Subject: Forbes zapped: Talks about AIDS in Washington
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 12:51:44 -0500

Note:  sorry about the long cc list, aol didn't save the (  ) between names.
 Will fix that tonite.  Technology can be so complicated

for immediate release                                January 28, 1995

CONTACT Wayne Turner at 202.986.0435
from ACT UP Presidential Project

AIDS activists zap Forbes at CBS
Candidate calls for public and private efforts focusing on a "cure for AIDS
and other deadly diseases"
Today marks the first time Forbes has stated a position on AIDS

 AIDS activists from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power confronted
millionaire publisher Malcolm Stevenson Forbes today  at  a press conference
outside the CBS studios in Washington to demand to know where the candidate
stands on AIDS issues. 
 "Today marked the first time Forbes has mentioned AIDS in front of cameras..
 Any candidate for president should know the magnitude of the AIDS pandemic
and  must address the issue at every stop because AIDS is everywhere.  It is
the leading cause of death of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 44,"
states Wayne Turner of the ACT UP Presidential  Project (ACT UP/PP).
 Steve Michael adds, "It has taken us over a week to get Forbes to say AIDS.
 We now have him on record supporting an aggressive public and private AIDS
research effort.  That is a start.  We will continue to focus our efforts on
Forbes.   He is the only viable Republican  alternative to Bob Dole.  We
still need to know where the candidate stands on needle exchange, condom
distributions, the Ryan White CARE Act, as well as a Manhattan/Apollo style
project to find, fund, implement and deliver a cure to AIDS world-wide. 
 Michael adds, "ACT UP is calling on our friends at the Log Cabin Republican
Club to join us in our efforts to make AIDS a campaign issue and to use
whatever access they might have with the Forbes campaign to get the
candidates support for progressive, compassionate and comprehensive national
AIDS efforts."  He continues, " They have a unique opportunity to learn from
history and not make the mistakes that Gay Democrats did when they blindly
supported Bill Clinton four years ago."
 Allen Ritter of ACT UP believes that Forbes has a unique opportunity to win
the AIDS vote in this election.  "He should take some of those millions he
inherited from his Gay father and produce and air some hard hitting
television spots that attack the failed Clinton AIDS record.  Imagine those
HIV negative Gay Democrats inside the White House trying to respond to
commercials that remind voters of Clinton's pathetic AIDS policy.  
 ACT UP's Lin Hagood wants Forbes to "issue statements in support of our HIV
positive service members that Bill Clinton and Bob Dornan are booting out of
the military.  As a Gay Democrat I feel betrayed by my party and my
president.  In 1996 I will become a single-issue voter.  I will support the
candidate that is most willing to make AIDS a national priority.  No more
promises.  I want positive AIDS action, not broken AIDS promises.  I will no
longer vote for the lesser of two or three evils."  Hagood is typical of many
Clinton supporters the AIDS community.  More and more people are thinking
about sitting this election out.  
 While in New Hampshire last week, members of the ACT UP Presidential Project
visited the Forbes campaign headquarters in Manchester and discovered that
the campaign had no AIDS position papers.   Ritter  asked  campaign workers,
"How can a presidential candidate come to the statehouse in Concord and not
even mention AIDS? 
 Dan Sundquist, a Manchester-based AIDS prevention activist that focuses on
needle exchange and harm reduction programs confronted the Forbes campaign as
well.  "Does Forbes support the distribution of a 7 1/2 c needle to prevent a
$100,000 case of AIDS?" he asked.
 Michael concludes, " This was a win.  It is clear to us that the only way to
make any progress with any of the candidates for president is to force them
to deal with AIDS in public. HIV positive AIDS activists  must take a
leadership role in our community. Backroom deals got us an HIV immigration
ban as well as the firing of our HIV positive comrades in the military and
 Surgeon General Elders.  Promises of jobs and invitations to buffets at the
Navel Observatory made behind closed doors do nothing to save our lives.
 Those wishing to join the ACT UP Presidential Project may do so by writing
at 25 U Street NW, Washington,DC  20001-1010 calling 202.986.0435 or emailing
us at [email-masked].