By
Patrick DePoy, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:16am
This week, Washington will host the 2012 International AIDS Conference. This is the first time since 1990 that the U.S. will host the major international gathering on the AIDS epidemic. The reason for this is that in 1987, Congress passed legislation prohibiting people living with HIV from traveling into the United States. Under the ban, those living with HIV were listed as having a “communicable disease of public health significance.” Rooted in the fear and prejudice that was an ever-present reality in those days, the ban imposed an unfair burden on tourists, short-term visitors, and foreigners seeking to live in the U.S. In 2009, President Obama finally lifted the travel ban, following a 2008 statutory repeal vote in Congress, correctly pointing out that if the U.S. wants to be a world leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, “we need to act like it.”
