Linda Harvey: Bring Back HIV Travel Ban

"The [2012 AIDS] conference was taking place in the U.S. for the first time in twenty-two years. Why? Because HIV-positive individuals had been banned from entering the U.S. but the Obama administration lifted that travel and immigration ban in 2009. So HHS Secretary Sebelius, ‘the HIV entry ban was a bad policy based on faulty science that ran contrary to America’s deepest values.’ She’s wrong, once again. Reckless sexual behavior is not a deep American value, except perhaps in Washington. The ban was a response to reality and the known attraction of some would-be immigrants to the U.S.’s liberal homosexual culture in certain cities. Opening our ports to HIV-positive people just invites an acceleration of the epidemic." - Hate group leader Linda Harvey, speaking on her Christian radio show.

China Lifts HIV Travel Ban

Similar to a recent move by the United States, China has lifted their ban on visitors with HIV.

Days before travelers worldwide are to begin arriving for Shanghai’s world exposition, China has lifted a two-decade ban on travel to the country by people who carry the virus that causes AIDS or who have other sexually transmitted diseases. The action also removed a longstanding ban on travel to China by people with leprosy. The government approved amendments to a 1986 law governing quarantines and a 1989 law regulating entry by foreigners, removing prohibitions related to people with H.I.V., which causes AIDS, China’s State Council, a body roughly equivalent to the White House cabinet, reported on its Web site late Tuesday.

Unlike the United States, which took many months to implement the change, China's move is effective immediately.

HIV Travel Ban Ends Today

More than 22 years after it was first proposed by Sen. Jesse Helms, as of today the federal government has stopped blocking people with HIV from entering the United States.

President Obama said the ban was not compatible with US plans to be a leader in the fight against the disease. The new rules come into force on Monday and the US plans to host a bi-annual global HIV/Aids summit for the first time in 2012. The ban was imposed at the height of a global panic about the disease at the end of the 1980s. It put the US in a group of just 12 countries, also including Libya and Saudi Arabia, that excluded anyone suffering from HIV/Aids. The BBC's Charles Scanlon, in Miami, says that improving treatments and evolving public perceptions have helped to bring about the change. Rachel Tiven, head of the campaign group Immigration Equality, told the BBC that the step was long overdue. "The 2012 World Aids Conference, due to be held in the United States, was in jeopardy as a result of the restrictions. It's now likely to go ahead as planned," she said.

GLAAD On Hate Crimes Act Passage

GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios talks about the passage of the hate crimes act and what may be coming next from the Obama administration.

Obama Signs Ryan White HIV/AIDS Act And Lifts HIV Travel Ban

This is from the official White House YouTube channel. Watch this anyway.

Today: President Obama To Announce End To HIV Travel Ban

The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld reports that President Obama is expected to announce the final end to the HIV travel ban during a signing ceremony today for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act.

The new regulation eliminates any travel and immigration restrictions that are tied to a person's HIV status. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put the wheels of change in motion in late June by publishing the proposed regulation to the federal register, which triggered a 45-day public comment period. HHS has now sent the final change to the Office of Management and Budget for approval, but the source said HHS would not be able to fully implement the new regulation for another 60 days following the president's announcement.

In the intervening months, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has directed its officers to place holds on any decisions regarding green card applications that are based solely on an individual's HIV status pending full implementation of the new rule. Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of the LGBT lobby group Immigration Equality, welcomed the announcement. “At long last, people living with HIV will no longer be pointlessly barred from this country,” Tiven said. "Every day, Immigration Equality hears from individuals and families who have been separated because of the ban, with no benefit to the public health. Now, those families can be reunited."

HIV Travel Ban To Be Finally Lifted

The United States' ban on immigration for HIV+ persons is finally about to be history. The Customs and Immigration Service has advised workers to stand by for the ruling.

Currently HIV qualifies as an exclusionary communicable disease, and applications may be turned down by the US authorities if a person wishing to travel to the country, or settle there permanently, is HIV positive. The policy was overturned last year in what became known as the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, but the Bush administration did not enact the new rules before leaving office. The Health and Human Services body published the regulations this summer, and is currently reviewing public comment. Commentators have suggested that the pausing of green card applications which come down to the applicant's HIV status is a strong indicator that the rule change will be implemented soon, and that HIV will be removed from the list of exclusionary communicable diseases.

More on the story here.

HIV Travel Ban To Be Lifted

It's looks like the Obama administration is finally going to implement a directive signed by Dubya almost a year ago.

The first step to ending the HIV travel ban in the United States has been taken by the Obama administration. The Office of Management and Budget posted a notice on its site Friday afternoon indicating that the department of Health and Human Services could move forward with steps to change a regulation that has restricted HIV-positive people from gaining entrance into the United States. The proposed change will likely have an impact on both travel and immigration to the United States. Under current regulations, non-U.S. citizens who are HIV-positive cannot travel to the United States unless they are granted a waiver by the Department of Homeland Security. Immigrants have also been required to be tested for HIV. The actual regulatory change, however, will not be available until next week and advocates are waiting to analyze the exact language.

