EJAF and its Founder Sir Elton John and Chairman David Furnish had a very busy and productive time at AIDS 2012, the 19th International AIDS Conference, held in Washington, D.C., July 22-27, 2012.
Elton and David visited the installation of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall. They helped to unfold and install panels of the Quilt and participated in the public reading of the names of the more than 94,000 people whose lives have been memorialized in the 48,000 panels of the Quilt.
Additionally, Elton delivered a keynote speech at AIDS 2012. His remarks focused on the important message that love and compassion are essential to fighting stigma and ending the AIDS epidemic. “Millions of people around the world feel ashamed because of who they are, because of their HIV-positive status, because of their sexuality, because of their poverty . . . Shame and stigma prevent them from getting help, from getting treatment, from protecting themselves in the first place.” You can read the full text of Elton’s speech here or watch a video of Elton delivering his remarks on You Tube.
