Activists In The US Throw Mock Funeral To Protest Trump’s HIV Funding Cuts

If it didn’t already feel like LGBTQ rights are going backwards, HIV activists in the US have staged a mock funeral to protest cuts to federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs under the Trump administration, in what could be see as a nod to the famous ACT  UP “die-ins”.

Activists at this year’s AIDSWatch kicked off the annual advocacy event with a “living funeral”, which consisted people carrying coffins on their shoulders and a series of readings in which people living with HIV delivered eulogies they’d written for themselves highlighting what’s at stake if the administration succeeds in efforts to cuts federal HIV/AIDS funding.

“The cuts to HIV funding are not just numbers. They represent lives at stake and potential to undo decades of progress,” said Vincent Crisostomo, director of aging services for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, as reported by the Advocate.