For the first time in history, the White House displayed the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the South Lawn on Sunday, marking an extraordinary and emotional World AIDS Day ceremony. The event, led by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, was both a celebration of progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS and a sobering reminder of the epidemic’s human toll. For some in attendance, it was also a moment of grief as the specter of President-electDonald Trump’s impending administration loomed large, threatening to undo years of progress in LGBTQ+ equality and public health policy.
Several sections from the sprawling AIDS Memorial Quilt, made up of nearly 50,000 panels and memorializing more than 110,000 lives lost to AIDS, served as the emotional centerpiece of the ceremony.
“This quilt was woven with a grief powerful enough to move the world toward unity, acceptance, compassion, and grace,” the first lady said as she addressed the crowd. “As a mom, I think of the mothers who stitched their pain into these panels, ensuring their children would not be remembered as victims but as people full of life and love.”
Related: President Biden to host AIDS Memorial Quilt on White House South Lawn for World AIDS Day (exclusive)
Daniel Driffin, an advocate and person living with HIV, reflected on the strides made in combating the virus while calling for sustained collective action. “We boldly know undetectable equals untransmittable,” he said. “Take a moment and take in the more than 110,000 lives which are shared on these panels behind us. Thank you for the artists, beauticians, lawyers, scientists, caregivers, and all the other friends we have lost.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Jeannie White-Ginder, the mother of Ryan White, whose battle with HIV and death from AIDS led to landmark legislation, reminded attendees of her son’s legacy in transforming the nation’s perception of HIV and AIDS. “Ryan taught America we needed to fight AIDS—not the people who have it,” she said, recalling her decades of activism fueled by personal grief. White-Ginder credited bipartisan support for the Ryan White CARE Act, which continues to provide vital services to low-income people living with HIV.
For many LGBTQ+ advocates and allies in attendance, the event was deeply moving but also bittersweet. Tony Morrison, GLAAD’s senior director of communications and a person living with HIV, described the day as both emotional and motivating.
“Moving through the quilt on the South Lawn, I was not expecting to be so moved,” Morrison wrote in an email to The Advocate. “What I saw and experienced was an outpouring of love in memory of so many who did not get to live life in their fullest potential.”
Morrison continued, “As someone living with HIV, I have always felt a sense of duty to live my life in a way that honors the countless who never got the chance to at the hands of HIV/AIDS.”
Related: Nancy Pelosi emotionally reflects on LGBTQ+ community at Library of Congress AIDS Quilt exhibit (exclusive)
While Morrison praised President Biden’s policies and leadership, he also felt lost. “My immediate sense of grief was that I will miss most an administration led by compassion and heart,” he wrote. “That’s what made this even more gut-wrenching and raw — knowing that this will be one of the last events LGBTQ+ people and those most marginalized in our society will feel welcome at The People’s House in the foreseeable future.”
Still, Morrison found hope in the progress made under the Biden administration and the possibility of building an inclusive future. “The fact that we have seen and experienced an inclusive world — a world that is not only possible, it’s attainable — I know it’s worth fighting to achieve again.”
Coinciding with the White House ceremony, on Monday, the Library of Congress announced the release of a digitized collection of AIDS Memorial Quilt records, reuniting these documents with the Quilt’s panels. The archive includes over 125,000 items, such as letters, diaries, photographs, and original artwork, that offer an intimate glimpse into the lives of those memorialized.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“The digitized AIDS Memorial Quilt Records collection is a major milestone not only in our preservation efforts but also in ensuring that the stories, lives, and collective memory of those lost to the AIDS epidemic remain accessible to future generations,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a statement. “In the digital age, we have the responsibility and privilege to safeguard this history so that, through every pixel, it can continue to educate, heal, and inspire people for generations to come.”
The digital archive, supported by the Ford Foundation, ensures the Quilt’s legacy is preserved for future generations, allowing communities worldwide to reflect on its lessons.
President Biden highlighted the advancements his administration has made in fighting HIV and AIDS, including expanding access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, updating outdated federal guidelines, and reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS, or PEPFAR, the global initiative that has saved over 26 million lives. He also reiterated the importance of addressing stigma, calling for the repeal of HIV criminalization laws.
During the event, Biden acknowledged Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been a pivotal figure in the fight against HIV and AIDS since the epidemic’s earliest days. As the longtime former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci played a critical role in advancing research that led to life-saving treatments and shaping global strategies to combat the virus. “Special thanks to one of the great public health officials, a true hero in the fight against HIV, Dr. Anthony Fauci,” Biden said, gesturing to Fauci in the crowd. “You’ve changed the world.” Fauci’s work in the 1980s and beyond not only helped develop antiretroviral therapies but also laid the foundation for PEPFAR.
“This Quilt is fully woven into the fabric of America,” Biden said. “Together, we honor the spirit of resilience and the extraordinary strength of people, families, and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, including nearly 40 million people living with HIV around the world today.”
Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images
Yet, for many, the looming Republican administration raises questions about whether these strides will endure. Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has made outlandish claims about AIDS, claiming that factors other than the human immunodeficiency virus — poppers, for example — caused the illness. “While it feels like we have lost something, it stirred in me something to fight for in the months and years ahead,” Morrison said.
This week, the White House will host the “Enhancing the Lives of People with HIV: A Quality of Life Symposium,” focusing on critical issues such as mental health, housing, and aging among people living with HIV.
For Morrison, the progress and challenges ahead have reinforced a need for continued activism. “On what was supposed to be a solemn day of remembrance, I was encouraged and filled with great love and even greater pride to live a life worth living,” Morrison wrote. “As a community, we will never stop fighting for equity and equality.”
