US Vice President Mike Pence has been branded a “hypocrite” for a World AIDS Day speech in which he only spoke about straight victims of the AIDS crisis. Pence, a historical opponent of LGBT+ rights, gave a speech in the White House on Thursday ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1. Thousands of men who have sex with men lost their lives in the AIDS crisis, with homophobic stigma fuelling social and political rejection on the issue. Pence failed to wear an AIDS ribbon for the speech and also failed to mention gay people or homophobia. Instead, Pence recalled stories of straight people who contracted HIV/AIDS from contaminated blood and other sources.