Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Friday June 5 6:41 AM EDT
Randall Mikkelsen

Steve Michael, who died of AIDS May 25 at the age of 42, was given an open casket funeral in front of the White House, in accordance with his dying wish. "He wanted a last statement, and he succeeded," Michael's mother Barbara Michael told Reuters after the ceremony, which took place on a sealed-off portion of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.

Steve Michael lay in a wood coffin, wearing frayed jeans, a rainbow bracelet and a crisp white T-shirt bearing the logo of ACT-UP, the AIDS activist group. Speakers stood beside Michael's casket, praising his life and denouncing President Clinton for what they said were the administration's inadequate efforts to fight the disease.

"This president committed to this man lying here right now that he would launch an all-out research effort to find a cure for AIDS (and promised) universal health care," said Wayne Turner, Michael's partner of seven years. "The man who lives in the White House made those promises and did not keep them."

"If we had had a Manhattan Project to cure AIDS, launched in Bill Clinton's first 100 days, I would not be here now with Steve," he told a knot of fellow activists and onlookers.

Rev. George Stallings, pastor of the Imani Temple church in Washington D.C., presided over the funeral. "The message that was presented today goes way beyond both protest and a funeral rite. It's consciousness raising," he said.

After the ceremony, Michael's coffin was escorted by pallbearers to a waiting van. His remains were to be cremated Saturday.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry defended what he said has been an active administration role in fighting AIDS and assisting its victims. "Clearly, it was a dramatic action," he said of the funeral protest. "But the president takes very seriously the fight against AIDS."

"Of course, there are some critics who believe he hasn't done enough. But I think the record shows that he has done more than any of his predecessors," McCurry said.

He said Clinton promoted an expedited effort to develop an AIDS vaccine, promoted increased spending on AIDS research and fought for health care coverage under Medicare and other programs for AIDS victims.

McCurry noted that the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday had approved the first large-scale tests of a vaccine against the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Many experts have expressed skepticism that the vaccine will help a significant number of people, but some have welcomed the tests as an important milestone on the way to an eventual widely effective vaccine.

AIDS activists were dismayed when the administration refused in April to back federal funds for needle exchange programs for drug users, who often spread the HIV virus by sharing needles, while encouraging local efforts.

McCurry said Thursday the administration had been pleased that many local communities were adopting needle exchange programs and finding the money to fund them.

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