USA: Victory! Court Strikes Down Last Categorical Disqualification to Military Service for Those Living with HIV

Today, in a Lambda Legal case filed against the Department of Defense in 2022, a U.S. District Court struck down the last categorical disqualification preventing people living with HIV from joining the U.S. Armed Services, writing:

“Defendants’ policies prohibiting the accession of asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads into the military are irrational, arbitrary, and capricious. Even worse, they contribute to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals.”