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President Trump in his final World AIDS Day proclamation Monday evening recognized “untold suffering on millions of people both here at home and abroad” as result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but ends his administration without ever once drawing on the annual statement to recognize LGBTQ people are disproportionately affected by the disease.

It was the last of four formal proclamations on World AIDS Day and National HIV Testing from the Trump administration. None of these statements includes a reference to LGBTQ people, even though health disparities mean LGBTQ people face high rates of HIV/AIDS infection.

Instead, Trump highlights his administration’s “Ending the HIV Epidemic” plan, which he announced during his 2019 State of the Union address. The cross-agency initiative under the Department of Health & Human Services seeks to eliminate at least 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States within 10 years with a PrEP-heavy focus on diagnosis, treatment, prevention and response.

“Through these and other initiatives we are bringing to a close a painful chapter in human history,” Trump says in the proclamation. “For the past many decades, HIV and AIDS have inflicted untold suffering on millions of people both here at home and abroad. But by the end of this decade, we will have eliminated this scourge from our country and released much of the rest of world from its deadly grip.”

Trump vaguely the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on marginalized communities with a sentence concluding “it is all too clear that this deadly disease disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities.” But none of these racial or ethnic minorities are enumerated, nor are any kind of sexual minorities, such as LGBTQ people.

Although Trump’s recognition of “racial and ethnic minorities” is a step up from previous statements, which failed to recognize HIV/AIDS as a social justice issue in any capacity and not just a disease, Trump throughout each of his four years in office has declined to offer that recognition to LGBTQ people.

In contrast, Obama in his 2016 proclamation spelled out HIV/AIDS predominantly affects “gay and bisexual men, transgender people, youth, black and Latino Americans, people living in the Southern United States, and people who inject drugs.”

The Washington Blade has placed a request in with the White House seeking comment on why Trump once again didn’t mention LGBTQ people in his World AIDS Day proclamation.

Touting his plan to beat HIV at home by 2030, Trump points out the effectiveness of PrEP — which his administration made free for individuals who have a doctor’s prescription, but no health insurance coverage — as well as post-exposure prophylaxis and HIV testing

“Under this plan, our nation’s scientists, researchers and medical professionals have been able to identify where HIV is spreading most rapidly, which informs decisions about where to focus funding and provide support to public health officials who are addressing needs at a local level to eradicate AIDS,” Trump says.

Additionally, Trump commends the National Institutes of Health for continuing its work to develop a vaccine. (Earlier this year, Trump was mocked for mistakenly saying during a White House Rose Garden event an AIDS vaccine was developed when, in fact, it was only in trial stages and not yet available the general public.)

Trump praises PEPFAR after repeatedly seeking big cuts

Finally, Trump praises PEPFAR, or the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, for its continued distribution of anti-viral drugs to fight HIV/AIDS across the globe, mostly in Africa, as the “most successful health initiative in American history.”

“When first launched in 2003, there were 26.6 million Africans infected with AIDS and only 50,000 receiving lifesaving antiretroviral treatment,” Trump says. “Today, more than 15.7 million men, women, and children in Africa are receiving these vital treatments. PEPFAR has saved over 18 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and accelerated progress toward controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in more than 50 countries.”

Trump’s budget requests, however, for each of his four years in office sought drastic cuts to PEPFAR. In his request for fiscal year 2021, Trump sought $3.2 billion for PEPFAR, which is $1.17 billion less than the money Congress appropriated for FY-20 funding levels.

In previous years, Congress has rejected the proposed the cuts and continued to fund PEPFAR at existing levels. It remains to be seen how the funding will be resolved for agreement in fiscal year 2021.

The post Trump issues final World AIDS Day statement without ever including LGBTQ people appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights

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Michael Novakhov on Twitter from Michael_Novakhov (4 sites)

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“It’s time to share something very personal to me.”

Queerty

Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen, best known for his turn as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has pushed back against critics of his decision to play a gay man in his forthcoming film Falling.

Falling marks Mortensen’s debut as a feature film director. He also wrote and stars in the film as John, a married gay man who takes in his racist, homophobic and abusive father (played by Lance Henricksen) when the old man begins to show signs of dementia. Laura Linney and Terry Chen also star.

In an interview with The Times, Mortensen slammed his critics who attacked him for playing a gay character, saying it was not a “gimmick.”

