This post is from Lena Shapiro, who is working with the Immigration Equality communications department this summer.

The Immigration Equality legal team worked, for years, for an end to the United States’ ban on travel and immigration for people living with HIV. Our attorneys helped to lead the effort to get rid of the law, which created “stigma and exclusion” and, in many cases, deterred travelers and immigrants from getting the proper medical care they needed. Late last year, those efforts proved a success, as President Obama ended the ban. The reversal was a big step forward in ending discrimination and in furthering the rights of people with HIV.

This month, the UNAIDS publication Outlook offers an article looking at Immigration Equality’s work on the issue. UNAIDS reports that, across the country, the new laws are providing tens of thousands living with HIV with options they’ve never had before, and taking a strenuous weight off their shoulders.

“Mark Taylor,” who is profiled in today’s article, is an HIV-positive Canadian man who has now received his permanent residency card. John Newman, a Canadian and a former teacher recently profiled in The New York Times, was forced to leave the US when he found out he had HIV. With the new policy, he can return now, too.

As Outlook also reports, it’s not only the US taking strides in the right direction—China too recently repealed their travel bans on those living with HIV. In South Africa, rules limiting the work of HIV-positive military members were defined as “unconstitutional.” And while there have been great leaps towards equality, fifty-one countries’ restrictions on the travel and stay of those with HIV still remain in effect.

Even within the victories of the last year, there’s still work left to do. Yet it’s undeniably heartening to hear stories like the ones told in by UNAIDS today.

To read the full report, just click here; the article begins on page 106.

Additional questions or concerns? Our legal team has put together a pamphlet, which is also available online.

Against the backdrop of the raging HIV epidemic and resulting policy debate, Immigration Equality was founded as a response to a very specific kind of scapegoating of people with HIV/AIDS: the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban, which specifically singled out persons living with HIV as unwelcome visitors and immigrants. We have worked tireless since 1994 to counter the perspective that people with HIV were pariahs, that HIV/AIDS was a disease that disqualified automatically people from entering the country. Every day, our legal team answer urgent questions from individuals, families and attorneys of those about 22% are HIV-related. We have been on the frontline of the disease from our first days.

In 2010 our work paid off, the ban was finally lifted. Now that we’ve ended the HIV ban, we must work to end HIV.

Enter our Immigration Equality HIV Ban Busters team for the 2010 AIDS Walk NY. Our staff, friends and clients are all joining as we work to raise money for NY-based HIV services organizations beginning with NY’s legendary GMHC. And we need your help. We’d like you to walk with us. You can register here at our team page. We’ve set a goal of recruiting 30 people. We are on our way. Please walk with us May 16th.

Today I’ve been highlighting on @IEquality statistics on HIV in New York. To recap some of the more harrowing numbers: right now, more than 100,000 New Yorkers are living with HIV and thousands don’t know they are infected. According to the NYC Department of Health, New York city has more AIDS cases than Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Washington DC — combined. It’s not hyperbole then of them to the say that New York City “remains the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.“

Digging deeper into these numbers, HIV/AIDS affects minority communities at a more disproportional rate than any other public health crisis. More than 80% of all new AiDS diagnosis are within the African Americans and Hispanics. The death rate from AIDS is 9 times higher for black women, 6 times higher black men, and 4 times higher for Hispanics than comparable groups of whites. If we look at NYC and Manhattan statistics certain things stand out too: 1 in 26 men living in Manhattan are HIV positive, 1 in 40 African Americans in all of NYC are HIV positive, and black men 40-49 are particularly hard hit citywide and especially in Manhattan.

If you are unable to walk, we welcome your sponsorship of our team. You can also sponsor our team at our team page. Either way, you’ll be helping to make sure that HIV prevention and healthcare services continue their reach in NYC.

Together we beat the HIV ban, together we can beat HIV.

This morning’s New York Times includes a moving column, by journalist and novelist Scott James, about a beloved California school teacher who left the United States because of the HIV Travel Ban. The teacher, who fled California out of fear that immigration authorities would forcibly remove him from the country, is now making plans to return to his adopted home.

An excerpt from James’ article is below. The full column is available online here.

With Ban on H.I.V. Immigrants Now History, Relief and Revision

John Newman fondly recalled the eight years he taught first and second grades in Vallejo public schools — he felt appreciated, and was once named “Teacher of the Year.” It was the 1990s, before he got sick and was told to leave the United States.

“I was accepted by co-workers, neighbors and employers,” Mr. Newman said. “But I was not welcome by the government.”

Mr. Newman, a Canadian, contracted H.I.V., which causes AIDS and nearly killed him. Breakthrough drugs brought back his health. Then he discovered that a law many considered cruel required him to leave his home. Sadly, he returned to Canada.

Now the stories of people like Mr. Newman are becoming public. Experts say tens of thousands shared similarly interrupted lives thanks to a 22-year United States ban on allowing foreigners with H.I.V. to live in this country.

President Obama described the ban as “rooted in fear rather than fact.” It became a dead letter in January.

“The people affected by this have lived in the shadows,” said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, a nonprofit organization working to end immigration restraints based on H.I.V. status and sexual orientation.

