We're very close to get the restrictions on HIV+ travelers to the United States dropped, but pressure must be put on Secretary of Health and Human Services to not list HIV as a disease barring entry to the US.  Please read the message below for information on what you can do to help get this ban lifted!

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: So close
From: "Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign" <hrc@...>
Date: Thu, July 31, 2008 11:16 am

		Congress and the President have finally acted to repeal a law that punishes individuals for being HIV-positive. Tell Secretary Leavitt to take the final step and remove the remaining barriers to HIV-positive visitors and immigrants. Dear Bryan, Yesterday, President Bush signed a law that finally repeals the decades-old ban preventing nearly every foreign national with HIV from entering the United States! While this is a tremendous victory, there is still one more barrier for HIV-positive visitors and immigrants that must be removed. U.S. immigration laws require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain a list of diseases that render people unable to enter the United States. HIV remains on that list. Send a message urging Secretary Leavitt to remove the remaining barriers to HIV-positive visitors and immigrants. With the help of activists like you and the leadership of Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Smith (R-OR) language to repeal this discriminatory law was successfully added to legislation reauthorizing efforts to fight HIV across the globe, commonly known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). With the President's signature, this discriminatory law has been repealed and the authority to determine whether HIV should remain a reason to exclude people from the country has been given back to the medical and public health experts at HHS. Now, all that remains is removing HIV from the Health and Human Services list of conditions barring people from entering the country. Back in 1991, President Bush's HHS Secretary, Dr. Louis Sullivan, supported removing HIV from this list and told the New York Times, "AIDS evokes an emotional response from many – and that's understandable – but we have been virtually the only major country to try to bar HIV-infected travelers. This policy will bring us in line with the best medical thinking, here and abroad." Until the Secretary takes HIV off that list, the status of HIV-positive visitors and immigrants will not change – the vast majority will still be excluded from our country, without any public health justification. We're so close to changing that, but we need your help! Tell Secretary Leavitt to take the advice his predecessor gave, 17 years ago, and remove HIV from the list of diseases that bar people from the United States. With your help, I know we can take this final step and eliminate a discriminatory policy that has harmed HIV-positive people, and our country, for far too long. Click here to learn more about this important issue, and thank you for taking action today.  Warmly,   Joe Solmonese President Having trouble clicking on the links above? Simply copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar to take action today: http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/hivtravelban_hhs
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