“The short answer is that I didn’t think it was a problem,” the actor said. “And people then ask me: ‘Well what about Terry Chen, who plays my husband in the film, is he a homosexual? The answer is I don’t know, and I would never have the temerity to ask someone if they were, during the casting process.”

Related: Homophobic judge forced to resign after telling lawyer to ‘suck’ Viggo Mortensen in court

“How do you know what my life is?” he continued. “You’re assuming that I’m completely straight. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. And it’s frankly none of your business. I want my movie to work, and I want the character of John to be effective. If I didn’t think it was a good idea I wouldn’t do it.”

Despite his defense, Mortensen also told the outlet that having conversations about queer representation in casting is “healthy.”

“Look, these are the times we’re living in, and I think it’s healthy that those issues are brought up,” he added.

Asking an actor about his sexual history during an audition is illegal in the United States, as the law prohibits discrimination based on age, gender, race or sexuality in a job interview. Recently, queer actress Kristen Stewart also pushed back against calls for casting only openly-queer actors as queer characters, labeling the practice a “slippery slope,” and warning that doing so would also block queer actors from playing straight characters.

Queerty

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‘Tis the season at the White House.

First Lady Melania Trump, who hates Christmas, just unveiled this year’s White House holiday decorations and the display may be her most cheerless and dismal one yet.

Over 125 volunteers helped adorn the people’s house with classic yuletide décor based on the theme “America the Beautiful.” The decorations include 106 wreaths and 62 trees, plus over 1,200 feet of garland, 3,200 lights, 17,000 bows, and 150 different types of foliage and floral.

But the decorations that are getting the most attention are the funeral urns. Yes, funeral urns.

Melania has a bunch of black funeral urns lined up in the East Colonnade. Because nothing says “Christmas 2020” like decorative canisters used to hold the cremains of the deceased.

The outgoing FLOTUS’s decorations have been compared to everything from a perfume counter at Macy’s to a funeral home.

Here’s what people are saying…

Melania has outdone herself with this year’s White House Christmas decorations. pic.twitter.com/aD50kzV9YP

— Patrick Barb (@pbarb) November 30, 2020

Looks like a funeral

— It’s Time for Joemala (@KhiveBidenBro) November 30, 2020

Are you fucking serious? URNS FOR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS? There are how many dead from COVID, and you thought URNS WERE A GOOD IDEA?

Thank someone this is her last Christmas in the White House. Then she can go back to being obscure and forgotten. #MelaniaHatesChristmas pic.twitter.com/SHb1zfdVkD

— nickel || #TheyWillNeverSilenceUs || COPE || BLM (@nickelkeep) November 30, 2020

nice fucking Christmas decorations

— Momm A. Rentz (@RentzMomm) November 29, 2020

WOW, truly honored that the White House used our meme song for their Christmas video pic.twitter.com/s0akkyu2To

— schmoyoho, accent on the ho ho hooooooooo (@schmoyoho) November 30, 2020

Every Christmas, she manages to make the White House look like Macy’s fragrance counter.

— Tom and Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) November 30, 2020

You really have a knack for making it look like a darkly festive funeral home at Christmas.

— J E R R Y L A M B E R T (@vegaslamb) November 30, 2020

The Cremation Urns of Covid Christmas. How festive.

Ho ho ho!#MelaniaHatesChristmas pic.twitter.com/jFwfTrxoii

— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan_Rinaldi) November 30, 2020

Thank you to the 100+ volunteers that braved the Covid super spreader location to decorate our house.

— Somewhere in Texas (@joanneintexas) November 30, 2020

It was a bold design move for Melania to bring the covid icu beds into her White House Christmas decorations. The wreaths really light the room up. #BeBest #BeGone pic.twitter.com/4i14Lj6fHj

— Matt Johnson (@HotPockets4All) November 30, 2020

Looks like Melania is waking an aisle of black funeral urns. Appropriate I guess.

— No Malarkey (@TessaLightsItUp) November 30, 2020

Melania Trump received the WH Christmas tree today… pic.twitter.com/2AjU6KnG5Z

— Mark – ’bout damn time GSA! (@MarkBrunowski) November 23, 2020

Merry f’ing Christmas, Melania.

Related: Melania begrudgingly agrees to decorate White House for Christmas one last f’ing time

Queerty