Over 1000 people, including people living with HIV, their families, and members of organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the world, are marching on the White House one week before World AIDS Day, 2003. Bearing a banner reading "Voters Want AIDS Action, Not Weapons of Mass Deception," they demand that the current President and all presidential candidates commit to a greatly enhanced response to the escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In their "HIV/AIDS Federal Policy Year in Review," they document trends in the Bush Administration, including:

• a disinvestment in effective strategies for HIV prevention, treatment and care, despite a growth in the population of people living with HIV due to treatment-related reductions in mortality and a troubling increase in infection rates in some communities;
• the use of deliberate misinformation and multiple attacks on community organizations to prioritize conservative religious values over sound science and public health; and
• the use of misleading rhetoric to mask the ongoing inadequacies of the U.S. contribution to the global epidemic

1. Our nation's healthcare system must fully address the medical needs of people living with HIV/AIDS - we won't accept attacks on crucial programs or neglect of new needs.
2. The federal government must fully support effective, science-based programs and policies that reduce the rates of new HIV infections - we won't accept prevention programs based solely on politics.
3. The United States must slow or stop the growing AIDS epidemic in and around the world with a significantly increased national investment in objective scientific research - we won't accept abdication of American's moral responsibility to lead.
4. Correctional systems in our country must promote the health of incarcerated people through high-quality HIV prevention and medical care services - we won't accept prison public health failures that impose an HIV death penalty.
5. By investing more in drug treatment and adopting rational drug policies, the United States must make faster progress in the fight against the AIDS epidemic - we won't accept deadly political compromises.
6. Welfare reform must include new protections for people living with HIV and other chronic conditions - we won't accept fake reforms and sanctions that lead to loss of health care, homelessness, and death.
7. The United States immigration laws must not discriminate against HIV-positive people - we won't accept irrational discrimination.
8. Our country must assure safe, affordable, and medically appropriate housing for people living with HIV/AIDS - we won't accept death through homelessness.
9. National policy must address and help diminish persistent AIDS stigma and discrimination - we won't accept bigotry that can slow or stop progress against the pandemic.
10. The United States must lead the global fight against HIV/AIDS, the world's deadliest modern day pandemic - we won't accept half-measures or ineffective, politically-motivated gestures of support.