Trump Erases LGBTQ+ People For Fourth Time in Final World AIDS Day Statement
Upon issuing his fourth and final World AIDS Day statement as president, Donald Trump continued his annual tradition on Tuesday of ignoring the impact of HIV/AIDS on LGBTQ+ community.
In a presidential proclamation, Trump referred to HIV/AIDS as a “deadly disease” which has “disproportionately [affected] racial and ethnic minorities” in the 39 years since the New York Times first reported of a “rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals” in June 1981. His statement, however, erases the epidemic’s specific toll on LGBTQ+ people: According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than half of people living with HIV in the United States are gay and bisexual men.
Although HIV rates have been relatively steady in recent years, those who remain among the most affected in the U.S. are those from marginalized communities. In 2016, the CDC reported that “if current HIV diagnoses rates persist,” then 1 out of every 2 Black MSMs and 1 in 4 Latino MSMs would become HIV positive in their lifetimes.
Looking at international numbers, a study of 15 countries conducted by the World Health Organization finds that trans women are 49 times more likely than members of the general population to be diagnosed with HIV.
https://www.them.us/story/trump-world-aids-day-statement-lgbtq-erasure