From: SteveWard6@aol.com
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1997 01:21:14 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Stunned by Clinton's comments on AIDS

ACT UP'ers stunned by Clinton comments on AIDS
Group reminds president that actions speak louder than words
for immediate release      February 4, 1997
contact ACT UP Washington at 202.547.6780
Washington, DC -- President Clinton devoted a portion of his State of the
Union Address to the fight against AIDS, including a Presidential commitment
to finding a vaccine to the deadly disease.  Clinton has come under harsh
criticism from AIDS activists for failing to implement the promised
'Manhattan-project' for an AIDS cure.  Clinton began his address with a
familiar theme for ACT UP protesters ---"action."  

Our lives depend on 
Clinton transforming these words into real action
 States ACT UP Washington spokesperson Steve Michael, who is HIV positive,
"The President has committed to ending the threat of AIDS.  Quite frankly, I
am stunned.  Action equals life.  Silence equals death.  Our lives depend on
Clinton transforming these words into real action.  More than two million
Americans infected with HIV need a cure."

 AIDS activists remain cautious, however, noting that the President has made
this type of promise before.  Back in 1992, Bill Clinton promised to make
AIDS a top priority of his administration, including a cabinet level AIDS
Czar, targeted prevention programs including needle exchange, and an all-out
coordinated research effort to find a cure for AIDS.   

 "Clinton's four year record has been lip service, inaction, and lies.
 Clearly, the President has heard our message.  It remains to be seen whether
Bill Clinton has the character to keep his word." comments Wayne Turner, also
of ACT UP Washington, DC.

 The AIDS advocacy and protest group ACT UP has hounded Clinton since the
1992 New Hampshire primaries.  Last October, almost 1000 activists marched on
the Clinton White House and deposited the ashes of more than two dozen people
over the White House fence.  ACT UP Washington recently obtained and leaked a
copy of Clinton's National AIDS Strategy, blasting the document as a weak
rehash of five year old recommendations.  

 Michael adds, "If this is a genuine commitment, we are fully prepared to
march with this President toward a cure.  But we remind the President that
fighting AIDS means more than talking about an elusive vaccine to protect
those who are negative from those of us who are positive.  It means lifting
the federal funding ban on needle exchange.  It means drug treatment on
demand.  It means real HIV education targeting Gay and bi-sexual men.  It
means hiring a cabinet-level AIDS czar.  It means keeping your promise from
the 1992 election and implementing that Manhattan-style project to cure AIDS.

 Talk is cheap.  And the president's actions have spoken far louder than his
words tonight.  We must remember Clinton's recent attack on doctors and their
patients on the issue of medical marijuana and his firing of former Surgeon
General Elders.  Those actions speak louder than his words.  Yet, we must
remain optimistic---optimistic that the budget released on Thursday will not
require us to protest in front of the White House on Friday."