Metro Weekly: Battle of the Ban: Obama takes final steps to lift decades-old HIV travel ban by early 2010
Battle of the Ban: Obama takes final steps to lift decades-old HIV travel ban by early 2010
Gauge: In August of 2008, Ron MacInnis, a gay Petworth resident working in HIV policy and prevention, grabbed headlines speaking at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.
"It's blatantly discriminatory to single out people with HIV," MacInnis told conference attendees, regarding the U.S. HIV travel ban. "It's stupid and ridiculous. These restrictions are really impeding our ability to control HIV and AIDS."
At the time, MacInnis's remarks followed an effort begun by the George W. Bush administration to end the nation's policy of more than two decades -- begun as a policy under President Reagan and essentially made law by the late Sen. Jessie Helms (R-N.C.) -- that bars HIV-positive foreign nationals from entering or remaining in the U.S. With his work as director of policy and programs for the Geneva-based International AIDS Society (IAS), it's not surprising that MacInnis was at another conference, this time the United States Conference on AIDS in San Francisco, as another president, Barack Obama, announced the final step in ending the travel ban once and for all. ...more
"It's blatantly discriminatory to single out people with HIV," MacInnis told conference attendees, regarding the U.S. HIV travel ban. "It's stupid and ridiculous. These restrictions are really impeding our ability to control HIV and AIDS."
At the time, MacInnis's remarks followed an effort begun by the George W. Bush administration to end the nation's policy of more than two decades -- begun as a policy under President Reagan and essentially made law by the late Sen. Jessie Helms (R-N.C.) -- that bars HIV-positive foreign nationals from entering or remaining in the U.S. With his work as director of policy and programs for the Geneva-based International AIDS Society (IAS), it's not surprising that MacInnis was at another conference, this time the United States Conference on AIDS in San Francisco, as another president, Barack Obama, announced the final step in ending the travel ban once and for all. ...more