If implemented, the repeal should be in place by this fall.

HomoQuotable - Andrew Sullivan

"Here we are, in the summer of 2009, with gay servicemembers still being fired for the fact of their orientation. Here we are, with marriage rights spreading through the country and world and a president who cannot bring himself even to acknowledge these breakthroughs in civil rights, and having no plan in any distant future to do anything about it at a federal level. Here I am, facing a looming deadline to be forced to leave my American husband for good, and relocate abroad because the HIV travel and immigration ban remains in force and I have slowly run out of options (unlike most non-Americans with HIV who have no options at all).

"And what is Obama doing about any of these things? What is he even intending at some point to do about these things? So far as I can read the administration, the answer is: nada. We're firing Arab linguists? So sorry. We won't recognize in any way a tiny minority of legally married couples in several states because they're, ugh, gay? We had no idea. There's a ban on HIV-positive tourists and immigrants? Really? Thanks for letting us know. Would you like to join Joe Solmonese and John Berry for cocktails? The inside of the White House is fabulous these days." - Andrew Sullivan, from a lengthy piece criticizing President Obama.

Poz Brits Still Blocked From Entering U.S.

The Terrance Higgins Trust, England's largest HIV charity, is claiming that HIV-positive Brits are still being turned away at United States border control checkpoints even though they have filled out a special online waiver form.

People living with HIV are still being refused entry to the US, despite government plans to change legislation, it has been claimed. According to the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), those with HIV who want to travel to the US must attend an interview at the American Embassy in London before they can travel legally. A new online visa waiver system was set up recently, but those who have HIV must still have a special visa. Currently, people with HIV are permanently excluded from the United States except in exceptional circumstances. Following new legislation last year, the HIV entry ban is no longer law, but remains an administrative decision to be ruled on by the Department for Health and Human Services. THT states it has received calls from people who used the online visa system and believed they were permitted to travel but were turned away at US border controls, incurring substantial travel expenses.

The charity advises HIV-positive travelers not to attempt to visit the U.S. without the special waiver visa, which must be applied for in person at the American embassy. If they do so and then disclose their status on the required entry form, they will be deported and possibly banned from returning.

In other words, the new online system is worthless. When will this idiocy finally end?

HIV Travel Ban Still Active

Andrew Sullivan notes that the government has not complied with recent changes to travel rules for the HIV+ and that he will be "required to leave the US for good next March."

The Bush administration has not yet lifted the regulation barring people with HIV from entering the United States, despite the law lifting the ban overwhelmingly passed by the Congress and signed by president Bush last July. Yesterday, they simply reiterated their previous plans to "streamline" the process, which, in fact, does nothing but make it more bureaucratically cumbersome for temporary visitors with HIV to enter the country as tourists or for conferences. They have done nothing to end the ban as the law clearly asked for.

As it currently stands, I will still be required to leave the US for good next March. And many more are in much worse straits. They say they will change the regs. And that it takes time. My guess is that it will take until after the election. But does anyone believe a Palin administration would make life any easier for people with HIV? For people with HIV, the Palin nomination should be terrifying.

Bush Signs Landmark AIDS Bill, HIV Travel Ban Repealed (But Only Sort Of)

In what AIDS activists are hailing as one of the true positive legacies of his administration, yesterday George Bush signed the most extensive global AIDS relief bill in history.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), hailed President Bush for signing legislation to re-authorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). The measure, which was signed in a formal signing ceremony earlier today in Washington, increases funding for the successful global AIDS program from $15 billion up to $48 billion over the next five years. As a result, PEPFAR, which is likely to be among the President's most successful and lasting legacies, will save five to seven million lives over the next five years.

"Passage of this historic legislation is a crucial turning point in the battle to control AIDS around the world," said Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which provides medical care and services to more than 79,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide. "Over the past several months, AHF worked diligently to persuade legislators to restore PEPFAR's priority on treatment. We take our hats off to everyone who helped ensure that this lifesaving global AIDS bill became a reality."

Attached to that bill was a rider that repealed the administrative ban on travelers with HIV coming to the United States. But activists point out that the repeal merely ends the "blanket" ban on HIV travel and returns the case-by-case decision responsibility to the Department of Health and Human Services. Warns one activist:

"HHS is where the ban lived, administratively, for the first 6 years of its life [1987-1993], and it did plenty of damage there. If the entry ban ends up solely an HHS matter, it will be critical for us to maintain our vigilance and unity, so that the administration doesn't split the ban – lifting it for travelers and some visa holders, but keeping it in place for long-term visa seekers and immigrants."

In other words, there's still work to be done here. Andrew Sullivan may have celebrated prematurely.

HIV Travel Ban Repealed

And the United States inches closer to the civilized world....

