Citing evidence that President Donald Trump “simply does not care,” six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resigned last week, including an attorney with Lambda Legal, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBT rights.

“The Trump administration has no strategy to address the on-going HIV/AIDS epidemic, seeks zero input from experts to formulate HIV policy, and — most concerning — pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease,” Scott Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal, wrote in a letterfor Newsweek magazine. Lucy Bradley-Springer, Gina Brown, Ulysses W. Burley III, Michelle Collins-Ogle and Grissel Granados, who also stepped down from the council, signed on.

Established in 1995, the council advises the administration on the effective treatment, prevention and eventual cure for HIV. Its members, who are appointed by the president, include public health officials, community organizers, academics, faith leaders and people living with HIV. According to the group's website, it has about 14 members after last week's resignations.

Richard Wolitski, director of the Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, declined comment via email on the “personal decisions” of the council members. But he said that the council will “continue to serve the president, Secretary [Tom] Price and the American people,” as its charter does not require it to have a minimum number of members and votes can be taken with 50 percent of the membership plus one member present.

A White House spokesperson said in a statement that “President Trump and his administration are working diligently on health-related policies that will improve the lives of all Americans.” Specifically, the spokesperson said, staff members of the White House Domestic Policy Council have met with HIV/AIDS advocates several times, and Trump hired infectious disease expert Katy Talento to help lead health policy. The council members who resigned did not address their concerns with Talento or her supervisor, according to the statement.

Schoettes told the National Law Journal in an interview he was initially excited to join the advisory council when he was appointed in August 2014.

“I very much felt like I was having an impact and role in shaping policy,” said Schoettes, who lives openly with HIV.

But the atmosphere started to turn, beginning even before Jan. 20, when candidate Trump refused to meet with HIV advocates, Schoettes said. Still, he remained optimistic about the possibility of continuing to do some good work within the administration, he added.

The concern ramped up on Inauguration Day, when, Schoettes said, the Office of National AIDS Policy website was removed, with still no replacement five months into the new administration. Nor has the president appointed anyone to lead that office.

The final straw, however — or, as Schoettes put it in the Newsweek letter, “more like a two-by-four than a straw” — was the American Health Care Act, the U.S. House of Representatives' stab at repealing Obamacare and reforming health care. Prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act, people living with HIV who did not have employer-based insurance were priced out of the market because of pre-existing condition exclusions, according to the letter. In addition, proposed cuts to Medicaid “would be extremely harmful” to people with HIV, as 40 percent of that population receives care through the program, it added.

“When that passed, and there was the celebration in the Rose Garden, I realized I was not going to be able to have the impact or effect on policy from within, so I am taking my [viewpoint] outside and forcing a discussion in the public arena about the effect this bill will have on lives,” said Schoettes.

He said he plans to start reaching out to legislators working on changes to health care.

“I want to meet with the people who are actually writing and voting on the bill because those are the folks who have power over the outcome,” Schoettes said. “If the administration won't talk with us, we'd be happy to talk with the legislators who are actually doing all of the work.”

Although Schoettes works in Lambda Legal's Chicago office, he's no stranger to Washington, D.C. In addition to his work on the advisory council, Schoettes graduated from Georgetown University Law Center. Before landing his “dream job” at Lambda about 10 years ago, Schoettes spent four years as a litigator in the Chicago office of Latham & Watkins. Before attending law school, he made his living in musical theater, including a stint in the national tour of “West Side Story.”

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