Pentagon to Pay $1.3 Million to Military Members with HIV

metroweekly.com:

Nick Harrison of the D.C. Army National Guard, sued after he had his request for a medical waiver rejected after he tried to commission as a Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) officer.Two airmen, using the pseudonyms Richard Roe and Victor Voe to protect their identities and private medical information, sued after the Air Force tried to forcibly discharge them on the grounds that their HIV status made them “unfit for military service” — despite testimonials to the contrary from their commanding officers and personal care providers.Both the Harrison and Roe cases were combined for purposes of discovery and argument, with the plaintiffs challenging the military’s longstanding ban on active-duty service members with HIV.

The Modern Military Association of America joined the case in the interests of its members, including active service members who are living with HIV.In April, a federal judge struck down the ban as discriminatory, ordering the Department of Defense to stop discriminating against service members living with HIV, and to allow them to deploy and commission as officers in the U.S.

military.In that ruling, Judge Leonie Brinkema, of the Eastern District of Virginia, found that the categorical ban on service members with HIV was unlawful because it is at odds with current medical science and treats service members with HIV differently from service members with other chronic conditions that require medication during deployment.In June, the Biden administration announced that it would no longer defend discriminatory restrictions preventing people with HIV from deploying and commissioning as officers in the U.S.