Mike Pence Leaves Gays Out of World AIDS Day Speech

Because 2018 continues to be a nonsensical dystopian nightmare, homophobic Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a White House event for World AIDS Day on Thursday.

And he managed to completely fail to mention gay people once, despite HIV/AIDS having a devastating effect on the LGBTQ community over the years.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering Pence’s anti-LGBTQ record as Governor of Indiana. During that time, his state experienced the worst outbreak of HIV/AIDS it had ever had, due to Pence’s policy changes and refusal to put reality over ideology.

Pence has carried his anti-LGBTQ reputation with him to the White House, most recently speaking at an event by the Family Research Council, which has been labeled an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Pence’s record with HIV policy is so bad, in fact, that the HRC released a video highlighting some of the idiotic things he’s said earlier this year, including prioritizing abstinence over condoms.

In an additional potentialy slight to the LGBTQ community, Pence said that the administration is promising $100 million to religious groups claiming to help combat the spread of HIV. Religious groups have, of course, long been known for often being unwilling to work with LGBTQ people, or stigmatizing them while doing so.

The one good thing that came from Pence’s speech yesterday was his claim that President Trump will sign the Senate’s bill to extend the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a change from Trump’s previous attempts to cut HIV/AIDS funding.

You can watch Pence’s speech below, though I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that to themselves.