Continental promo
||  News  ||
 
March 11, 2008

Repeal of Ban on HIV Travel, Immigration Attached to Senate Bill

U.S. senators John Kerry and Gordon Smith have secured an attachment to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that would lift the nation’s ban on travel and immigration for HIV-positive people, the Human Rights Campaign announced Monday. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is expected to consider the legislation this week.

“The time is long overdue to repeal this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States,” Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said in a press release. “This law emerged out of fear and stigma, and there remains no public health rationale for treating HIV more harshly than other communicable diseases.”

The government bans HIV-positive foreign nationals, students, and tourists from entering the U.S. unless they acquire a waiver that allows only for short-term travel. Current policy also keeps most people with HIV from obtaining permanent residency.

The United States is one of only 13 countries to have an HIV travel ban. Others include China, Iraq, Libya, and Sudan. (The Advocate)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max. HTML formatting and hyperlinks are NOT permitted.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

Error:Server capacity reached.
Error:Server capacity reached.
Error:Server capacity reached. Subscribe to the digital edition. Subscribe to the print edition.
Error:Server capacity reached.