It’s one of the ugliest remnants of discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS – hurtful, obsolete, and wrong.

A decades-old policy BANS nearly every foreign person with HIV from setting foot on U.S. soil.

But that could change very soon. President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services has finally proposed ending the ban. Starting today, the public has 45 days to weigh in. And the right wing certainly will.

We need to show broad support for ending this discriminatory policy.

We shouldn’t punish people for being HIV-positive! Help the Obama administration follow through and end the ban.

This draconian ban tears apart families, denies American businesses access to talented workers, and bars tourists from supporting our economy. It bans students and researchers. It’s the reason why the U.S. hasn’t hosted a global AIDS conference since 1990.

And it is just downright pointless. Leading doctors have opposed this policy for decades because it has no benefit for public health.

In fact, the U.S. is one of only a handful of countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan that maintains such harsh policies. It’s time we got with the program.

Congress finally repealed the law a year ago, but only HHS can actually remove HIV/AIDS from the list of diseases with travel restrictions. The Obama administration has proposed the necessary change, but they need our help to get it across the finish line.

Take action now! Help end the ban, once and for all.

Thank you for taking action. This hurtful policy has harmed HIV-positive people for far too long, and with your help, we’ll end it.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), a veteran of the Iraq war, will attend along with gay, lesbian and straight veterans, including: Eric Alva, the first wounded veteran in the Iraq War; Jarrod Chlapowski, a former U.S. Army Korean linguist who opted to not re-enlist because of DADT and is currently a public policy advocate at the Human Rights Campaign; and Alex Nicholson, a U.S. Army veteran fluent in Arabic discharged under DADT and current executive director of Servicemembers United. The Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers United are both organizations leading the repeal effort on Capitol Hill.

Again the judicial system failed they say one thing and do something else. He should have served every single day of the already short sentence, instead he was released from prison today, one week early.

Where is the justice?

On Monday, June 29, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a group of high school students who claimed their free speech rights were violated when a school district refused to give official recognition to their Christian student organization.  The group, Truth, required its voting members and officers to sign a “statement of faith” affirming their belief in the Bible and their “acceptance of Jesus Christ” as their “personal Savior.”  Kentridge High School argued that granting the group official recognition would violate the district’s policy prohibiting, among other things, discrimination on the basis of creed.

In 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the students’ First Amendment claim, holding that the school district’s non-discrimination policy was content-neutral.  This means that the policy properly applied to all speech, regardless of subject matter.

The Seventh Circuit has taken a different approach.  In Christian Legal Society v. Walker, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit prevented a state law school from revoking the official status of a Christian student group even though the group refused to allow gays and lesbians from becoming voting members or officers.  Although the Supreme Court often agrees to hear cases to resolve disagreements like these among federal appellate courts, it has declined to do so with Truth v. Kent School District. 

The Truth plaintiffs may still pursue the question of whether the school district discriminated against them by selectively applying its non-discrimination policy and granting waivers from the policy to at least two other student groups.  In 2008, the Ninth Circuit sent this question back to the trial court for further investigation.

Learn more about federal judicial nominations and follow our work on these crucial issues on HRC’s Equality in the Courts page.

Contributed by Emily Ames, Summer 2009 McCleary Law Fellow

“The Administration made the right decision in standing by the court’s ruling that the Library of Congress violated the law and discriminated against Diane Schroer for being a transgender woman. Diane served her country for 25 years in the U.S. Army with bravery and distinction, but despite her expertise and experience, the Library of Congress decided she couldn’t continue that service in civilian life simply because she is transgender.  We applaud Diane’s continuing work to make sure discrimination based on gender identity ends in this country and congratulate her and the ACLU, which represented her, on this important victory.”

