Out4Immigration Observes World AIDS Day

SAN FRANCISCO, CA —- To most Americans, it is a little known fact that gay and lesbian U.S. citizens face particular discrimination under current U.S. immigration law if their partner is an immigrant. It is an even lesser known fact that the discrimination is unduly harsh if the immigrant has HIV/AIDS.

Today, as the world observes World AIDS Day, Out4Immigration, an international organization that addresses the widespread discriminatory impact of U.S. immigration laws on the lives of GLBT and HIV+ people and their families, pledges its support to those battling HIV/AIDS—and makes a commitment to continue its educational efforts in raising awareness about the discrimination immigrants to the U.S. face if they are gay and HIV+ and their partner is denied the right to support them.

Under current U.S. immigration law, foreigners are banned from entering the country if they are HIV+. The “HIV ban”, as the 1993 law is known, also mandates HIV testing be carried out on all potential immigrants who are attempting to change their status to permanent resident. The only way around this ban for those who test positive for HIV/AIDS seeking to come to the U.S. or stay here is with the sponsorship of a family member who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. U.S. immigration law defines “family member” as a parent, sibling, child or spouse.

The word “spouse” is currently limited only to heterosexual married couples and cannot be used by GLBT couples who have entered into a committed domestic partnership, civil union or gay marriage.

“The HIV ban tears families apart,” said Belinda Ryan, President of Out4Immigration, “For same-sex binational couples, where one partner is a U.S. citizen and the other is a foreigner with HIV/AIDS, the couple has no right to stay together in the United States, simply because immigration law looks at GLBT couples not as married or in committed relationships, but rather as legal strangers.”

Ryan said that the HIV ban has been used not only to keep GLBT couples apart, but also endangers the health of the person with HIV/AIDS.

“Many GLBT immigrants arrive here on a student or work visa, meet someone and fall in love and begin to make a life together,” explained Ryan. “But if the foreign partner discovers he or she is HIV+, they cannot legally stay here.”

The threat of deportation and being separated from their partner leads many immigrants simply to avoid preventative health care and HIV/AIDS testing. For those who are HIV+, their choices are extremely limited—leave the United States and return to their home country where treatment may be inadequate or nonexistent, or remain in the United States, in spite of the HIV ban, to continue treatment and have the support of their partner, and technically be breaking the law. In some of the most devastating cases, an immigrant discovers he or she is HIV+, and is ordered to leave the country, with no medical attention, no counseling and no family support.

"The HIV ban is being used to amplify the discrimination faced by GLBT people in the U.S. immigration system," said Ryan. She explained that legislation that could help same-sex binational couples, known as the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), has been in place for the last few sessions of Congress, and will be reintroduced in 2007. Passage of the UAFA would make provisions in U.S. immigration law to add the word “permanent partner” wherever the word “spouse” appears, thus granting GLBT people the same rights and recognitions as heterosexuals.

“The UAFA would ease the burden on same-sex binational couples in which the foreign partner is HIV+ by letting the immigrant’s U.S. partner stand in as someone who can guarantee him a ‘waiver’ as spouses now can do under current law,” explained Ryan.

The HIV ban, however, would remain in place, and continue to affect all immigrants—gay or straight—who lack appropriate family support. In addition to its support of the UAFA, Out4Immigration also calls for the United States to lift the HIV ban. In the United States, HIV/AIDS is no longer considered a death sentence. Unlike other parts of the world, with proper health care, a person who is HIV+ can expect to live a reasonably long life. Well-known findings available in the United Nations International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, also state “There is no public health rationale for restricting liberty of movement or choice of residence on the grounds of HIV status.”