I am writing this because I refuse to let silence become policy. I refuse to let one president’s personal discomfort, political strategy, or ideological hostility erase decades of work, memory, and global solidarity. I refuse to pretend this is normal government decision-making. It is not.
The Trump administration’s attempt to pull federal participation out of World AIDS Day 2025 is a calculated maneuver dressed up as “restructuring,” “refocusing,” or “avoiding commemorative days.” The spin is predictable. The impact is not harmless.
I have spent my life around this epidemic. I have buried friends. I have held people when they learned their diagnosis. I have worked with agencies that kept people alive when the government was too busy moralizing to actually help. I have stood with those who lived the worst years of the crisis and still wake up every morning fighting for dignity.
So when any administration decides it can simply stop acknowledging World AIDS Day, I pay attention. And I speak.

WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION ACTUALLY DID

The Trump administration instructed federal agencies—most clearly the State Department—not to use funds, not to issue statements, and not to publicly participate in World AIDS Day observances for 2025.
No official proclamations.
No public statements.
No social media.
No participation.
No recognition at all.
The administration framed it as a blanket withdrawal from “commemorative days.” In practice, it lands squarely on World AIDS Day first, and hardest, because the refusal hits a community this administration already views as expendable.
The federal government cannot cancel the day itself. December 1 exists whether the White House acknowledges it or not. The United Nations created the day in 1988. Every country observes it at a global level.
But a president can order federal silence—and that silence is not neutral.

WHY THE PRESIDENT THINKS HE CAN DO THIS

Because legally, he can.
World AIDS Day is not a federal holiday.
It is not mandated by law.
It has always depended on presidential proclamations, agency participation, and departmental support.
The president controls:
• Whether agencies issue statements
• Whether government websites acknowledge it
• Whether federal funds can be used for related events
• Whether U.S. embassies participate
A president cannot stop individuals, nonprofits, or states from observing the day. But he can strip it of the federal platform that has amplified HIV awareness for nearly forty years.
In political terms, it is an easy target: no legislation, no fight in Congress, no court review, no cost. A single directive can change federal posture worldwide.

CALLING IT WHAT IT IS: ERASURE BY POLICY

Silence carries weight. Government silence is not passive. It creates the appearance that HIV is no longer urgent, no longer worthy of focus, no longer a matter of national concern.
For people who have lived with HIV or worked in this field, silence is the oldest form of harm. Silence is what killed people in the early years. Silence is what allowed stigma to become permanent. Silence is what kept families hiding their grief. Silence is what let politicians ignore a crisis that did not affect their voting base.
When a government pulls back from World AIDS Day, it signals to the public that HIV is irrelevant.
That is not true.
• Over 1.1 million people in the United States live with HIV
• HIV rates remain highest in Black and Latino communities
• Southern states continue to report alarming new infections
• LGBTQIA+ communities remain disproportionately affected
• Funding cuts have already weakened public-health responses
None of this has changed. But the administration’s silence pretends it has.

WHAT THIS ACTION MEANS FOR HIV POLICY

The withdrawal from World AIDS Day does not stand alone. It aligns with the administration’s broader pattern:
• Rolling back LGBTQIA+ rights
• Challenging DEI policies
• Cutting public health programs
• Limiting global HIV funding
• Reframing humanitarian issues as political threats
When you take these actions together, the message is clear: this administration does not view HIV as a national priority, a global responsibility, or a human rights issue.
This choice hurts people. It affects:
• Prevention funding
• Harm reduction programs
• Housing for people living with HIV
• Outreach in rural communities
• Medication access through Ryan White programs
• Overseas support through PEPFAR
The administration may claim it is “strategically refocusing” or “eliminating unnecessary observances.” The reality is simpler: this is an ideological move.

