oh good, progress!

not so long ago we wrote about how, before he became president, obama said that he wanted to revoke the hiv travel ban but then when it came down to it he wasn't acting very fast.

the hiv travel ban, for those who don't know, disallows foreign nationals to cross into the united states if they are known to be hiv positive.

so if you didn't want to hide the fact that you were hiv positive, but you wanted to go into the united states, you had to apply for a special waiver.

well we just got this email:

"President Obama announced on October 30th the elimination of the HIV entry ban. A final rule will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, November 2nd and will take effect in early January 2010. That means that people who have HIV and are not U.S. citizens will be able to enter the U.S. starting in January next year. HHS will not able to fully implement the new regulation for another 60 days following the president’s announcement, but in the intervening months, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has directed its officers to place holds on any decisions regarding green card applications that are based solely on an individual’s HIV status pending full implementation of the new rule."

it's about time!

after obama announced his decision the UN put out a statement urging all nations with such restrictions to revoke them immediately, since they're discriminatory.

michael sidibe, UNAIDS executive director, stated that "placing travel restrictions on people living with HIV has no public health justification. it is also a violation of human rights."

no public health justification+violation of human rights=get rid of that shit!!!

update.. did you know?

we recently posted on the united state's policy on not allowing foreign nationals who are known to be HIV positive across the border HERE.

martin rooney just let us know that the waiver we talked about is no longer stamped permanently onto the passport.

still, the idea of someone who is HIV positive needing to apply for a waiver to travel to the u.s should make your stomache turn.

at aidsvote.org they have posted a series of questions that obama answered about HIV/AIDS in the states and this was one of the questions that he answered YES to:

"10. Do you support the repeal of the ban against people living with HIV entering the United States as travelers or immigrants, and which bars those in the U.S. from legalizing their immigration status?"

this isn't one of those long process things, obama can revoke the ban pretty much right away.

you can go here and send a comment to president obama demanding that he take the course of action that he promised he would and that he do it immediately: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

did you know...

that the u.s.a refuses to allow foreign nationals into the country if they are known to be HIV positive?

it's true. in some cases they'll allow a stay of 30 days but you have to apply to do that.

as well, immigrants with HIV are not granted legal permanent resident status except under very, very specific and rare circumstances.

if you're HIV positive and you want to cross the border into the u.s.a and you don't want to have to hide the fact that you have HIV because, you know, you believe that you should accorded full human rights regardless of whether or not you are positive you have to apply for a special waiver. the waiver is actually stamped onto your passport and is a permanent and visible record of your HIV status.
according to martin rooney, an HIV rights activist who was denied entry to the US in 2007,
"Barack Obama has not, and apparently will not sign the Executive Order to repeal the US HIV Travel Ban imposed back in 1993 by an act of congress. In July of 2008 congress voted for PEPFAR Bill with an amendment attached to repeal that Ban - Bush signed the Bill into law at the end of July 2008, but failed to sign the executive order "(from martin's facebook group "obama revoke the HIV travel ban now"-which you should probably join).

seriously? just sign the executive order. for real. denying people who are HIV postive the right to enter the u.s.a based on despicable stereotypes and bad science is beyond abhorrent and totally ridiculous.

honestly, obama was all 'im going to repeal don't ask don't tell', 'i'm going to close guantanamo bay', 'im getting a puppy', but he won't even allow people with HIV their basic human right to access and mobility?

walk the walk obama.


you can go here for more information on travel bans and HIV/AIDS___>http://www.plwha.org/(people living with hiv/aids)