Come As You Are: The End of America's HIV Ban

[ProSense]

Steve Ralls

Come As You Are: The End of America's HIV Ban

In about 72 hours, a plane from The Netherlands will arrive at JFK Airport in New York and two passengers onboard will, for the first time in more than two decades, be able to step safely onto U.S. soil. The arrival of Clemens Ruland and Hugo Bausch will also signal the end of a shameful and discriminatory policy that has exacted a heavy price on our country's reputation in the scientific community and kept countless individuals - both straight and gay - separated from their loved ones.

Beginning today, the United States' decades-old HIV Travel and Immigration Ban will be a relic of the past, and the stigma and discrimination it has engendered around the world will, with any luck, begin to fade, too.

The ban, which was put into place due, in large part, to the efforts of former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, whose action resulted in an unconscionable policy of separation for families, spouses and children who were literally torn apart because of the law. It was, as President Obama remarked when announcing its demise, "a decision rooted in fear, rather than fact."

Repeal of the ban - which was shepherded through Congress by Senator John Kerry, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Senator Gordon Smith - began under the Bush Administration, as part of the former president's PEPFAR legislation to curb and treat HIV/AIDS around the globe. Kerry, Lee and Smith rightly recognized that, in order to curb the disease, the United States must also lead the way in ending the stigma and misinformation surrounding the disease, too. The first step in doing so was to take the U.S. out of the company of 11 other countries, such as Lybia and Saudia Arabia, who continued to deny entry to HIV-positive people, and put us alongside much of the rest of the world.

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"It sure took too long to get here," Senator Kerry told reporters in December. But, because of his efforts and the work of others like Congresswoman Lee and former Senator Smith, the end of the HIV ban truly signals the beginning of a new life for many.

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[Cha]

1. K&R

[CTLawGuy]

2. It took Obama a whole YEAR to do this?

sigh... what good is he?


:sarcasm:


but seriously, great news!