For many years I've been asking for your support because AIDS is not over. Despite tremendous advances in medication and care over recent decades that have made it possible for people with HIV to not only survive, but thrive, there has always been an ongoing need to keep providing medical, practical, and emotional support for people living with HIV, as well as to fund efforts to prevent new infections.

But this year is different.

After all the progress we have made, after all the lives saved, I could never have foreseen a time when our own government would decide that HIV no longer needed to be a manageable disease, but should instead return to being a death sentence.

HIV funding is being slashed or eliminated. Medical care, and access to life-saving medications, is on the line. Overseas, the elimination of medical care that had been provided by PEPFAR and USAID is causing both deaths and new infections to climb, while new babies are being born with HIV every day - infections that were easily preventable with proper medication. These budget cuts are inhumane, and immoral.

And right here in the Bay Area, people who have been living productive lives with HIV are having their very lives threatened by these budget cuts. So just like at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, when the government was turning their backs, it is once again up to us, the community, to provide whatever help we can.

Thank you for your support. This is a team effort, and I am so grateful to have you as part of my team.

Joanie