Sergeant sues over ‘outdated’ HIV policies
Army Sgt. Nick Harrison learned he was infected with HIV six years ago, but the once-fatal diagnosis has barely changed his routine at work or at home because he keeps the virus in check with a once-a-day pill. The only thing HIV crippled was his military career.
The military bars anyone with the virus that causes AIDS from joining. Policies crafted in the 1980s allow troops who contract the disease while in the military to stay as long as they remain otherwise healthy, but bars them from deploying in nearly all cases.
The question of how to treat healthy troops with HIV was hardly an issue a few decades ago, when few with the infection lived long. Now that they can lead long and healthy lives, however, the restrictions meant to control a deadly epidemic have stifled careers. Many have been shut out from coveted specialties or denied promotions. And under a new policy that requires troops to be readily deployable or be discharged, nearly 1,823 otherwise healthy troops with HIV may be forced to leave the military.
Now Harrison, who served 18 years in the Army and National Guard and deployed to Afghanistan and Kuwait, is suing the Defense Department, arguing that the HIV policies are outdated and discriminatory and have cost him a promotion to captain.
“In the Army we are taught that we are all one team, and as long as you can fulfill the mission, any differences don’t matter,” Harrison said in an interview. “These policies seem to fundamentally oppose that core philosophy.”
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia this week, lawyers from the public interest groups Lambda Legal and Outserve-sldn, who represent the sergeant, say the blanket policies discriminate against people with HIV and violate the constitutional right to equal protection.
Military rules, the complaint argues, have not kept pace with tremendous progress in HIV treatment, including a widely available oral medication that can keep virus levels so low that people can live with no symptoms and almost no risk of passing on the disease to others.
“It’s outdated policy based