HIV-positive airmen fighting to stay in the Air Force in first-of-its kind case
LGBTQ advocates are preparing to go to trial against the U.S. government over its policies on HIV-positive service members.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two young Air Force members who said they were discharged after being diagnosed with HIV in contravention with military rules that do not call for automatic dismissal due to the medical condition. This is especially true, they say, in light of treatments with commonly available medications that allow the virus to be rendered undetectable and therefore not transmittable.
The service members notched a victory in January when a federal appeals court upheld an injunction that allowed the case to move forward, but Lambda Legal, one of two advocacy groups representing the men, said the battle is just beginning.
"This is a major victory, but there is more fight ahead," Scott Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal, said. "Our adversary in this case is the military itself and its current leadership, which seems not to be willing to actually accept or grapple with what these changes in the medicine mean for people living with HIV and their ability to serve."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hiv-positive-airmen-fighting-to-stay-in-the-air-force-in-first-of-its-kind-case/ar-BBZPWCr?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
