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AIDS and the March on Washington
(Compiled from News sources)
On Aril 24, the Saturday prior to the 1993
March on Wasington, an estimated 30,000 people
linked arms to surround the Capitol to demand
that federal legislators improve their response to
the epidemic of AIDS. On the eve of the landmark
demonstration for the civil rights of lesbians and
gay men, the protest was a clear sign that People
With AIDS were not to be forgottea
Arm in arm, four and five deep, the demon
strators faced away from the capitol. They were
turning their backs on Congress which has turned
its back on the epidemic.
Almost 2,000 new panels were added to the
AIDS Memorial Quilt in a solemn ceremony at the
Washington Monument. The Quilt, which was
first displayed in the same location at the 1987
March, now has over 25,000 panels to commemo
rate those who have died from AIDS.
Many of the marchers were easily identified as
People With AIDS. Their wheelchairs and IV medi
cations were stark reminders that the epidemic still
rages on within the gay community. Many others
were not so readily identified, but had to make
arrangements for medications which had to be
refrigerated. In subtle and not so subtle ways,
AIDS was very much a part of the March.
Red ribbons, the symbol of AIDS awareness
decorated many of the marchers. T-shirt after T-
shirt contributed to the commitment of the march
ers not to forget the epidemic.
At the rally for the March, speaker after
speaker rallied the audience to continue their fight
against AIDS.
Phil Wilson, representing AIDS Project Los
Angeles and the Black Gay and Lesbian Leader
ship Forum, mentioned Rustin, the black gay man
who masterminded the 1963 march on Washing
ton, D.C., which made Martin Luther King, Jr.
such a part of history. Still referring to that march,
he slated that he, "was a part of that dream... we
are a part of that dream."
Wilson went on to talk about President
Clinton's message which included gay men and
lesbians as a part of his vision for America. Wilson
confronted the crowd with the the question of
whether or not they considered their brothers and
sisters who had HIV a part of this vision.
Michael Callan, the author of Surviving AIDS,
the founder of the PWA Coalition and the lead
singer of the Flirtations, sang Love don't need a
reason, with its haunting lyric, "Love is all we have
for now. What we don't have is time."
Casselberry & Dupree sang about "Living in
the age of AIDS."
Patti Austin performed a song about AIDS
called We're all in this together.
David Mixner, a senior advisor to President
Clinton, talked about seeing, "a day where we cute
illness, not punish it." He continued to orate and
said that those who died—"the litany of our dead"
— inspired this march.
Larry Kramer, the controversial playwright
and novelist who founded the Gay Men's Health
Crisis and ACT-UP, was in his usual fine form,
scolding everything in sight.
"Time is being pissed away," cried Kramer. He
denounced President Clinton for, "saying all the
right things, but doing nothing." He questioned
Hilary Rodham Clinton for not having an AIDS
expert consulting on her health care reform panel.
He attacked Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna Shalala as "Donna Do Nothing." Earlier in
the week, he had carried a sign saying the same
thing in a meeting Shalala conducted with AIDS
activists.
He scorned the National Institutes of Health as
a limited source of invention and cures.
"Embrace the danger of life," Larry Kramer
said before uttering the motto he made famous, "Act
up! Fight back! Fight AIDS!"
From the U.S. House of Representatives, the
Democrat from California, Nancy Pelosi, was cho
sen to read President Clinton's message to the
matchers. Before reading the letter, she mentioned
how hard hit by AIDS her San Fransisco district was.
Over 10,000 have perished in her district. Her
assistant died of AIDS the weekend before the
March on Washington.
The March on Washington was more than a
commitment to the civil rights of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendeted people. It was also a
solemn reminder that AIDS continues to be an
epidemic which requires the attention and activism
of these communities.V
.iving with HIV?
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