1988 at age 36, prompting Gerri to become a full-fledged AIDS activist.
“She turned her immense grief into political action,” her daughter recalled.
Wells became a member of the Mayor’s Police Council and lobbied to end institutional homophobia towards LGBTQ people. Working with the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, Wells delivered sensitivity training workshops at police precincts across the city. She regularly took the role of primary negotiator with police captains during ACT UP demos. Wells was arrested 19 times at protests.
Motivated by the negligence suffered by her dying brother, as well as ongoing discrimination, Wells led ACT UP protests at St. Vincent’s Hospital, the West Village institution regarded as “ground zero” of the city’s AIDS epidemic. The demonstrations resulted in sit-down negotiations with management and ultimately policy improvements for treating LGBTQ and AIDS patients.
In the fall of 1988, Wells joined ACT UP members who traveled through the American South to raise AIDS awareness. The Gay and Lesbian Freedom Ride displayed AIDS Quilt panels in towns with blackouts on AIDS education and prevention measures. The group faced numerous death threats in their month-long journey and required FBI protection.
In 1990, Wells co-founded the Pink Panther Patrol, which she named to honor the Black Panthers and Grey Panthers. Armed with walkie-talkies and whistles, volunteers patrolled the East and West Villages to respond to a trend of gay bashings which police were regularly ignoring. When MGM Studios, owner of the “Pink Panther” cartoon franchise, sued for copyright infringement, they changed their name to Outwatch.
She was part of the ACT UP Women’s Caucus, devoted to correcting erroneous government policy that insisted women do not contract HIV. The caucus released a handbook of medical research. After relentless lobbying, they persuaded the Centers for Disease Control in 1992 to redefine the definition of AIDS to include women with HIV, which meant sufferers finally could secure proper medical care.
Gerri Wells was admired for both her toughness and her big heart. Annually she would dress as Santa Claus and visit the AIDS ward at St. Vincent’s Hospital. She opened her East Village home to troubled neighborhood teens. She later moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, to care for her aging father and remained there after his death.
In addition to her daughter, Erin Wells, Wells is survived by nephews Gerard, Edward and Nick Rodriguez, as well as a tribe of family-like friends across the globe.
Arrangements were handled by Hancock Funeral Home in Philadelphia. A celebration of Gerri Wells was held on February 23 at Henrietta Hudson in the West Village, drawing scores of people from the activist community and beyond.
