Norton to Be Tested After Opening Remarks At World AIDS Day International Conference on Stigma

November 30, 2010 

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will give opening remarks Wednesday, December 1 at 8:30 a.m. in Howard University's Cramton Auditorium at its free, daylong international conference on HIV/AIDS stigma entitled, The Attitude That Spreads HIV.  Norton will join HIV/AIDS experts and activists from around the world to address the stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day.  Following her opening remarks, the Congresswoman will be tested at 9:15 a.m. at the Blair Underwood Clinic mobile van, which will be parked in front of Cramton Auditorium.

"HIV/AIDS, a disease we know how to prevent, needlessly continues to ravage our country and, particularly, the African American community, largely because of the stigma associated with the virus and its transmission, as well as indifference about safe sex and reluctance to get tested.  Such attitudes may be explainable elsewhere but we should not try to explain them away in our country, where information about safe sex, how to prevent HIV, and testing are widely available," Norton said.  "Yet one-third of D.C. residents who are infected may be unaware of their HIV/AIDS status.  Surely safe sex and universal, regular testing are essential, but the title of this conference points us to the attitudes that are the most potent force in spreading the disease."

A longtime advocate of action on AIDS, Norton is a co-sponsor of the World AIDS Day resolution.  She requested $5 million for HIV/AIDS prevention for the District of Columbia in the FY 2011 appropriations bill.  The Congresswoman includes HIV testing at all her public events.  Last year she defeated attempts in Congress to re-impose the ban on the city's use of local funds for syringe exchange programs.

The conference will feature workshop panels on topics relating to HIV and faith, HIV and youth, and the criminalization of HIV.  Congresswoman Norton will also appear on The Michael Eric Dyson Show tomorrow to discuss World AIDS Day.  The radio broadcast will be available at http://www.dysonshow.org/ and on local radio stations throughout the country.