Friday, 05 June 1998 16:44

For Steve Michael, One Final Act of Protest

Written by Patrice Gaines & Peter Baker | The Washington Post
With the White House in the background, funeral participants gather near the casket of ACT UP founder Steve Michael as Michael's longtime partner and fellow activist, Wayne Turner, says goodbye. With the White House in the background, funeral participants gather near the casket of ACT UP founder Steve Michael as Michael's longtime partner and fellow activist, Wayne Turner, says goodbye. Getty Images - Jamal A. Wilson

ACT UP / Washington, DC's Steve Michael (April 7, 1956 - May 25, 1998).

To the steady, rat-a-tat-tat of a drum, the funeral procession bearing the walnut-colored casket to the White House lumbered down E Street, stopping traffic; past the Willard Hotel, where a doorman put his hat over his heart; past a park where baffled tourists stared and some took pictures; past the chauffeurs standing outside their polished limos.

"Tell me," whispered one chauffeur. "Is there a real body in there"

Inside the casket was the body of Steve Michael, founder of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), eulogized yesterday as "a soldier in the struggle for civil rights" and as "a champion of justice." Michael, 42, died May 25 of AIDS-related pneumonia.

ACT UP is known for its confrontational tactics and noisy protests, but for this one occasion participants were asked to be "disciplined and silent."

"I want to emphasize we have lost a voice, a very important voice," said activist Wayne Turner, 33, Michael's longtime partner.

Michael earned respect from political insiders and grass-roots outsiders for his frank style and commitment in his efforts to increase funding for AIDS programs, restore home rule to the District and legalize marijuana for medical use.

Turner said Michael had requested, "If I die, take my body to the White House. Show the world that Bill Clinton has lied to and betrayed people with AIDS."

Michael and Turner followed President Clinton on the 1992 campaign and heckled him persistently over his record on funding for AIDS programs. They came to the capital several years ago to continue pressuring Clinton.

Yesterday afternoon, Michael's mother made her first trip to Washington from Los Angeles. A tearful Barbara Michael, 66, watched pallbearers pull her son's casket from a van and place it on Freedom Plaza. A black flag with the pink triangle that has become a symbol of gay pride was placed over the casket. On top of this, Barbara Michael laid a single red rose and a picture of her son at age 2.

Later, White House press secretary Michael McCurry defended the administration's record, saying it has devoted considerable resources to preventing the spread of the disease, finding a vaccine and providing health care for those afflicted. "It clearly was a dramatic action," McCurry said of the funeral, "but the president takes very seriously the fight against AIDS. . . . I think the record shows that he has done more than any of his predecessors."

At Freedom Plaza, Timothy Cooper, a founder of the Stand Up for Democracy Coalition, called Michael "not an easy man to know but an easy man to love . . . a good and gentle man with a ferocious heart."

Then the procession of about 100, including people who had come from New York, Philadelphia and New Hampshire, walked to the White House. The police, who had so often arrested Michael during his life, stopped traffic as he was carried by.

In front of the White House, the casket was opened to reveal the activist dressed in an "ACT UP" T-shirt. His mother cried. For a few seconds, she and Turner stroked Michael's face.

Participant Anise Jenkins spoke of how Michael transformed her into an activist. "You didn't follow him, he insisted you walk by his side," she said. "He took a person like me and . . . showed me that I was powerful."

Staff writer Peter Baker contributed to this report.

getty images Anise Jenkins Karen Szulgit
CAPTION: Jenkins, left, who says Michael transformed her into an activist, embraces Karen Szulgit.

Read this article online at The Washington Post.

Read 3066 times Last modified on Wednesday, 12 July 2017 17:12

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