Over 650 HIV advocates from across the country converged on Capitol Hill in Washington DC for AIDSWatch this week. 25 of those were delegates from Georgia, who met with US representatives and senators and staff in their Capitol offices to educate and advocate on issues important to people living with HIV. If you wanted to attend AIDSWatch but couldn’t make it to DC, you can still get up to speed on AIDSWatch policy priorities through AIDS United’s online resources and you can find and communicate with your federal elected officials about supporting people living with HIV anytime through Georgia Equality’s action alerts!

Here are the highlights of the Georgia delegation’s trip to AIDSWatch:

5. Atlanta’s Daniel Driffin, co-founder of THRIVESS, Fulton County Task Force on HIV/AIDS Co-Chair and 2015 Youth HIV Policy Advisor graduate, receiving an AIDS United Positive Leadership Award and speaking at the opening session of the AIDSWatch Pre-Convening on Monday.

4. Georgia AIDSWatch State Coordinator (and Georgia Equality Organizer) Wes Sanders getting all the Georgia Delegates together for a pre-Hill-visit preparation huddle on Monday afternoon at the pre-convening:

3. Attending SERO Project’s HIV Criminalization Advocacy breakout session at Monday’s pre-AIDSWatch convening and learning how people living with HIV across the United States are moving forward with initiatives to end laws criminalizing HIV status non-disclosure.

2. Convening with HIV advocacy partners from other southern states and learning about how the epidemic disproportionately affects our region at the Southern AIDS Strategy Initiative’s breakout session at Monday’s pre-convening.

1. Meeting with the incomparable Congressman John Lewis, of course! A group of 6 delegates from GA District 5 met with civil rights icon and steadfast HIV advocacy supporter Representative John Lewis and his staff for 30 minutes on Tuesday. Advocates also met with the staffs of Senators Isakson and Perdue and Congressmen Carter, Allen, Woodall and Scott.