Judge Blocks Military Ban on HIV-Positive Recruits

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Facts

  • A federal judge has struck down the US military's policy of blocking people with asymptomatic 'undetectable viral loads' of HIV from joining the armed forces.[1]
  • In the ruling, handed down Tuesday, the judge called the policy 'irrational, arbitrary, and capricious,' adding that it 'contribute[d] to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals.'[2]
  • The plaintiffs in the case were three individuals who were denied access to the Army, as well as the activist group Minority Veterans of America.[3]
  • While the plaintiffs argued the policy violated their Fifth Amendment right to due process, the military claimed combat deployments would hinder HIV-positive soldiers' ability to take their medications — such as restrictions on the medication in certain countries — and thus revive their viral loads.[4]
  • HIV-positive individuals have treated the virus by taking daily antiretroviral pills since the 1990s, which prevents them from transmitting it through sex. A modern form of this treatment is called Cabenuva, which requires monthly or bimonthly injections.[2][4]

Sources: [1]The Hill, [2]NBC, [3]Fox2Now and [4]Stars and Stripes.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by GLAAD. This ruling is sound on moral, legal, and scientific grounds. While Biden's military took a good first step in 2022 by allowing existing HIV-positive soldiers to keep their jobs, it continued to discriminate against prospective enlistees. Modern medicine allows all HIV-positive people — in all industries — to live and work safely without fear of infecting their peers.
  • Right narrative, as provided by The Heritage Foundation. HIV medicine only works when taken consistently and properly, which is difficult to do in combat zones. Soldiers are also at far greater risk of spilling blood and coming into contact with other's blood, so it's foolish to put America's servicemen at risk of contracting this deadly disease. The courts have stripped Pres. Biden's woke military of the only common sense it still had.

Predictions