50,000-Panel AIDS Quilt Is Displayed On White House Lawn For First Time
In a speech commemorating World AIDS Day on Sunday, an emotional President Joe Biden decried the “stigma of misinformation” and failures of the U.S. government to act when the epidemic was raging, news outlets reported.
ABC News:
Emotional Bidens Commemorate World AIDS Day At The White House
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden held an emotional commemoration for World AIDS Day at the White House on Sunday, expressing empathy with families who have lost loved ones and telling them they “felt a special obligation to use this sacred place to ensure everyone is seen.” Behind the Bidens, a giant red ribbon hung on the South Portico and the AIDS Memorial Quilt was placed across the South Lawn. The quilt now with 50,000 panels with 110,000 names and weighs 54 tons. This was the first time it has been displayed on the lawn. (Gomez, 12/1)
The Hill:
Joe Biden Decries 'Stigma' And 'Misinformation' On World AIDS Day
President Biden called for a fight against “stigma” and “misinformation” on World AIDS Day in remarks at the White House. “We stand united in the fight against this epidemic,” Biden said Sunday. “It matters, it matters. … I remember as senator, when this epidemic was raging, the stigma, the misinformation, the government failing to act and acknowledge the dignity of [LGBTQ] lives and the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic.” ... “It caused serious harm,” the president said Sunday of the government’s inaction at the time. “It compounded pain and trauma for a community watching a generation of loved ones and friends perish. It was horribly, horribly wrong.” (Suter, 12/1)
In obituaries —
The New York Times:
A. Cornelius Baker, Champion Of H.I.V. Testing, Dies At 63
A. Cornelius Baker, 63, who spent nearly 40 years working with urgency and compassion to improve the lives of people with H.I.V. and AIDS by promoting testing, securing federal funding for research and pushing for a vaccine, died on Nov. 8 at his home in Washington. Mr. Baker — who was gay and who tested positive for H.I.V. — became active in Washington in the 1980s, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. In 1995, as the executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS, he helped establish June 27 as National H.I.V. Testing Day. (Sandomir, 11/30)
