The White House on Wednesday terminated
all members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
According to the Washington Blade,
no explanation was given for the move.
Six members resigned in June to protest
President Donald Trump's inaction on the epidemic, leaving 16. The
remaining members were fired in a letter.
Scott Schoettes was among those who
resigned in June.
“No respect for their service,”
tweeted Schoettes, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal. “Dangerous
that #Trump and Co. (Pence esp.) are eliminating few remaining people
willing to push against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex
ed. #WeObject #PACHA6 #Resist”
Gabriel Maldonado, CEO of the
California-based LGBT and HIV/AIDS group Truevolution, speculated
that the terminations were based on “ideological and philosophical
differences” with the administration. Maldonado was among the 16
members terminated this week.
Maldonado said it was common for new
administrations to make new appointments on PACHA, but he questioned
why Trump waited a year.
“I think where the discrepancy comes
in is why a year later,” he
said.
In his World AIDS Day proclamation,
Trump failed to mention LGBT people, one of the groups most affected
by the epidemic.
(Related: Trump
excludes LGBT people in his first World AIDS Day proclamation.)