White House hosts first AIDS Memorial Quilt

jeff mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Sunday unveiled the AIDS Memorial Quilt for the first time at the White House, inviting AIDS survivors, advocates and families who have lost loved ones to AIDS. . Illustrated in its history over several decades.

The event, commemorating World AIDS Day, featured remarks from the Bidens and Jeanne White-Ginder, whose teenage son Ryan White died of AIDS in 1990.

Both Bidens became emotional during their remarks, empathizing with those in the crowd who had lost family members and friends. President Biden's first wife, Neilia, and their baby daughter, Naomi, died in a car accident in 1972, and his son, Beau, whom Jill helped raise, died of cancer in 2015.

“As I look at this beautiful quilt, brightly colored, with names written in large block letters, representing life and love, I see it as a mother, a mother who stitched their pain into patchwork panels. The world will remember their children,” said Jill Biden.

President Biden praised the AIDS advocacy movement and praised the efforts of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former top U.S. infectious disease expert who ran against then-President Donald Trump during the coronavirus pandemic.

“This movement is completely woven into the fabric and history of America, and it shines a light on the memory and legacy of all the sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, partners and friends we have lost. against this terrible disease,” Biden said. “We are united in the fight against this epidemic.”

After their remarks, the president and first lady walked hand in hand past the quilt, stopping to take a closer look before returning to the White House.

According to the World Health Organization, 42.3 million people have died since the AIDS epidemic began.

(This article has been reedited to correct the spelling of “White-Ginder” in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Diane Craft)