HIV

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 in advance of World AIDS Day this week, documenting the stigma and discrimination that people living with HIV continue to face.

In advance of World AIDS Day (December 1), Lambda Legal releases an evidence-based report on the continuing stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV to policy makers and advocates.

Almost three decades have passed since the first HIV cases were identified in the United States, but the unfortunate reality is that there is still significant stigma associated with HIV. Too often, disclosure that a person has HIV wreaks havoc on that person’s life. And worry about stigma has been linked to failure to get tested for HIV, delays in seeking medical care, restricted access to medical care, failure to adhere to medical treatment and faster disease progression. Allowing individuals to retain control over disclosures of their confidential HIV records therefore remains exceptionally important.

An elderly man evicted from a North Little Rock assisted-living center because he had the virus that causes AIDS is scheduled to attend a White House conference on HIV and aging this week.

Lambda Legal client Dr. Robert Franke, who was evicted from a Little Rock, Arkansas, assisted living facility because he has HIV, has been invited by the White House to participate this week in a conference on HIV and aging. Dr. Franke, a retired educator and former minister, will attend the meeting with his daughter, Sara Bowling, and Lambda Legal HIV Project Staff Attorney Scott Schoettes. Schoettes will speak on a panel addressing issues likely to affect seniors living with HIV.

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has failed to provide a meaningful explanation for its illegal release of the names of some 5,000 HIV-positive Medi-Cal recipients to a third-party service provider, said attorneys at Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), and HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA). A letter delivered to the agency from the groups today warns that DHCS must immediately act to protect the confidentiality of HIV patients, or face further steps that could include legal action.

California health officials violated state privacy laws by giving personal information about thousands of HIV-positive welfare recipients to a nonprofit group that serves people infected with the virus, three legal groups alleged Thursday.

6/21/2010

"The threat to civil rights can also be seen in the recent case of an HIV-positive person who was charged as a terrorist for allegedly biting another man. Daniel Allen, a 45-year-old Black, HIV-positive gay man, was charged as a bioterrorist for allegedly biting a neighbor's lip during an October 2009 scuffle in suburban Detroit. Allen claims that the neighbor harassed him because he is gay. In addition to two felony assault charges, he was charged with using a 'harmful biological device' after admitting that he was HIV-positive.

(New York, October 30, 2009) — Today President Obama announced that the administration will publish a new rule on Monday that will lift the HIV travel and immigration ban by removing HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance for immigrants to the United States. Lambda Legal has provided legal analysis and formal comments on numerous occasions urging the government to end the discriminatory ban that has been in place for over 20 years.