Exclusive: Sir Elton John Speaks at International AIDS Conference

Sir Elton John recently spoke at the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, Africa. In front of the global village, he announced the recipients of a new $10 million fund for LGBT people with HIV, established by PEPFAR and the Elton John Foundation.

In his moving speech, he mentioned those he'd lost to HIV and explained his motivation to start the fund:

"We are still in many parts of the world subjected to hatred and treated as second class citizens or even as criminals. The result is that enormous number of LGBT people died when they should have lived... They could have written songs. They could have been architects. They could have been painters. But instead, they died. Thanks to this fund, we're going to get them prevention and treatment. We're going to undo the stigma, person to person. They are going to get to live, and they will do this amazing work they were born to do."

John thanked the U.S. government, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Global AIDS Ambassador Deborah Birx for their help in creating the fund.

We've teamed up with HIVHero.org who filmed Sir Elton John's speech at the International AIDS Conference below: