President George W. Bush signed a bill July 30 that allowed for terminating the ban on HIV-positive foreigners entering the United States and that reauthorized the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to The Dallas Voice.
Recently, both houses of Congress passed the measure, which triples PEPFAR’s funding to almost $50 billion. The legislation also removes the explicit mention of HIV, meaning that it is now up to Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt to decide whether to ban HIV-positive individuals.
LGBT- and HIV/AIDS-rights organizations applauded the development. Dr. David Reznik, HIV/AIDS policy consultant for Log Cabin Republicans, said that this will ‘continue dramatic improvements in the lives of millions of people’ living with HIV/AIDS.
In a statement, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said that ‘ [w] e appreciate the President signing the repeal of this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States. The HIV travel and immigration ban performs no public health service, is unnecessary and ineffective. We thank our allies on the Hill who fought to end this injustice and now call on Secretary of Health and Human Services Leavitt to remove the remaining regulatory barriers to HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.’