Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the United States more than 1,100,000 people are living with HIV, and 15 percent do not know they are infected; Whereas in 2016, approximately 39,782 people were diagnosed with HIV in the United States; Whereas since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, racial and ethnic minorities have been disproportionately affected by the disease; Whereas African Americans are diagnosed with AIDS later than their White counterparts, are confronted with greater barriers in accessing care and treatment, and face higher morbidity and mortality outcomes; Whereas African Americans account for nearly half of all those with AIDS who have died in the United States since the beginning of the epidemic; Whereas in 2014, 3,591 African Americans died of HIV or AIDS, accounting for 53 percent of total deaths attributed to the disease that year; Whereas in 2014, HIV/AIDS was the 6th leading cause of death for Black men overall and for Black women ages 25–34, and the 5th for Black men ages 35–44 and 4th for Black women ages 35–44 in 2014, ranking higher than their respective counterparts in any other racial/ethnic group; Whereas in 2016, African Americans represented 44 percent of all people living with HIV in the United States, despite comprising just 13 percent of the United States population; Whereas in 2016, over 17,000 African Americans were diagnosed with HIV; Whereas African-American gay and bisexual men are more affected by HIV than any other group in the United States, accounting for a higher proportion of HIV diagnoses, those living with HIV, those ever diagnosed with AIDS, and HIV/AIDS-related deaths; Whereas in 2015, more than half of African Americans diagnosed with HIV were gay or bisexual men; Whereas in 2015, among all gay and bisexual men who had received an HIV diagnosis, African Americans accounted for the highest number (39 percent)