In Brief: Fighting HIV Stigma

As the HIV epidemic enters its fourth decade, we know how much work is yet to be done in the fight against the epidemic and against discrimination. Lambda Legal's HIV Project released a new report for World AIDS Day, documenting the stigma and discrimination that people living with HIV continue to face.

As that report states, "Stigma and discrimination continue to hinder the wider effort to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic." Fear and ignorance about the virus marginalize people with HIV and pose barriers to receiving needed services, such as health care. But people living with HIV are not the only ones harmed. Prevention efforts are also hampered by misconceptions about HIV and the stigma that follows, and that harms everyone.

Lambda Legal has been on the frontlines of the battle against HIV discrimination from the very beginning. In fact, we fought—and won—the nation's first AIDS discrimination case in 1983. In that case, we persuaded a court to stop the efforts of neighbors to evict a doctor because he treated HIV-positive patients. And we continue to defend the rights of people living with HIV with our impact litigation and advocacy work. In September, we reached a settlement in the case of Dr. Robert Franke, a retired minister and university provost who was kicked out of an assisted-living facility when staff found out he had HIV. And in April, we filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Daniel Allen, who allegedly bit his neighbor and was charged with violating a Michigan bioterrorism statute based on the allegation that he has HIV. The court dismissed the bioterrorism charge in June.

Our three decades' worth of HIV impact litigation has helped set precedents that help people with HIV continue to assert their rights. Our advocacy work has helped shape public policy—witness the lifting of the HIV travel ban, for example—and will continue to protect people with HIV from discrimination.

As we cherish the victories we've won, we remember the loved ones we've lost, and we draw strength to continue fighting discrimination and making the case for equality.