In testimony before the Senate on
Wednesday, Sir Elton John called on Congress to continue the fight
against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
John, who founded the Elton John AIDS
Foundation in 1992 to increase awareness and funds to end the
disease, told Congress that it “has the power to end AIDS.”
“There is a window of opportunity
before us – a window through which we can very clearly see the end
of AIDS – within my lifetime,” the singer told a Senate
appropriations subcommittee on US global health programs chaired by
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a possible candidate for the
GOP presidential nomination. “We cannot afford to let that window
close.”
Accompanied by his husband, filmmaker
David Furnish, John added that the stigma associated with the disease
continues to hamper efforts, especially in some African countries
where anti-gay rhetoric runs high.
Jesus “would be appalled at the way
people are being stigmatized,” he said.