Court strikes down last categorical disqualifications keeping people with HIV from joining military
Judge Mark S. Davis, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia A U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Aug.
20, struck down the last categorical disqualification preventing people living with HIV from joining the U.S. Armed Services.
The decision came in a case that Lambda Legal filed against the Department of Defense in 2022. Judge Mark S. Davis, chief judge of the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, wrote in his decision, “Defendants’ policies prohibiting the accession of asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads into the military are irrational, arbitrary, and capricious, Even worse, they contribute to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals. “Modern science has transformed the treatment of HIV, and this court has already ruled that asymptomatic HIV-positive service members with undetectable viral loads who maintain treatment are capable of performing all of their military duties, including worldwide deployment, Davis continued. “Now, defendants must allow similarly situated civilians seeking accession into the United States military to demonstrate the same and permit their enlistment, appointment, and induction.” The ruling came in Wilkins v.
