an HIV\/AIDS crisis<\/a> ignored by the political class in Washington, DC,\u201d the Victory Fund said in a statement Monday. \u201cIn 1987, David joined one of the first HIV\/AIDS protests outside the Reagan White House, where police wore latex gloves because of the stigma and misinformation around HIV\/AIDS,\u201d and was arrested.<\/p>\nMixner believed that the LGBTQ+ community needed to be visibly and consistently involved in the political process and \u201cdragged people along with him,\u201d Parker said. He was social and witty and had a big personality, she said, but added that it was his moral compass that people should remember the most: He was willing to speak up and stand up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got other people to be involved but he also held people accountable,\u201d Parker said. \u201cWhen politicians didn\u2019t make their commitments, he was willing to call them out on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mixner, who was credited with raising millions of dollars for Clinton from gay and lesbian voters, angered the White House in 1993 by attacking then-U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga. In a speech, Mixner called Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, an \u201cold-fashioned bigot\u201d for opposing Clinton\u2019s plan to lift the ban on gays in the military.<\/p>\n
When Clinton began to compromise with Congress and the Pentagon on the issue later that year, Mixner accused the White House of misleading gay leaders. He said Clinton \u201csacrificed the freedom of millions for your own political expediency.\u201d Days later, Mixner was among more than two dozen people arrested in front of the White House in a protest of Clinton\u2019s retreat from his campaign pledge to lift the ban by executive order.<\/p>\n
Neil Giuliano, the former mayor of Tempe, Arizona, traveled to New York last month to visit with Mixner, whom he had known for decades, and they talked about politics and life and the afterlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cFacing death compels one to be totally bare and totally honest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Giuliano described Mixner as an \u201cactivist with grace\u201d who was influential with people at all levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like he wasn\u2019t angry, but he came forward with a way of talking about issues and with such grace and he presented in such a way that brought people in and didn\u2019t keep people out,\u201d said Giuliano, who now serves on the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund\u2019s board. \u201cI think that\u2019s why so many people were drawn to him.\u201d<\/p>\n