U.S. Ban On HIV+ Immigrants And Tourists May Be Repealed

Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) have authored a provision to an upcoming AIDS funding bill that will end the United States' ban on tourists and immigrants with HIV.

Using the global AIDS reauthorization bill as a vehicle for repealing the HIV immigrant and visitors ban dramatically improves chances for passing the repeal because the global AIDS measure enjoys widespread support and is expected to easily clear the House and Senate. Earlier proposals to repeal the HIV immigrant and visitors ban have died in committee and gay-supportive members of Congress have said a free-standing repeal measure would have little or no chance of passing.

The United States is one of only 13 countries that ban HIV+ people from visiting or immigrating. The others: Armenia, Brunei, China, Iraq, Qatar, South Korea, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

Let's hope this ploy does better than attaching the Matthew Sheppard Act to that defense appropriations bill did. A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives last August, but remains in committee.