Madonna slammed President Donald Trump for steering authorities workers and businesses to not commemorate World AIDS Day this yr.
Final month, public well being professional Emily Bass publicized a State Division e mail asking personnel to not use authorities assets or communications channels to advertise the day, which was first marked in 1988, claiming it was a part of a broader coverage “to refrain from messaging on any commemorative day.”
Madonna joined activists and well being specialists outraged by the choice in a Monday Instagram publish, the place she known as the White Home’s resolution “ridiculous” and likewise wrote in regards to the human value of the AIDS epidemic.
“For four decades, this day has been internationally recognized around the world by people from all walks of life, because millions of people’s lives have been touched by the HIV crisis,” she wrote.
“People have lost lovers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and mothers and daughters and children to this deadly disease, of which there is still no cure.”
Dimitrios Kambouris through Getty Photographs
“Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged,” the “Hung Up” singer went on. “It’s one thing to order federal agents to refrain from commemorating this day, but to ask the general public to pretend it never happened is ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s unthinkable.”
Writing in regards to the private ache of dropping a liked one to the virus, Madonna added, “I bet he’s never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they took their last breath at the age of 23.”
“The list of people that I have known and loved and lost to AIDS is pretty long,” her publish continued. “I’m sure many of you out there can relate.”
“Let me say it one more time — there still isn’t a cure for AIDS and people still die from it. I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain. And I will continue to honor World AIDS Day, and I hope you will honor it with me,” she concluded.
Pete Marovich through Getty Photographs
State Division deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott defended the Trump administration’s coverage in a press release to The New York Instances, which stated, “An awareness day is not a strategy.”
The choice to desert World AIDS Day comes within the wake of devastating cuts to international support and public well being packages, derailing HIV/AIDS care overseas and depriving key scientific analysis of funding.
About 1.2 million individuals in america dwell with an HIV or AIDS prognosis.
