From: AIDSVote96@aol.com Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 18:43:47 -0500 Subject: Sold Out (749 words) If you run this...please let us know. Thanks Wayne and Steve Sold Out! by Wayne Turner and Steve Michael ACT UP, Washington DC Presidential Project What is happening in Washington, DC when the White House is writing press releases for the Gay community's supposed watchdog group the Human Rights Campaign? Marsha Scott, the Clinton Administration's heterosexual liaison to the Gay and Lesbian community, circulated a memo to her 'friends' outlining talking points to defend the President's decision to expel HIV+ servicemembers from the military. Scott proposed a lobbying effort in Congress to repeal the HIV military ban after Clinton signs it into law. This strategy would provide the Administration with sufficient political cover by shifting the blame to Congress. Scott's internal memo bears an alarming resemblance to the Human Rights Campaign's press release. DC insiders have struck a deal. The HRC is gearing up their fundraising machine to turn the HIV military ban into their latest cash cow, while spokesperson Daniel Zingale appeared on local news broadcasts exonerating Bill Clinton from this latest act of betrayal to Americans living with HIV and AIDS. AIDS is the one issue Bill Clinton has been consistent on - consistently bad. Three years ago, Clinton restricted travel for HIV+ persons and banned immigration. The same national groups did Clinton's damage control back then, without regard for the real people the ban effects. HRCF lavished praise on Attorney General Janet Reno for suspending the travel restrictions for people living with HIV during the Stonewall 25 events, but they never publicly criticized the President for signing the HIV ban into law. Meanwhile, visitors to the US are forced to smuggle in their medications, families are torn apart, and men and women continue to be deported because they are HIV positive. Every time this President has faced heat on an AIDS issue, he has sold us down the river. From the firing of Surgeon General Elders to his failure appoint a real AIDS Czar, launch the promised Manhattan/Apollo-project, and implement the recommendation of the National Commission on AIDS, President Clinton has been a consistent failure on AIDS. The lives of people with AIDS have little improved under the Clinton Presidency. Events such as last year's White House AIDS conference fail to translate into real policy. The President who two months ago vowed to fight HIV-related discrimination is now signing it into law. The President who wishes there were a cure refuses to initiate an AIDS Cure Project. We're forced to spend time, energy, and resources urging the President, who once promised universal health care, to not bargain away the thirty year old safety-net programs of Medicare and Medicaid. It took a tremendous effort to save HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS) from Administration cuts. Indeed, the only members of our community who have benefited under this administration have been the handful of Gay appointees, whose jobs are touted as proof of Clinton's commitment. The Gay political establishment is so mesmerized by their 'access' that a free buffet at Al and Tipper Gore's house is announced as an historic advance for the movement. Clearly the cocktail party, we'll-defend-you-Bill-no matter-what-you do strategy of million-dollar groups like the HRC has not yielded any tangible successes. It is unrealistic to expect any politician to deliver on commitments without constant, unrelenting pressure. Why deliver when you get praised for doing nothing? With the exception of our small, but fierce ACT UP chapter, and the National Association of People with AIDS, there are no advocates in Washington, DC willing to stand up to an Administration that is literally getting away with murder. There are approximately 1200 dedicated and hardworking men and women in the military whose lives are about to be destroyed, who will lose their jobs and lose their health care, simply because they are HIV positive. Their lives are expendable to this President, and the Gay apologists who defend him. That's why we are challenging Bill Clinton in New Hampshire and a handful of other primaries. People with AIDS matter. Promises made to people with AIDS matter. This is an election year. If holding Bill Clinton's feet to the fire on his 1992 AIDS promises makes him a better President on AIDS between now and November, then it's strategy worth trying. If Clinton continues lipservice and betrayal on AIDS, we should consider writing off this President. Our scant resources would be better focused on electing members of Congress with the backbone to stand up to the Bob Dornans of the world, rather than reelecting a spineless President who continually stabs us in the back. Donations are urgently needed to put AIDS in the national spotlight in the New Hampshire Primary. Make checks payable to the 'Steve Michael for President Campaign Committee.' 25 U Street NW, Washington, DC 20001-1010 or call 202.986.0435 for more information.