White House Announces Global AIDS Conference to Return to U.S. for First Time in 23 years

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Krishna Stone | 212.367.1016

Washington, DC — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today at a White House briefing that the International AIDS Society would hold its first international AIDS conference in the United States since the 1980s in Washington, DC in 2012. The conference brings 30,000 doctors, researchers, people living with HIV/AIDS and service providers together every two years. IAS has not held a conference in the U.S. since 1989 in protest of the U.S. ban on the entry of people living with HIV, in effect since 1987. President Obama announced the repeal of the U.S. HIV entry ban in late October, effective in January 2010.

"We commend the Obama Administration for completing the repeal of the HIV entry ban begun under President George W. Bush," said Marjorie J. Hill, Chief Executive Officer of GMHC. President Bush supported the repeal of the statutory ban in 2008. President Obama repealed the regulation, lifting the final hurdle baring entry. Sean Cahill, PhD, GMHC's Managing Director of Public Policy, Research and Community Health, who attended the White House briefing stated, "We are also thrilled that the IAS will bring this important gathering to our nation's capital, where domestic and global AIDS policies are formulated."

Clinton also denounced attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, such as the criminalization of homosexuality bill pending before Uganda's parliament and backed by U.S.-based anti-gay activists. The bill calls for the death penalty for homosexuals. "We have to stand against any effort to marginalize or criminalize members of the LGBT community worldwide," Clinton said.

Ambassador Eric Goosby, who directs the U.S. Global AIDS relief effort, echoed this sentiment, stating, "We must work with governments to effect policy change to address discrimination, including, as Secretary Clinton mentioned, the situation in Uganda."

Also speaking at the briefing were Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, and Jeffrey Crowley, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. Jarrett, a black woman, decried the fact that black women are "15 times as likely as white women" to get HIV, and spoke of losing her sister-in-law to the disease.

***

GMHC is the world’s first and leading provider of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy. Building on decades of dedication and expertise, we understand the reality of HIV/AIDS and empower a healthy life for all.