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365Gay.com
State Dept. Drops Ban
on HIV-Pos. Diplomats
Lambda Legal wins
case after 5 yr battle
by the AP from the
Web, February 16, 2008
Washington, Feb. 15 -- After a
five-year long Lambda Legal lawsuit, the U.S. State Department has revised its
rules so that people who are HIV-positive are no longer automatically
disqualified for the U.S. diplomatic corps.
The State Department says that as of Friday it has revised the way it determines
if prospective foreign service officers meet medical requirements to work
anywhere in the world.
People with HIV will be now considered for the foreign service on a case-by-case
basis, as are those with other medical conditions like cancer. The change
was enacted after consultations with medical experts and followed the settlement
of a lawsuit filed by an otherwise qualified man who was denied a diplomatic job
because of his HIV-positive status.
"We are extremely pleased with this change," said Bebe J. Anderson, HIV Project
Director at Lambda Legal. "The new guidelines mean that candidates for
Foreign Service posts who have HIV will now be assessed on a case-by-case basis,
as the law requires. At long last, the State Department is taking down its
sign that read 'People with HIV need not apply.'"
The new guidelines come less than two weeks before a trial scheduled in the HIV
discrimination case Taylor v. Rice, which sought to overturn the State
Department's blanket HIV hiring ban. Lambda Legal represents Lorenzo
Taylor, who was denied employment by the State Department as a Foreign Service
Officer after disclosing his HIV status.
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