6 members of Trump's HIV/AIDS panel resign in protest

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

published 19 June 2017

Believing that President Trump is not doing enough to address the "ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic," six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) have resigned.

Speaking on behalf of five of his colleagues, Scott Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal, shared in a Newsweek op-ed the reasons why they could no longer remain members of the council, formed by former President Bill Clinton in 1995. Trump has no strategy, Schoettes said, hasn't asked for input on formulating HIV policy, removed the Office of National AIDS Policy website, and has not appointed anyone to lead the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

"Because we do not believe the Trump administration is listening to — or cares — about the communities we serve as members of PACHA, we have decided it is time to step down," Schoettes wrote. "We will be more effective from the outside, advocating for change and protesting policies that will hurt the health of the communities we serve and the country as a whole if this administration continues down the current path." The council is made up of doctors, legal experts, scientists, advocates, public health officials, faith leaders, and academics, and there were 18 members before the resignation of Schoettes, Lucy Bradley-Springer, Gina Brown, Ulysses W. Burley III, Michelle Ogle, and Grissel Granados.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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