From: AIDSVOTER@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 12:02:06 -0400 Subject: Bios of AIDS Cure Party Candidates Note to editor: Photos available (note format of choice in e-mail) About Ann Northrop Vice Presidential Candidate AIDS Cure Party Ann Northrop is a writer, lecturer, and activist on Lesbian and Gay issues and on the AIDS epidemic. She is also a veteran, award-winning journalist. Northrop, 48, is a native of Windsor, CT, and was raised in suburbs around the United States. She was a Boston debutante in the mid-60's and is a 1970 graduate of Vassar College. Northrop spent 17 years (1970-1987) working for both print and broadcast media (National Journal, ABC Sports, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News), but left mainstream journalism, fed up with its "intellectual bankruptcy." In September 1987, Northrop began work as an AIDS educator and educator on homosexuality for the Hetrick-Martin Institute for Lesbian and Gay Youth in New York City. She spent the next four years talking to high school students, teachers, social workers, police officers, corporate managers and others, doing basic education. At the same time, enraged by government, corporate, and public indifference to the AIDS epidemic, Northrop joined the direct action protest group, ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, and started participating in civil disobedience. Since 1988, Northrop has been arrested in perhaps a dozen street demonstrations, and was convicted on four misdemeanor counts for her part in the infamous demonstration inside St. Patrick's Cathedral in December 1989 (one of the first cases broadcast on Court TV). Northrop left Hetrick-Martin in 1991 and now works independently, lecturing on the college circuit. She writes a regular column for LGNY, New York City's Lesbian and Gay newspaper. She co-hosts Gay Cable Network's weekly news show, Gay USA, seen in about a dozen cities nationwide. Northrop is a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies, was a founding member of the Lesbian and Gay Alumnae of Vassar College, and was the only openly Lesbian or Gay delegate in the New York delegation to the 1992 Democratic National Convention. She was one of the organizers of Gay Games IV in 1994 in New York City and she remains active with ACT UP/New York. Northrop has received national awards for her journalism and her activism. She is featured in the books "Making History," by Eric Marcus, "Wolf Girls at Vassar," by Anne MacKay, and "Uncommon Heroes," by Philip Sherman. Steve Michael Presidential Candidate AIDS Cure Party Steve Michael is an openly Gay, HIV positive, AIDS activist. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his lover of five years, Wayne Turner. Both are active in ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. A veteran AIDS and Gay activist, Michael moved to Washington DC from Seattle in 1993 to work full time on AIDS and health care. Michael combines traditional grassroots organizing through campaigns and voter registration drives, with direct action and civil disobedience. As a founding member of ACT UP's notorious Presidential Project, Michael was instrumental in helping focus national attention on AIDS, traveling in 17 states organizing rallies, press conferences, marches and disruptions. During the 1992 presidential campaign, the ACT UP Presidential Project was successful in obtaining AIDS positions from Governor Bill Clinton, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Bob Kerrey, and Governor Jerry Brown. Amid death threats and under police protection, Michael and Turner applied for (and were denied) a marriage license in Hop Arkansas, where they also distributed condoms and HIV prevention information to high school students. Michael challenged President George Bush in Washington State's Republican Presidential Preference primary in 1992 after gathering 1000 signatures. The campaign aired uncensored television commercials that discussed the use of condoms and water-based lubricants, including a same-sex kiss between Michael and Turner. The commercial aired statewide and became the lead news story the night before the election. On July 2, 1992, Michael seized a stage belonging to billionaire Ross Perot on the steps of the Washington state capitol. Michael refused to surrender the stage until he had a meeting with Perot to discuss AIDS policy and Gay rights issues. That action garnered extensive national attention, including the next day's lead New York Times article on the presidential campaign. Michael has been involved in ACT UP Washington's prevention projects including illegal needle exchange programs. Michael was an active member of Senator Paul Wellstone's Single Payer health care coalition. Working with the Gray Panthers, Planned Parenthood as well as various religious and labor organizations, Michael helped develop media strategies and campaigns to focus national attention on the single payer alternative. Michael and Turner edit and publish DCQ, Fag Boy News. The paper targets sexually active Gay men, features news, commentaries, and HIV prevention based upon the harm reduction model. DCQ has earned the praise of leading Gay and AIDS publications and activists from across the country. Philadelphia's AuCourant says, "There's a new paper in DC, and it's the antithesis of the staid, conservative weekly Washington Blade. DCQ...it's one helluva read for activists...with packed AIDS briefs. It's angry, sexy, energetic and brings street-activism to Gay journalism." Since testing HIV positive four years ago, Michael has become a nationally recognized spokesperson on AIDS issues. His commentaries have appeared in over 25 Gay and Lesbian newspapers and many mainstream newspapers. In 1995 Michael debated Health and Human Services Secretary, Donna Shalala on CNN's Early Edition about condom availability and needle exchange. Michael, 40, chairs the Fiscal Oversight Committee of Metropolitan Washington Regional HIV Health Services Planning Council. Michael also serves on Mayor Marion Barry's Gay and Lesbian Advisory Panel. Michael has also been featured in several books about AIDS, including Protocol for a Plague by Neal Dickerson, Between Little Rock and a Hard Place by Tommi Mecca, AIDS, The Gravest Show on Earth, by Elinor Burkett, and Virtual Equality by Urvashi Vaid.