There is almost no sex worker presence at the International AIDS Conference AIDS 2012 that ends tomorrow in Washington, DC.

The International AIDS Society that runs the conferences betrayed sex workers. The International AIDS Society is celebrating the return of the conference to the US after twenty two years. It is patting itself on the back and heaping praise on the Obama administration because people living with HIV are now allowed to come to the US. So they can come to the conference. But sex workers cannot get visas so they cannot come. And the International AIDS Society knew this when they agreed to hold the conference in the US.

In her plenary address on sex work and sex workers, Cheryl Overs did not mention the IAS decision. The president elect of the International AIDS Society Chris Beyrer appears on a web video site that says it is a 'big deal' that the conference is being held in the US http://inagist.com/all/228474202586501120/. He also has made no public statement on sex worker exclusion.

What's going on?

[him] moderator