Pelosi, Garcia Among Lawmakers Honored at AIDSWatch
AIDS United’s annual conference brings HIV advocates to Washington amid growing threats to prevention, treatment, and funding.
AIDS United, an organization that advocates for policies and funding aimed at ending the HIV epidemic, will honor U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at its AIDSWatch conference for their leadership and advocacy on behalf of people living with HIV.
The annual HIV advocacy event, whose theme this year is “Defending Progress, Demanding Justice,” brings together people living with HIV, community leaders, and allies to confront political, budgetary, and structural threats to HIV prevention and treatment — including limited access to health care, cuts to research funding, and laws that criminalize HIV.
The conference will take place March 16 to 18 at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Va., as well as on Capitol Hill, where participants will seek to educate congressional leaders about the issues facing people living with HIV and lobby against cuts to life-saving medications and health care.
This year’s AIDSWatch comes at a time when support for HIV prevention and treatment is at risk. The Trump administration pushed through cuts to Medicaid as part of President Donald Trump’s signature tax package last year, further limiting access to insurance coverage for lower-income Americans.
The administration has also proposed eliminating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV prevention funding line and threatened to slash $600 million in CDC grants to four Democratic states, saying the grants are “inconsistent with agency priorities.” According to KFF, the CDC accounts for 91% of all federal HIV funding.
This month, federal officials postponed for the third time a meeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which determines which preventive services — such as medicines used for pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis — must be covered by health insurers.
At the state level, some governments have also cut back on public health funding. Florida went further, adopting an emergency rule earlier this month expected to push 16,000 people off the AIDS Drug Assistance Program — a move likely to exacerbate the HIV epidemic in the state by denying medicines that help people remain undetectable and keep the virus in check.
At the conference’s congressional reception at the Rayburn House Office Building on March 17, Coleman will be recognized for her “steadfast partnership and leadership in the fight for HIV justice,” while Garcia will be honored for his advocacy on behalf of communities and individuals living with or vulnerable to HIV.
AIDS United will also present Pelosi with a Lifetime Achievement Award honoring her role in bringing the AIDS crisis to the attention of Congress from the first day of her congressional career and pressuring national leaders to confront the epidemic and appropriate funding for care and prevention initiatives.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi helped change what was politically possible in the fight against HIV and AIDS,” AIDS United CEO and President Carl Baloney, Jr., said in a statement. “She used her power to insist that the lives of people living with HIV mattered, that the federal government had a responsibility to act, and that silence was never an option. In honoring leaders at AIDSWatch 2026, we celebrate not only what they have done, but what this moment demands from Congress now and in the years ahead.”
More from Metro Weekly:
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.