Sister Vicious reflects on the days since he began organizing AIDS awareness and safe sex programs in 1981. "Well, there's still stigma attached to it [i.e., HIV / AIDS], not in the amount that we experienced in the early 1980s. And the whole AIDS crisis has gone global, of course, and touched more communities than the gay male community that was experiencing it in America originally," he said.

Sir Elton John speaks at the XIX International Aids Conference, July 23, 2012, in Washington.

British rock star Elton John said the stigma makes it more difficult to fight the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. "The AIDS disease is caused by a virus, but the AIDS epidemic is not. The AIDS epidemic is fueled by stigma, by hate, by misinformation, by ignorance, by indifference," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged that the United States will continue to battle HIV and AIDS.

"Well, I am here to make it absolutely clear, the United States is committed and will remain committed to achieving an AIDS-free generation. We will not back off; we will not back down. We will fight for the resources to achieve this historic milestone," she said.