WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden laid out an AIDS memorial quilt on the White House South Lawn for the first time Sunday to commemorate World AIDS Day.
The president and his wife, Jill, were joined by survivors, family members and advocates to remember the lives lost to the pandemic.
The President emphasized the federal government’s support for the 1.2 million people in the United States living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which can cause AIDS.
“This movement is completely woven into the fabric and history of America,” Biden said. “For all the lives that are still alive, look at what you have already done to change hearts and minds, and save lives across the country and the world. This is the strength of this movement.”
There were 124 sections of the quilt on the lawn in memory of people who died due to AIDS-related illnesses.
Conceived in 1985, the quilt appeared publicly for the first time in 1987. It also had a red ribbon, a symbol of support and awareness for people living with HIV and AIDS, draped across the South Portico of the White House.
According to the White House, 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV.
Biden was introduced by Jean White-Ginder, whose son Ryan White contracted AIDS at age 13 from a contaminated blood transfusion and died at age 18 in 1990. He said his son’s experience taught America that “we need to fight AIDS” and not the people who have it.
The Ryan White CARES Act became law in 1990 and White-Grinder recalled being at the U.S. Capitol to speak for the measure and meeting Biden when he was a senator from Delaware.
The president also saluted Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert until he leaves the government in 2022. Fauci was in attendance at the event because he has worked to find a cure for AIDS, although he has been criticized by much of the country for its efforts to combat the problem. Know for. The coronavirus pandemic made him the target of criticism from many Republican lawmakers.
The Biden administration has sought to invest in curbing the epidemic and the stigma associated with people living with HIV.
Among other steps, it has worked to expand access to PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, which at-risk populations use to prevent HIV infection.
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