Obama to lift HIV entry ban soon

The US is to end its 22-year ban on people with HIV entering the country, President Barack Obama has confirmed.

Mr Obama made the announcement as he extended funding for an act that provides HIV/Aids related health care. “If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/Aids, we need to act like it,” Mr Obama said. The US is one of only about a dozen countries barring entry on HIV status. The ban is expected to be lifted at the beginning of 2010.

‘End the stigma’

Mr Obama confirmed the move as he signed the Ryan White HIV/Aids Treatment Extension Act. He said the entry ban had been “rooted in fear rather than fact”. He said: “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the Aids pandemic – yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering our own country.

“On Monday, my administration will publish a final rule that eliminates the travel ban effective just after the New Year.”

Mr Obama added: “It will also take an effort to end the stigma that has stopped people from getting tested, that has stopped people from facing their own illness and that has sped the spread of this disease for far too long.” The process to lift the ban had begun under the administration of George W Bush. The Ryan White Act is named after a 13-year-old boy who contracted the virus via blood transfusion and helped educate Americans about the disease until his death in 1990 aged 18. The act helps about 500,000 people, many on low incomes, by providing treatment and support.

HIV was added in 1987 to the list of diseases disqualifying people from entering the US.

Obama to end military gay policy

Obama: “I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’”

US President Barack Obama has said he will end the ban on gay people serving openly in the military.

He said he would repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gay people to serve in the military if they do not reveal their sexual orientation. Mr Obama was speaking to America’s largest gay group -- the Human Rights Campaign -- in Washington. He had been criticised by some in the gay community for the lack of action on gay marriage and the military issue. A big gay rights protest march is planned in Washington for Sunday.

Disquiet

Mr Obama was addressing thousands of gay and lesbian people at a fundraising dinner in the US capital. He said the US had made progress on gay rights and would make more. On the military issue he said the US could not afford to lose those people who had much needed skills for fighting. “We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country,” Mr Obama said.

“We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage.” Mr Obama did not give a timetable for repeal of the policy, passed by Congress in 1993, under which thousands of service members have been discharged. The US president has repeatedly pledged to tackle issues important to the gay community. Read more.

Watch C-Span video -- Obama reacting to HRC attendee screaming “We love you.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=leQarSfzT6A