Leading AIDS Groups Turn Up The Heat on '08 Presidential ...( Website and new report unearth surpr...),Health

Website and new report unearth surprising responses on hot-button HIV/AIDS

issues Clinton, Edwards, Obama and Kucinich support ending ban on federal funds

for needle exchange

NEW YORK, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Housing Works, Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago -- three of the nation's leading AIDS organizations -- polled 16 presidential hopefuls on pressing AIDS-related issues as part of an ongoing HIV/AIDS candidate and voter education campaign. Now the results are available on AIDSVote.org.

"World AIDS Day is this Saturday, but you could also say that World AIDS Day is Election Day 2008. That's because our next President will have the opportunity and the responsibility to end AIDS," said Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works. "She or he will have the tools to treat 33 million people living with HIV-including over a million Americans-around the planet, as well as the tools to stop the spread of the virus. We're here to build the political will to make that happen."

"More than ever, the American public is calling for meaningful health care reform which includes bold leadership in the area of AIDS," said GMHC Chief Operating Officer Robert Bank. "Voters need to know what the candidates will do to fight AIDS when determining their readiness to be President."

The launch of AIDSVote.org, timed to coincide with World AIDS Day on December 1, features the results of the AIDSVote.org candidate questionnaire and Where Do They Stand? The Gay Men's Health Crisis Report on the 2008 Presidential Candidates and HIV/AIDS Issues, a detailed portrait of every candidate's history in public life on HIV/AIDS issues.

The AIDSVote.org website answers questions like "where does Rudy Giuliani stand on needle exchange funding?"; "will Sen. Barack Obama end federal support for ineffective and harmful abstinence-only education?"; and "
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