Schroer testified in June of 2008 at a historic Congressional hearing on workplace discrimination based on gender identity.  The hearing, “An Examination of Discrimination Against Transgender Americans in the Workplace,” discussed the real and pervasive mistreatment transgender workers face everyday, the role Congress can play in eradicating discrimination based on gender identity, and how corporate America is leading the way toward full equality in the workplace.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), introduced in the U.S. House last week, would address discrimination in the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote an employee based on the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.  This bill would reflect the values, shared by the vast majority of Americans, that employment decisions should be based on a person’s qualifications and work ethic.  Learn more about ENDA.

On Monday of this week, I was fortunate to be one of 250 guests invited to the White House for President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s reception honoring the 40^th anniversary of Stonewall.  Like many of my fellow attendees, I was anxious to hear what the President had to say about how he planned to honor his campaign commitments to the LGBT community.  He reiterated his administration’s efforts to pass a transgender inclusive ENDA, which is a policy already in place in at least 176 Fortune 500 companies. This followed a June 18^th Oval Office event where President Obama further demonstrated his Administration’s commitment to LGBT equality in the Federal workplace by signing a presidential memorandum that will give Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry the authority to ban workplace discrimination for all members of the LGBT community.

While this is a good start, we cannot forget that ENDA will not pass without Congressional support. It is up to each of us to let our elected officials know that you want them to support this legislation.  The President can only do so much but at the end of the day, if there are not enough votes to support a transgender-inclusive ENDA, the legislation will not pass. Each of us cannot forget that we have a very important role in this process and if ENDA does not pass, it will not be the fault of the President or organizations like HRC.

One critical way to help members of Congress understand why they should care about this legislation is by telling your story and how this law will protect you and your family.  I hope you read the story of one of my fellow HRC Business Council members Meghan Stabler, a transgender woman who so candidly shared her personal story recently during an interview posted online this week.  After reading her story, the importance of passing a transgender-inclusive ENDA was made crystal clear.  Meghan’s livelihood, and those of so many other LGBT Americans, rest in the balance until this law is passed.  I urge you to read this story and then remember to contact your congressperson and Senators during their August break.  Go visit them at the office in your home state, tell their staffers why ENDA matters. It will be all of our personal stories that will make the final difference.

Business can learn more and join the Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness here.

During that battle and in order to avoid a fiscal note on the bill, proponents had to make the inclusion of health benefits a voluntary action on the part of the employer and not mandatory.  This meant that the state of Nevada was not required to offer health benefits to its employees, which caused concern among some activists.

That concern was alleviated yesterday when the Public Employees’ Benefits Program Board voted 5-3 to extend benefits to domestic partners.  The move was championed by HRC’s very own Jeff Garofalo, a member of our Board of Governors from Nevada, who serves on the PEBP Board.  This was a good step in the right direction, but as with most advancement in our movement, this one is not perfect.

To obtain the health care coverage, domestic partners will be required to pay the full monthly coverage rate of $760 without any subsidy.  This is because the legislature refused to approve $3.7 million in additional funds to the state budget to cover subsidies for domestic partners.  Subsidies are provided to all other spouses of state employees, reducing their costs to around $200 per month.

So while the legislature failed to allocate funds this year, there are plenty of signs that Nevada continues to move in the right direction on the road to equality.

“Senator-elect Franken has been a long time supporter and strong advocate for fairness and equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.  His leadership in the United States Senate will help to ensure that all people in Minnesota, and throughout the country, are treated equally. We were honored to endorse Senator-elect Franken’s candidacy last March and we look forward to working with him in the US Senate to promote the basic tenet of our democracy that all Americans have full equality under the law.”

Human Rights Campaign members in Minnesota were a key component of Al Franken’s army of volunteers during last year’s Senate campaign.  In addition to our volunteer Minnesota members, the Human Rights Campaign also deployed three staff members to the state to help turn out voters and supporters for Franken during the campaign’s “get-out-the-vote” effort.  Whether it was hosting house parties, meet and greet events or online fundraising, the Human Rights Campaign played an integral part in helping to ensure that Minnesota sent pro-equality candidate Al Franken to the United States Senate.

