Donald Trump manages to forget about the LGBT community on World AIDS Day

President Trump has given a statement to mark World AIDS day that somehow does not feature a single mention of the LGBT+ community.

In a signed statement on the White House website, President Trump has said: “Today, on World AIDS Day, we honor those who have lost their lives to AIDS, we celebrate the remarkable progress we have made in combatting this disease, and we reaffirm our ongoing commitment to end AIDS as a public health threat.”

Trump continued: “Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, more than 76 million people around the world have become infected with HIV and 35 million have died from AIDS.

“As of 2014, 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. On this day, we pray for all those living with HIV, and those who have lost loved ones to AIDS.”

This statement stands in comparison to President Obama’s final World AIDS Day address where he urged then President-elect Trump to maintain HIV/AIDS prevention work and highlighted the impact of HIV on the LGBT+ community.

(Getty)

As LGBT+ people are disproportionally affected by HIV/AIDS, previous presidents have used their World AIDS Day proclamations as an opportunity to reach out to the LGBT community.

President Obama explicitly mentioned the LGBT+ community in his 2016 statement, saying: “In the United States, more than 1.2 million people are living with HIV.

“Gay and bisexual men, transgender people, youth, black and Latino Americans, people living in the Southern United States, and people who inject drugs are at a disproportionate risk.”

Unlike Democratic Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, Trump did not release any policy information regarding HIV/AIDS prevention during his campaign, prompting concern about funding early on.

As of December 1, there is no information on the White House’s website for the Trump administration’s Office of National AIDS policy.

Despite claiming to “maintain current commitments” the Trump administration submitted proposals early this year to remove $350 million from HIV/AIDS prevention budgets.