U.S. Senators Introduce Bill Ending Ban on HIV-Positive Travelers

Legislation has been introduced in the United States Senate that would lift the ban on HIV-positive travelers to America, according an Associated Press article on 365Gay.com.

The U.S. is one of a dozen countries that still prohibit travel and immigration for HIV-positive people, and HIV is the only medical condition specifically mentioned in American immigration law.

“There's no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a co-sponsor of the bill, during a recent speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force.

Under the proposed legislation, HIV would be equivocated to other communicable diseases, and medical experts at the Health and Human Services Department – not consular officials at U.S. embassies – would determine eligibility for admission into the U.S, according to the article.

The proposed legislation is part of a much larger bill that would fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa, among other things.