Home : HIV/AIDS : General

Resources (12/01/2007)

Protecting the Rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS (12/01/2007)

ACLU Letter on HIV Prevention Guidelines for Community Groups (08/17/2004)

ACLU Letter on HIV Prevention Guidelines for School-Based Programs (08/17/2004)

HIV/AIDS and Civil Liberties (02/28/2002)
The HIV epidemic is a health crisis. But since it began in the U.S. in the early 1980's, the collateral social consequences of the epidemic have also been catastrophic. Over and over again, people with HIV disease were -- without medical justification -- denied access to employment, housing, schools, health care and other basic social rights, and the search for a cure was joined by a struggle for basic civil rights. AIDS forces American society to confront the conflict between individual and community interests in the formulation of public policy.

ACLU AIDS Project Testifies Against the Proposals (02/28/2002)
From time to time we as a society are faced with situations in which the fundamental civil liberties which each of us possesses, including the right to privacy, are in conflict with our need to protect public health. During those times, we must make difficult choices, balancing the individual's right to privacy or other basic civil liberties against the Government's responsibility to protect the health of the public. This is not one of those cases. Fortunately, the right of every citizen of Puerto Rico to privacy and the need of the Government to prevent the spread of AIDS are not in conflict. To the contrary, protecting the right to privacy of Puerto Rico's citizens also helps in the fight against AIDS.

The ACLU: Then and Now (02/28/2002)
In the fall of 1996, Steve Shapiro, the Legal Director of the ACLU, asked me to talk to the ACLU's National Board of Directors about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Amendment 2 case, which the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project had handled with Lambda Legal Defense, the Colorado ACLU and another local group. The decision overturned a ballot initiative that would have eradicated all of the state's local gay rights laws and prevented even the state itself from passing any in the future. In doing that, the Court ruled for the first time that the United States Constitution does not allow the government to justify discrimination against lesbians and gay men with dislike or disapproval.

Links to other AIDS-related sites (02/20/2002)
The following sites provide comprehensive or unique resources relating to the work of the ACLU in this issue area. While some of these sites are operated by organizations that work frequently in coalition with the ACLU, the sites may also include materials on positions we do not share. To report a broken or relocated link, or to suggest a site for inclusion on this page, use the feedback button at the bottom of this page.

How badly did people with HIV get hit in the courts last year? (02/01/2000)
When Congress passed the ADA in 1990, it looked like the start of an answer to discrimination against people with HIV. And an answer seemed critically important, not just for protecting people, but for stopping the spread of the epidemic. It seemed imperative that society at least take a stand against discrimination if it wanted to get people to come into the public health system, get tested and get counseled on how to take care of themselves and those they loved.

February 8, 1996 -- Letter to ACLU Affiliates from Gene Guerrero & Alexander Robinson Regarding HIV (02/08/1996)
As you know, Congressman Robert Dornan (R-CA) attached a provision to the defense bill requiring automatic discharge of HIV-positive servicemembers. Because the provision was attached to the defense ibll even Members of Congress such as Senator Kennedy and Hawaii Representative Neil Abercrombie voted for the defense bill with the discriminatory provision attached. While President Clinton opposes the discharge requirement he has indicated that he will sign the bill. However with the growing recognition of how unfair and damaging the automatic discharge requireement will be, there is increasing pressure on the President to exercise his veto. The President is also being urged to veto because this defense bill also reinstates the ban on military women or dependents having abortions in overseas military facilities. PLEASE ASK ACTIVISTS TO CALL THE WHITE HOUSE URGING THE PRESIDENT NOT TO SIGN THE DEFENSE BILL.