FRIDAY, Aug. 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) — A federal court has ruled that people with HIV can no longer be turned away from joining the U.S. military.
A ruling this week by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkma said the Defense Department's ban on HIV-positive people from serving in the military “reinforces the continuing stigma surrounding people with HIV and actively hinders the military's own recruiting goals.”
“Modern science has revolutionized the treatment of HIV,” Judge Brinkema wrote in his ruling. “HIV-positive service members who remain on treatment and have undetectable viral loads and are asymptomatic are able to perform their full military duties, including deployments around the world.”
It's important to note that HIV is not transmitted through saliva, sweat, tears, group exercise, or sharing toilets. Most people who become infected with HIV do so during anal or vaginal sex or by sharing needles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, antiretroviral therapy can keep HIV viral loads low or undetectable, and patients with suppressed viral loads cannot transmit the virus through sex or sharing syringes.
In recent years, the Department of Defense's policies toward HIV-positive Americans have come under legal attack.
CNN reports that Secretary of Defense Brinkema has repealed military regulations that bar HIV-positive people from enlisting in the military as officers or serving overseas in 2022. Following the ruling, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memo stating that HIV-positive people will no longer be automatically barred from serving in military leadership roles or serving overseas.
The challenge to the enlistment policy was brought by three HIV-positive men who had hoped to enlist or reenlist in the military over the past few years, but were unable to do so, CNN reported.
One of the plaintiffs, Isaiah Wilkins, was serving in the Georgia National Guard when he sought to enlist in the Army Reserves, during which time he learned he was HIV positive.
“This is a victory not only for me, but for other people living with HIV who wish to serve,” Wilkins said in a statement released Tuesday. “As I have said before, giving up my dream to serve my country was not an option. I aspire to join the Army without the threat of adverse discriminatory policies.”
According to a CNN report, the Pentagon argues that the policy acknowledges that caring for HIV-positive service members can pose a financial burden to the Defense Department and that deployments can make it difficult for HIV-positive soldiers to continue with medication that suppresses the virus.
The World Health Organization has more information on HIV .
What this means for you
A federal judge ruled this week that the US military cannot ban people with HIV from serving in the military.
