Joe Hollendoner
In response to the Trump administration’s ban on the commemoration of World AIDS Day, Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner issued the following statement:
“The Los Angeles LGBT Center is deeply disturbed by the Trump administration’s instruction to federal employees and grantees not to recognize World AIDS Day. This decision is not only a dismissal of a global observance—it’s a continued erasure of the millions of lives impacted by HIV/AIDS and a betrayal of the communities still fighting this epidemic.
“World AIDS Day is an essential moment to honor those we’ve lost, support those living with HIV today, and recommit to ending the epidemic through evidence-based care, prevention, and education. Silence has never saved lives; it has only ever put them at risk. We learned that hard lesson in the early days of the crisis, when systemic inaction and homophobia cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives.
“This administration’s directive, paired with its freeze on critical global HIV funding, sends a dangerous message at a time when continued investment and leadership are urgently needed. Attempts to minimize or ignore the ongoing impact of HIV/AIDS undermine decades of progress and place the most vulnerable communities in harm’s way.
“The Center will continue to speak out, show up, and provide lifesaving HIV services to tens of thousands of people each year. We will not allow political indifference to silence our community or derail the work that remains. On World AIDS Day—and every day—we honor the past by fighting for a future free from HIV stigma, discrimination, and inequity.”
