US lifts HIV/Aids immigration ban

[StarfarerBill]

Source: BBC

The US has lifted a 22-year immigration ban which has stopped anyone with HIV/Aids from entering the country.

President Obama said the ban was not compatible with US plans to be a leader in the fight against the disease.

The new rules come into force on Monday and the US plans to host a bi-annual global HIV/Aids summit for the first time in 2012.

The ban was imposed at the height of a global panic about the disease at the end of the 1980s.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8438865.stm

[williesgirl]

1. Is he nuts? Now we'll end up paying for their meds if they get too sick to work and their insurance

companies won't pay for the drugs anyway? They better amend the health reform bill to make sure they cover everything these folks will need. Flame away but I'm against this. rec'd to get the word out.

[demoleft]

2. solidarity - it's a word that should speak to democrat progressive soul.

and anyway, that law resented racism, of the worst kind.
so i rec this because i agree, and add to mine the 16 recs and "agree" expressed yesterday by DUers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7384256

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. what is wrong with you?

[TheEuclideanOne]

3. Not excited about this, I am sure it is controversial, but he just did it!!

So why can't he just do the things he campaigned on? Seems to me that it really is this easy. You do something, controversial or not, explain why you made the decision and move on! You don't see him trying to get bi-partisan buy-in on this and make sure everybody is happy and holding hands singing Koombaya. But it is done!

[TheWraith]

4. Because the President is not God, or a dictator, and needs to involve Congress when making laws?

:eyes:

[Bluenorthwest]

5. This is very good news

This will bring much joy to many people. It was always unnecessary and bigoted. This will have impact on many levels, including artists and cultural figures who will now be able to travel here, people in the sciences, any number of fields. People who get to visit home, or come to see their loved one's homes. Nothing was gained by this ban, for you can not ban a virus unless you screen everybody. It was a ban on people who know they have the virus, a group that is far less dangerous to the general population than those who know they have it. Knowledge = Life. So it did nothing but cause pain, while allowing the virus to move on in and take up residence.
Big kudos to the President for this action.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. indeed

[kpete]

8. dupe

Source: BBC

US lifts HIV/Aids immigration ban
President Barack Obama, 30 Oct
President Obama wants the US to be a world leader on HIV research

The US has lifted a 22-year immigration ban which has stopped anyone with HIV/Aids from entering the country.

President Obama said the ban was not compatible with US plans to be a leader in the fight against the disease.

The new rules come into force on Monday and the US plans to host a bi-annual global HIV/Aids summit for the first time in 2012.

The ban was imposed at the height of a global panic about the disease at the end of the 1980s.

It put the US in a group of just 12 countries, also including Libya and Saudi Arabia, that excluded anyone suffering from HIV/Aids.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8438865.stm