Mr. Ralls said the phones at his group’s legal aid headquarters in New York “started ringing off the hook and they have not stopped” since the ban was lifted. He said people were being reunited with lives — and in some cases spouses and families — they had been forced to leave behind.

To continue reading the full article, click here.

Repeal of the HIV Ban is a big deal for gay people because it was targeted at gay people. Congress instituted the HIV ban in 1993 to make gay men know just how unwelcome they were in the United States. Senator Jesse Helms led the crusade for the ban, against the advice of the Centers for Disease Control. The ban included waivers for families that would otherwise be torn apart – but only straight families. The ban was Helms’ attempt to replace the law that forbade any lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person from immigrating to the U.S. – a law on the books from the 1950s through 1990. Yes, 1990.

Most people thought we were crazy to try and repeal the HIV ban. A few terrific partners worked very hard on it, but it was a low priority for most LGBT, HIV, and immigration advocacy groups. “Immigrants with AIDS? Good luck!” is what I heard over and over again.

Today, however, repeal of the HIV ban proves that the impossible is possible: We can change unfair law, and that changes everything.

How did we do it? We researched and wrote about the HIV ban for years. We helped build a big constituency of sympathetic organizations and individuals. We supported Members of Congress who asked for our help. And we seized a legislative opportunity when it came along. After Congress repealed the ban, we kept the heat on to make sure the necessary regulations were implemented. We worked with many different agencies and with the White House to get it done and done right. It wasn’t sexy and it wasn’t fast, but it’s the only way to get results. And that’s what we’ll keep doing.

If the HIV ban doesn’t affect your family, I’m very glad. If it does, there is one less barrier to getting your family to the U.S. and keeping you together here. Either way, the repeal of the ban is an opportunity to publicize immigration discrimination against LGBT families, and that’s one reason Immigration Equality has worked so hard to make sure the issue gets press coverage. When the New York Times quotes us saying that “stigma and exclusion are not a sound basis for immigration policy,” that helps get our LGBT-inclusive message out to a national audience.

The HIV ban doesn’t detract from our work on the Uniting American Families Act. Nothing could detract from that. And make no mistake: Equality for binational couples is our #1 legislative objective. It always has been and always will be.

The past year, in fact, marked a turning point for UAFA. June’s Senate hearing was a landmark one, and sent a signal that UAFA is a priority for the Judiciary Committee (which handles immigration legislation). It also showcased influential allies, including the NAACP and the American Bar Association. And, the introduction of the LGBT-inclusive Reuniting Families Act in the House demonstrated that we have the clout to be part of a larger immigration package, and it brought Congressman Honda to the fore as a devoted champion of our families.

So where do we go from here?

We expect the Senate to introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation early this year . . . even as early as this month. It will be the first comprehensive immigration bill since 2007. Immigration Equality is working tirelessly to ensure that the final immigration bill voted on in Congress includes LGBT binational families. Congressional leaders have been very clear that, until the comprehensive bill gets a vote, other immigration bills will have to wait. And because so many of our families are facing separation so soon, it is imperative that we work now to include UAFA in that larger bill. We’re doing so by continuing to build support in both the House and the Senate, and by working with key allies, such as Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Jerrold Nadler, to ensure we have the support, and votes, we need to make that happen.

Every day we’re working hard, in ways both seen and unseen, to pursue every possible path to victory. We’re optimistic about our chances for success, but also realistic about the resolve a win will require. We are expanding our Washington, D.C. office, to have a more robust presence on Capitol Hill and in your communities. Our new policy associate and grassroots organizer positions will ensure we continue to seize the momentum we have, and win.

The Senate immigration reform bill will be followed by a House bill, too. In-between, there will be countless steps, challenges and opportunities that must be addressed. As we have seen in the current healthcare debate, legislation does not move easily, or without hard work. Immigration reform will be similar: It is imperative that we build grassroots support for our families, Congressional support for UAFA and broad public support for fair immigration policies.

That’s where you come in. Have no doubt that, in the coming weeks and months, things will get very busy, and very interesting. And rest assured that, every step of the way, Immigration Equality will keep you informed and let you know what actions you can take to help ensure our success.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for our email alerts today. As Congress wraps up healthcare, and turns its attention towards immigration, there will be plenty of hard work for each of us to do. This week, we cheer for those families who have been reunited after a long separation because of the HIV Ban. In the coming weeks – with your help – we can turn that momentum and precedent into victory for other binational families, too.

In about 72 hours, a plane from The Netherlands will arrive at JFK Airport in New York and two passengers onboard will, for the first time in more than two decades, be able to step safely onto U.S. soil. The arrival of Clemens Ruland and Hugo Bausch will also signal the end of a shameful and discriminatory policy that has exacted a heavy price on our country’s reputation in the scientific community and kept countless individuals – both straight and gay – separated from their loved ones.

Beginning today, the United States’ decades-old HIV Travel and Immigration Ban will be a relic of the past, and the stigma and discrimination it has engendered around the world will, with any luck, begin to fade, too.

