Lawmakers Protest HIV/AIDS Travel Rule

Source: Yahoo News
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - On World AIDS Day last month the White House said new rules would soon make it easier for people with HIV/AIDS to travel to the United States. Democratic lawmakers and gay rights groups are complaining that the regulations proposed by the Homeland Security Department could actually create more barriers.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., said Tuesday that the proposal "offers little of value to HIV-positive applicants."

"It imposes strict requirements that unfairly limit travel to the United States," Kennedy said after chairing a Senate health committee hearing on the Bush administration's international AIDS efforts. "It is mired in the past, a past where people feared HIV as a contagious disease that could not be controlled or effectively managed."

Bebe Anderson, HIV project director at the gay civil rights group Lambda Legal, said the rules were "inappropriate based on medicine and public health concerns."

Gay rights advocates have long opposed a 1993 federal law that strictly restricts travel and immigration to the U.S. by HIV-positive people, arguing it's discriminatory. Foreigners with the virus can obtain visas only after receiving a waiver from the Homeland Security Department in a cumbersome process that requires approval from DHS headquarters.

The White House says it wants to make the process easier for HIV-positive people seeking 30-day stays. As President Bush observed World AIDS Day on Nov. 30, the administration announced the publication of regulations meant to speed up the process. (...)

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