Furnish, Lemon to Address AIDS Conference

Elton John AIDS Foundation chairman David Furnish and out CNN anchor Don Lemon have joined the lineup of speakers at this year’s U.S. Conference on AIDS.

Furnish will deliver the keynote address at an opening plenary session at the event, hosted by the National Minority AIDS Council, taking place November 10-13 in Chicago. This year the plenary and the entire the conference will focus on gay men.

Lemon will also speak during the plenary, as will Arizona state senator Jack Jackson, a gay member of the Navajo tribe who was recently appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS; Mondo Guerra, a former Project Runway contestant who came out on the show as gay and HIV-positive; and Tony-winning Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday, a longtime LGBT ally and AIDS activist.

“We are extremely excited about this important session,” said Daniel C. Montoya, deputy executive director of the National Minority AIDS Council, in a press release. The conference’s focus on gay men is appropriate, he added, given “the devastating impact this epidemic continues to have on gay and bisexual men, especially gay men of color.”

For more information or to register for the conference, click here.