HIV Visitor Ban Lifted
WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, OIA reported that the Senate would soon vote on a repeal of the ban on HIV positive immigrants and visitors to the United States. After press time on July 16, the Senate voted to repeal the law barring HIV-positive visitors and immigrants from entering the country. The measure was included in legislation re-authorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which approved $48 billion to fight AIDS worldwide over the next five years.
By a vote of 80-16, the bill introduced by Senators John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) passed the Senate and now goes to committee before being sent to the President.
The travel and immigration ban, which originated in 1987, prohibits HIV-positive foreign nationals from entering the U.S. unless they obtain a special waiver, which allows only for short-term travel. The policy also prevented people with HIV from obtaining legal permanent residency in the United States.
"Congress has finally moved to end the HIV ban - a ban based on myth and misinformation," said Rachel B. Tiven, Executive Director of a New York group, Immigration Equality. "For twenty years, the United States has barred HIV-positive travelers from entering the country even for one day. Today the Senate said loud and clear that AIDS exceptionalism must come to an end."
Immigration Equality is a national organization that works to end discrimination in U.S. immigration law, to reduce the negative impact of that law on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive people, and to help obtain asylum for those persecuted in their home country based on their sexual orientation, transgender identity or HIV-status, and can be found online at immigrationequality.org.
Senator Kerry, who introduced PEPFAR with Senator Smith, said, "Today we are one step closer to ending a discriminatory practice that stigmatizes all those living with HIV, squanders our moral authority, and sets us back in the fight against AIDS. By passing PEPFAR today the Senate not only has made a powerful statement about our commitment to eradicating HIV/AIDS but we have also voted to overturn the HIV travel and immigration ban that has no foundation in public health or common sense. There was no reason for this policy to still be on the books, and I am proud to have been part of eliminating this draconian ban. I sincerely hope we can get this to the President as quickly as possible to finally end this misguided policy."