The ban, which was put into place due, in large part, to the efforts of former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, whose action resulted in an unconscionable policy of separation for families, spouses and children who were literally torn apart because of the law. It was, as President Obama remarked when announcing its demise, “a decision rooted in fear, rather than fact.”

Repeal of the ban – which was shepherded through Congress by Senator John Kerry, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Senator Gordon Smith – began under the Bush Administration, as part of the former president’s PEPFAR legislation to curb and treat HIV/AIDS around the globe. Kerry, Lee and Smith rightly recognized that, in order to curb the disease, the United States must also lead the way in ending the stigma and misinformation surrounding the disease, too. The first step in doing so was to take the U.S. out of the company of 11 other countries, such as Lybia and Saudia Arabia, who continued to deny entry to HIV-positive people, and put us alongside much of the rest of the world.

Continue reading at HuffingtonPost.com . . .

Also, we have just learned that the Centers for Disease Control sent a letter to the doctors who perform “green card” medical exams, instructing them NOT to test for HIV anymore after January 4, 2010, and telling them to write, “no longer required,” in the HIV test box. Again, if you have a medical exam scheduled after January 4, 2010, you may want to print out this letter and bring it along to ensure that you are not wrongly tested and that the doctor completes the form correctly. If anyone has any problems at their medical exam, let Immigration Equality know right away.

Happy Holidays!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Monday that, following repeal of the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban, the United States will once again host the International Conference on AIDS. The biennial conference – considered one of the most important scientific gatherings in the world – will convene in Washington in 2012, Secretary Clinton told reporters this week. The U.S. has not hosted an AIDS Conference since 1989, when a Dutch researcher was detained by immigration officials because of the travel ban.

“We have to stand against any efforts to marginalize and criminalize and penalize members of the LGBT community worldwide. It is an unacceptable step backwards on behalf of human rights, but it is also a step that undermines the effectiveness of efforts to fight the disease worldwide,” she said.

“Hosting the International AIDS Conference in the United States is an important opportunity for the United States,” Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, said Monday in a post at the White House blog.

“Welcoming conference attendees to our nation’s capital will allow America to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to ending the HIV pandemic both in the United States and around the world. Given that the conference is fundamentally a research conference, holding this event in such close proximity to the National Institutes of Health and other U.S. Government research facilities will also, hopefully, expand the level of scientific disclosure between our scientists and researchers from around the world,” he added.

Immigration Equality applauded the announcement, telling reporters that, “The United States has paid a heavy price, in terms of its reputation in the scientific community, because of its antiquated policies on HIV-positive immigrants and visitors.”

Secretary Clinton’s “remarks . . . show how quickly the end of a prejudicial policy can bring about progress, and how swiftly our country can right immigration wrongs,” we noted.

For complete coverage of Secretary Clinton’s announcement, click here.

Immigration Equality’s own Pamela Denzer will be a guest on Punto de Vista, on the Campesina Radio Network, this Wednesday at 1pm ET. Pamela will join the program’s hosts to discuss the recent announcement regarding the end of the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban.

Campesina is a Spanish-language radio network founded by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and is one of the most widely heard news radio networks for immigrants and their families.

For more information, or to find a station to listen in live, visit the Campesina Network online.

A Welcome Sign

The United States has long been a resolute, generous leader in the international struggle to eliminate AIDS, but for the past 22 years it has also been one of a handful of countries to refuse entry to HIV-positive visitors, both tourists and those seeking to become legal residents.

But last week, as he prepared to sign a bill reauthorizing funds for HIV/AIDS programs, President Barack Obama announced an end to the ban, calling it a policy “rooted in fear rather than fact.”

It was a sound and welcome decision, eliminating a discriminatory roadblock that has been in place far too long without any scientific justification.

In 1987, in an atmosphere of fear and confusion over its nature and transmission, the Department of Health and Human Services added HIV/AIDS to the list of communicable diseases that could deny people entry.

In 1991, when more was known about the disease and the fact that it is not transmitted by casual contact, the department tried to reverse itself. Congress, however, was unreceptive, and in 1993 enacted a law explicitly listing HIV infection as barring a person from entering the country.

Both at home and abroad, health experts have long pointed out the discrepancy between this country’s commitment to eradicating AIDS worldwide and its discriminatory immigration policy, which serves only to reinforce pejorative stereotypes and gives other nations license to follow suit. (About a dozen countries, including Yemen, Brunei, Iraq, Libya and Sudan ban HIV-positive entry. Most developed countries have no such law.)

A 1990 international AIDS conference in San Francisco was boycotted by dozens of organizations, including the International Red Cross, the European Parliament and the British Medical Association, because it imposed travel restrictions on HIV-positive people. No international AIDS conference has been held here since.

Worldwide, about 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. More than 25 million have died of AIDS since 1981. In the U.S., more than a million people are living with HIV, and more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

The new policy, which becomes law in early January, was put in motion last summer when Congress passed the re-authorization of George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a whopping $48 billion to combat global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the next five years.

In ending the ban, Obama said, “If we want to be a global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it.”

Or, as Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, succinctly put it, as reported by the Associated Press, “… the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country.”