Emergency Relief Sought Against the Military to End HIV Discrimination

Emergency Relief Sought Against the Military to End HIV Discrimination  

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) filed a preliminary injunction in Doe v. Austin, a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the U.S. military’s discriminatory policies against people living with HIV. This motion seeks emergency relief to return a young Latinx man living with HIV to full participation in the Army National Guard and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Without the federal court’s intervention, Mr. Doe will lose his only opportunity to commission as an officer in the military and sacrifice all of his efforts to pursue a military career to date. 

The legal landscape is changing, but not quickly enough for Mr. Doe or others like him who aspire to join the military and remain barred due to the military’s discriminatory policies against people living with HIV. Since the filing of this lawsuit, at least one court nationally has ruled that asymptomatic HIV-positive service members with an undetectable viral load cannot be separated or discharged from the military merely because of their HIV status. In response, the military issued new guidance, specifically modifying its policies to state that HIV is not disqualifying for service members. Despite these advances – and Mr. Doe’s efforts to serve his country – he and others who are pursuing a pathway to commission as an officer through ROTC remain barred from service. He was also specifically separated from his service with the Vermont Army National Guard, disrupting his plans to obtain a contract with the Guard and then commission as an officer in their service.

Mr. Doe spent years aspiring to a military profession, deciding on this path as a child and working tirelessly to become a leader in his high school Junior Army National Guard and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC). He also enrolled at Norwich University, where his ROTC instructors and mentors strongly supported him as a cadet. “I worked my way into a military college and through two challenging years of ROTC and the Army National Guard just to have it all taken away,” said Mr. Doe. “I just want an opportunity to serve my country.” 

“Emergency relief for Mr. Doe is critical here and the only remaining avenue to avoid the deep and significant loss of all his sacrifices to date,” said Sophia Hall, LCR Deputy Litigation Director. “Living with HIV remains highly stigmatizing in our society and the military’s unlawful bans on those who are HIV-positive only exacerbates discrimination and prejudice.”

A copy of the memorandum of law is available upon request. For media inquiries, please contact Attorney Sophia Hall at shall@lawyersforcivilrights.org.