The US military cannot turn away any soldier who is infected with HIV, a federal court ruled on Tuesday, overturning the final part of a controversial Pentagon approach to the disease that had been repeatedly watered down in recent years.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the Pentagon’s ban on HIV-positive people joining the armed forces “contributes to the ongoing stigma of HIV-positive individuals while actively hindering the military’s recruitment goals.”
“Modern science has revolutionized the treatment of HIV,” Brinkema wrote in her ruling. She said that “asymptomatic HIV-positive soldiers with undetectable viral loads who maintain their treatment are able to perform all of their military duties, including worldwide deployments.”
The Pentagon, she added, “must enable similarly situated civilians seeking to join the U.S. military to demonstrate eligibility and permit their recruitment, appointment and enlistment.”
HIV is not easily transmitted from one person to another. It cannot be spread through saliva, sweat, tears, physical activity, or sharing a bathroom. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people become infected with HIV through anal or vaginal sex or by sharing needles.
Drugs called antiretroviral therapy, when used as prescribed, can reduce HIV in the body to very low levels, or even to levels that are undetectable by tests. People whose virus remains suppressed or undetectable do not transmit the virus through sex or sharing needles, the CDC says.
The Pentagon’s policy toward HIV-positive Americans has been mired in litigation in recent years. In 2022, in two other cases, Brinkema lifted the military’s ban on HIV-positive people joining the armed forces as officers or stationing overseas. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin then released a memo saying HIV-positive people would no longer be automatically barred from serving in military leadership positions or serving overseas.
The challenge to the recruitment policy was brought by three HIV-positive individuals who had sought to join or rejoin the military in recent years, but all three were unable to do so because of the now-banned policy.
One of the plaintiffs, Isaiah Wilkins, was serving in the Georgia National Guard while seeking enlistment in the Army Reserve. During that process, he learned he was HIV positive, which complicated his plans and prompted him and the two other unnamed plaintiffs to file their lawsuit.
“This is a victory not only for me, but for other people living with HIV who want to serve,” Wilkins said in a statement Tuesday. “As I said, giving up my dream of serving my country was never an option. I am eager to enlist in the Army without being subjected to crippling policies of discrimination.”
The Pentagon has used a number of arguments to defend its policy, including that caring for HIV-positive soldiers is a financial burden for the Department of Defense and that these individuals are more likely to experience a “relapse” of the virus during deployments if they do not take their medication to control the infection.
The Defense Department referred questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
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