Norton to Speak at World AIDS Day Event, Monday

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak at a World AIDS Day event Monday, December 1, at 11:45 a.m. at the United Methodist Building in the District of Columbia (100 Maryland Avenue, NE). Norton will be joined by Reverend Joan Carter-Rimbach, a global HIV/AIDS advocate and senior pastor of First United Methodist Church – Hyattsville; Ron Daniels, public health advocate and co-founder of SMART at Westminster; Jasmine Tyler, senior policy analyst for the Open Society Foundations; and Bishop Marcus Matthews, resident bishop for the Washington Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church.

"This World AIDS Day, we can celebrate the fact that the District's significant drop in the spread of the virus is due, in part, to our needle exchange program and AIDS awareness campaigns throughout the city," Norton said. "We hold even more community discussions and events to erase the stigma and chase the virus away."

World AIDS Day raises awareness in HIV/AIDS prevention, celebrates survival, and commemorates those who have died from HIV/AIDS. Monday's event features a prominent display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a panel discussion on needle exchange programs, and interactive prayer stations. Norton, who successfully eliminated an appropriations rider from the 2008 annual Financial Services Appropriations bill that prevented the District of Columbia from funding its needle exchange program, believes World AIDS Day is an important milestone to continue to promote greater awareness and to hasten progress in the fight against the spread of the virus.