Paul Richards:

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t know what happened at Stonewall until last year when it finally occurred to me to do some Googling. I’m not sure if this is a product of the generational divide in the LGBT community that everyone seems to be talking about lately or the simple fact that I’m a 21-year-old who’s only been out of the closet for two years. My first exposure came in a queer politics-themed English class I took last year. On the first day of class our professor passed around a clipping from the New York Daily News, dated July 6, 1969. “Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad,” read the bold headline. The portrayal of the gay bar goers that followed was laced with homophobic and derogatory language, and I was shocked that a newspaper would ever print this story as objective “news.” This article motivated me to learn a little bit more about my history, although I can’t even come close to claiming expertise or complete understanding.

So what does Stonewall mean to me? Unclear. It would be disingenuous of me to say that thinking about Stonewall ever really motivated me to act in a certain way or to be more open about my sexuality. I’ve done all of those things on my own, really, or with the help and support of friends. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t had to struggle for acceptance at home, with my friends, or at school, and I’ve never been the victim of real homophobia, although I recognize that’s a rare experience. I guess that’s what Stonewall and the 40 years that followed have done for me – made it possible for me to do these things on my own. Because of people who have struggled and protested and picketed, I can put LGBT organizations on my resume and still get a job I want, or introduce my boyfriend as my boyfriend and not a “friend,” or go dancing at a gay club – like the Stonewall Inn – and not worry about whether I’ll end up spending the night in jail. Of course I don’t want to sugarcoat the harsh realities many LGBT people still face, and we’ve still got a long way to go on a number of important issues. But I think the gay men and women who took to the streets in the Stonewall Riots would be glad to hear me, a young gay man 40 years later, say that I see a lot of things to be happy about, if not completely satisfied. Here’s to 40 more years of ending complacency and getting what we deserve.

Samantha Citron:

As a straight ally, I often feel unable to fully integrate myself into the LGBT community. I care as passionately about the issues and fight as fiercely as many of my gay friends and family – but as strongly as I feel, the simple fact is I don’t have to face the discrimination, I don’t have to fight for my right to get married, and I’ll never have to worry about being hated for who I love.

In the past, I’ve attended every Pride Parade within a feasible distance, scolded anyone that negatively used the term “gay” and argued marriage equality with those that would listen. It never felt like enough; I, like thousands of people, wanted results. I wanted to take part in the movement that was born out of a bar in Greenwich Village forty years ago. A cause that since June 1969 has come so far, but as the Rainbow Lounge has reminded us as recently as this past weekend, still has a long ways to go.

The riots at the Stonewall Inn seem distant; a byproduct of the lapsed time, however what the riots ignited and what has happened since then mean to me that every tear shed, every mile marched and every bill that hits Congress will eventually lead to the end of a fight.

The Stonewall Riots mean to me that the beauty of watching my gay brother fall in love will lead to a wedding ceremony every bit as valid as that of any straight couple.

The Stonewall Riots mean to me that Matthew Shepard’s death will forever stand as a message of unnecessary loss, but one that had the means to ignite a fresh battle.

The Stonewall Riots mean to me that these injustices are no longer taken sitting down, but are met with a fury.

The Stonewall Riots were long before my time, but the fight that erupted that night is still fresh today.

Diaz is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage in New York, but that is not necessarily representative of his district and the young people who reside in it.  According to Maribel, a friend of Vikky’s and editor of their high school yearbook, the pair won “best couple” by a sizable margin.  When they began dating sophomore year, they encountered some resistance from their peers, but by senior year, that had largely disappeared.

Vikky and Deoine believe that their relationship has helped to educate those around them in an environment where no LGBT student groups exist.  In an article for Advocate.com, Deoine says that she “hopes their honor lays the groundwork for subsequent graduating classes at the South Bronx school.  ‘I think now, for other gay people who might go to my school, they will have a chance at getting in the yearbook, since we were the first.’”

Listen to the couple interviewed by WNYC here.

This post contributed by HRC Youth & Campus Outreach Intern Dennie Zastrow.