A homosexual Georgia police officer is now reportedly challenging a US military regulation that prohibits persons with HIV from entering the armed forces, and trying to claim that the policy crushed his dream of becoming an Army helicopter pilot.
HIV status is no longer relevant to a person’s capacity to serve Isaiah Wilkins claimed in a claim filed Thursday by Lambda Legal, a radical LGBTQ activist organization.
The complaint seeks to build on Lambda Legal’s past success in two related lawsuits, which compelled the Defense Department to eliminate long-standing limits on military members traveling overseas or being commissioned as officers if they get HIV after enlisting.
According to Lambda Legal, the military should go even farther and lift the enlistment prohibition all together against individuals who have been infected with the lethal disease.
The issue revolves around medical science.
Drugs developed in 1996 to stop the virus from multiplying lower the amounts in the blood to the point where they are now extremely difficult to detect.
Following the prior success of Lambda Legal, the Defense Department altered its regulations in June to allow HIV-positive military personnel to deploy overseas and commission as officers.
The action against Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth claims equal protection breaches under the Fifth Amendment’s due process provision.
In April, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema delivered broad decisions in favor of the plaintiffs in the previous instances, ordering the Defense Department to revise its policy on the deployment and commissioning of officers with HIV.
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