Two rights groups have filed lawsuits against the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis aimed at blocking the military from potentially kicking out HIV-positive troops who cannot deploy overseas.
A lawsuit filed in a Virginia federal district on Wednesday focuses on Army Sgt. Nick Harrison, who wants to join the Judge Advocate General Corps with the D.C. National Guard, but was turned away because he has the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which can lead to the condition of AIDS.
A second suit represents an anonymous HIV-positive plaintiff who was denied an officer commission after attending the Air Force Academy, according to Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN.
But the cases could have wider repercussions as the Pentagon weighs a new “Deploy or Get Out” policy that would force the separation of any service members who are unable to deploy overseas or to war zones for 12 months or more.
The military considers HIV-positive troops to be undeployable and it also bars anybody with the virus from signing up to serve.
“These oppressive restrictions are based on antiquated science that reinforces stigma and denies perfectly qualified service members the full ability to serve their country,” said Scott Schoettes, legal counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal.
Nearly 1,200 troops were living with HIV in 2017, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Health Agency.
Both Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN are sponsoring lawsuits against President Trump and Mattis over efforts to implement a new restrictive transgender military service policy. They are arguing that the military has no good medical reason to prohibit those troops from serving.