THE GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS

World AIDS Day is not just an American observance. It is international solidarity.
Countries across Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia have already responded with concern about the U.S. shift. Some see it as a sign that the United States—the largest historical donor in global HIV programs—may be stepping further away from its leadership role.
UNAIDS has already warned of major disruptions in prevention programs worldwide. Global health leaders depend heavily on U.S. messaging and funding to maintain momentum.
This silence does not stay inside U.S. borders. It creates ripples that reach clinics, prevention sites, and humanitarian workers across the world.

MY HISTORY IN THIS WORK

I speak as someone who has been in the trenches.
I have served with The Project.
I have worked with ICARE.
I have attended and supported the Red Ribbon Ball.
I have seen how this community holds each other when systems refuse to.
I have watched people rebuilding their lives with dignity because agencies showed up for them when their government would not.
I have seen entire rooms lit with memory—not sorrow, but determination. That determination changes people more than any proclamation ever will.
So when the administration pulls recognition from World AIDS Day, I feel it not as a political decision, but as an assault on a community that has survived every kind of abandonment imaginable.
We are still here.
We still fight.
We keep people alive.
And we keep memory alive.

WHY THIS DECISION MATTERS MORE THAN THE ADMINISTRATION THINKS

To the administration, World AIDS Day may look like a symbolic date on a crowded calendar.
To those who lived through the epidemic, every year is a reminder of who we lost and who we saved.
To people newly diagnosed, it is a reminder that they are not alone.
To those fighting stigma, it is a day when the world acknowledges their reality.
To countries where HIV is still devastating communities, it is a day the world stands with them.
When the U.S. stands down, the world notices.
Our silence has global consequences.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE THROUGH MY EYES

I grew up in a world where HIV was whispered about, shamed, and pushed into the shadows.
I grew up in a time when children in my neighborhood lost uncles, cousins, friends without ever being told why.
I stood beside people who were dying before they had ever been touched by love that did not carry shame.
I have stood in clinics, watched people swallow their first dose of medication through shaking hands, knowing they might live when generations before them did not.
I have watched communities create their own systems of care because the government was absent.
I have seen fear turn into knowledge, knowledge turn into prevention, and prevention turn into hope.
And I have watched administrations come and go, each leaving its own mark on how openly we talk about HIV.
This moment—it is a step backward.
And backward is simply not acceptable.

WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION CANNOT DO

The administration can silence its own agencies.
It cannot silence the rest of us.
It cannot erase forty years of global recognition.
It cannot stop communities from marching, speaking, advocating, or remembering.
It cannot stop states from holding events.
It cannot stop health organizations from educating.
It cannot stop us from telling the stories of people who deserved more dignity than they ever received.
It cannot stop me from writing this.
And it cannot stop anyone reading this from speaking up.

WHAT WE DO NEXT

Federal silence creates a void. We fill it.
States will fill it.
Cities will fill it.
Organizations will fill it.
Faith communities will fill it.
Advocates will fill it.
People living with HIV will fill it because they always have.
We have done more with nothing than some administrations have done with everything.
If we could survive a government that laughed, minimized, ignored, and moralized through the worst years of the epidemic, we can survive this moment too.
But we do not survive by being quiet.

MY DIRECT MESSAGE TO THE ADMINISTRATION

You can choose silence for your agencies, but you cannot select silence for the American people.
You can shrink your presence on December 1, but you cannot shrink memory.
You can ignore the global fight against HIV, but you cannot erase the lives of people who fought long before you ever entered the Oval Office.
You can pull proclamations, but you cannot pull history.
You can attempt to mute awareness, but you cannot stop truth from reaching those who need it.
You do not have that kind of power.
You never will.

FINAL WORD FROM JT SANTANA

World AIDS Day was never created for presidents.
It was created for the people who survived what governments failed to confront.
It was created for the people we lost.
It was created for the people living today, navigating stigma, poverty, medical systems, and political neglect.
It was created for communities that have carried each other farther than any administration ever has.
December 1 will come.
The world will observe it.
I will observe it.
Millions will observe it.
Federal silence changes nothing.
The story continues—with or without the White House’s approval.