AIDS Action applauds the Senate for overwhelming, bipartisan passage of the Lantos/Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act (S 2731), which reauthorizes the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The organization particularly commends the lifting of the statutory requirement that bars travel and immigration to the U.S. by HIV positive non-citizens. Also noteworthy are the mention and recognition of HIV prevention, care and treatment needs of men who have sex with men (MSM) and the removal of the directive requiring that 33% of prevention funds be spent on "abstinence-only until marriage" programs.

"PEPFAR has had significant success in saving lives and preventing new cases of HIV infection," said Ronald Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of AIDS Action. "Continuation of PEPFAR ensures expansion and sustainability of the greatest global heath initiative in history," he added. "The lifting of the travel and immigration bar removes the blemish on the United States leadership on HIV and AIDS. We are especially pleased that this discriminatory law has finally been repealed." AIDS Action urges prompt and timely final passage of the legislation and urges the President to sign the Lantos/Hyde bill.

The bill was passed WITHOUT Sen. Elizabeth Dole's repulsive attempt to rename it after Jesse Helms, the very scumbag who created the travel ban in the first place.

All in all, we have four wins today*.

1. People with HIV are now eligible to visit and immigrate to the United States.
2. Third world countries will get desperately needed funds to fight AIDS.
3. Opposition to Elizabeth Dole's re-election has been supercharged.
4. Andrew Sullivan gets to stay in the United States.

*One of these four may not please everybody.

HIV Travel Ban Repeal Near

Congress appears poised to lift the ban on HIV+ people traveling to the United States. And who's the lone Senator opposing the repeal? None other than David "DC Madam Diaperboy" Vitter (R-LA), pictured above with his mortified wife. Way to stay classy, Vitter. According to Senator Harry Reid, the repeal may come in the next few days.

(Via - Andrew Sullivan)

EU Pressures USA On HIV Travel Ban

The European Union is pressuring the United States to end its ban on HIV positive travelers. Under US law, HIV+ people are restricted from entering the United States.

The European Commissioner for Justice has raised the issue of issue of people with HIV being banned from entry into the US visa waiver programme with Michael Chertoff, US Secretary of Homeland Security.

Jacques Barrot has asked for "information on the reasons why individuals carrying HIV are excluded from using the US Visa Waiver Programme." MEPs have kept pressure on the Commission over the issue as the EU is in negotiations with the US authorities to secure visa-free travel (a visa waiver) for EU citizens from all 27 member states.

The United States is one of 13 countries in the world, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, that bans visitors who are HIV-positive. London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford has been at the forefront of a campaign to overturn the ban on HIV positive people travelling to America.

A repeal of the ban has been before Congress since March, but has been stalled and may not be voted on during the current session despite widespread bipartisan support. The repeal is attached to a controversial global AIDS relief bill, hence the roadblock.

In the U.S., a broad coalition of groups calling for repeal of the HIV visitors and immigration ban, including civil liberties and human rights advocates, were hopeful that attaching the repeal measure to the highly popular PEPFAR bill would greatly increase its chances of passing.

Their expectations were dampened, however, when Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and at least six other conservative GOP senators placed a hold on the PEPFAR bill, preventing it from coming up for a vote unless at least 60 senators vote to break the hold.

Coburn said his main concern was the decision by PEPFAR backers to drop from the existing 1993 PEPFAR law a requirement that at least 55 percent of AIDS relief funds be used for AIDS treatment, including the use of life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. The 1993 law expires in September.

The Bush administration, at the recommendation of U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul, a gay official appointed by Bush, supports the decision to drop the 55 percent treatment floor. A number of prominent Republican senators and nearly all Senate Democrats also support dropping the 55 percent floor for treatment.

How Border Agents Treat People With HIV

As Congress considers repealing the ban on foreign travelers with HIV from entering the United States, a Canadian man reports an encounter with border agents last November.

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next month on a bill proposed by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry that would lift what he calls a Draconian travel ban that has caused thousands of Canadians and other foreigners to be refused entry to the United States because they have the virus that causes AIDS. Martin Rooney is among them.

The Surrey, B.C., man was on his way to Bellingham, Wash., for the Remembrance Day long weekend last November to shop, with the Canadian dollar trading at about $1.07 against the greenback. After lining up for four hours to reach the U.S. customs booth, he was asked where he worked. "I said I was on disability. He said what's my disability. I said I have HIV," said the 47-year-old, who was diagnosed in 1989.

The customs officer told him he needed a special visa waiver to enter the country, even though Canadians do not require a visa to travel to the United States. "He hauled me into a backroom. ... He put on a set of rubber gloves to hold each of my fingers. Nobody else wore rubber gloves. Then he fingerprinted me, photographed me, ran me through the FBI's most-wanted list and told me to go back to Canada and not return until I came back with a waiver," Mr. Rooney said. "I felt like I was being treated like a terrorist."

He went public with his story soon after, winning the support of several B.C. members of Parliament, including Hedy Fry, Penny Priddy and Bill Siksay. The United States is one of 13 nations, including China, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, that still ban HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.

Just outrageous.

(Via - Globe And Mail)