Around 100 HIV activists blocked an intersection near the White House yesterday as part of a World AIDS Day protest against federal cuts to lifesaving HIV prevention programs. Protestors unfurled large red banners bearing the names of African countries denied HIV funding by the current administration, highlighting the lives now at risk.Trump thinks by banning commemoration of World AIDS Day, he can hide from the death and destruction that hes causing around the world, said Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell, according to The Washington Blade. Russells comment referenced the current administrations refusal to commemorate World AIDS Day this year, marking the first time in 38 years that the U.S. government has ignored the international observance. Related Were still fighting on World AIDS Day because Trump is still murdering people with HIV But were here to say, we can see him, Russell continued. We see him stealing medicine, stealing support services, stealing HIV testing, stealing life-saving care from communities all around the world suffering and dying without access.The protestors met at 16th and I Streets, about two blocks away from the White House, and then marched to Lafayette Park about one block away. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Protestors noted that Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, defied the appropriations authority of Congress by slashing the funding for the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an HIV-prevention program that has saved an estimated 25 to 26 million lives since its inception in 2003.PEPFAR actually received full funding by Congress, but Vought helped cancel $4.9 billion for HIV/AIDS prevention and other foreign aid health programs, the protest groups noted.As a result, lifesaving treatment and prevention programs have closed across dozens ofsub-SaharanAfrican countries, while Vought has refused to release money ringfenced by Congress to save lives, the demonstrators press release noted. The protest was organized by Housing Works, Health GAP, Treatment Action Group, AIDS United, ACT UP Philadelphia, and the National Minority AIDS Council.While the U.S. recently shipped two million doses of lenacapavir, a groundbreaking twice-a-year HIV-prevention injectable medication, to the African nations of Eswatini and Zambia, an estimated 127,073 adult and 13,527 infant deathshave been causedby the effects of HIV/AIDS due to the current presidents cuts in funding.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.