PROCLAMATION

On World AIDS Day, we stand in solidarity with the more than 40 million people around the world that live with HIV/AIDS, and we remember and honor those we have lost.

This is a day of awareness of the impact of the AIDS epidemic, of the work still to do, and of a crisis that went unacknowledged for too long. In 1981, the earliest identified cases of AIDS emerged in California and New York, disproportionately impacting gay men. Stigma and bigotry made care and treatment hard to find, and many faced the loss of their housing or employment.

It took a devastating four years for President Ronald Reagan to acknowledge AIDS publicly – after over 12,000 Americans had already died. It took another several years to see real action. During that time, amidst history-making protest and activism, the iconic warning “Silence = Death” decried the government’s inaction.

This year, with the federal government pointedly not acknowledging World AIDS Day, we face a jarring return to that dangerous silence – and this follows funding freezes that are expected to result in millions of additional cases of AIDS globally.

California will not be silent. We have long been home to some of the strongest forces of progress and research in this fight, from tireless activists demanding action to scientists and doctors advancing treatment. In 1983, the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital opened the world’s first outpatient AIDS clinic and the nation’s first inpatient AIDS ward. The “San Franciso Model of HIV Care” – emphasizing interdisciplinary care and a focus on treating patients with compassion – has been used throughout the world and is a model chronic disease management. The universal antiretroviral treatment developed in San Francisco became national guidelines and has been endorsed by the World Health Organization.

The state continues to support research to improve treatments and outcomes and eliminate new infections. The California Department of Health’s Office of AIDS works with universities, local government and health jurisdictions, and community-based organizations to drive efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. I have signed legislation to prevent insurance companies from discriminating because of HIV status, streamline processes to expedite and improve care, and enhance data reporting.

Today, as California officially recognizes World AIDS Day for the first time, let us join in this global moment of unity in support of all those affected, and in honor of all those whom we’ve lost.  

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim December 1, 2025 as World AIDS Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 30th day of November 2025.

GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California

ATTEST:
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State