The 2016 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan may be remembered as the first time an LGBT group was allowed to participate. After boycotting the parade for its exclusionary rules in previous years, New York State Governor Cuomo marched in the March 17 event.

But that didn’t mean the celebration went off for the first time without protests.

AIDS activist group ACT UP New York demonstrated at the event to pressure Governor Cuomo to fund the Blueprint to End the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in New York State by 2020. A goal of the blueprint is to reduce new HIV infections from 3,000 a year to fewer than 750.

Cuomo endorsed the plan last April, but it is unclear whether the state budget will include the $70 million required to implement the plan, even though AIDS advocates estimate the blueprint will save the state an estimated $4.5 billion in health care spending.

On Monday, March 21, Housing Works, VOCAL-NY, other AIDS activists and allies will hold a press conference and rally at noon on the steps of city hall in Manhattan to demand that Cuomo and state legislators provide funding for the blueprint.

For more info on the rally, click here.

For more about the blueprint read the POZ article “The Audacity of New York’s Hope to End AIDS.”