FOR STEVE MICHAEL, ONE FINAL ACT OF PROTEST

Activist's Funeral Makes A Stop at the White House

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
2E . . 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."

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett