Federal judge prevents release of two HIV-positive airmen

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The decision, which will allow airmen to continue serving until their case is tried, is a setback for the Trump administration, which has a tense relationship with the LGBTQ community over contentious political decisions such as banning military transgender.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema decided to sit at the hearing, supporting the airmen, granting the preliminary injunction requested and determining that "the plaintiffs would probably succeed in preventing their release by the trial," the statement said. . Brinkema also rejected the Trump administration 's request to dismiss the complaint. A written decision was to be issued, Lambda said.

"This is a major victory in our fight to ensure that all people living with HIV can serve their country without discrimination," Lambda's Legal Counsel and HIV Project Director wrote in a statement. Scott Schoets.

The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint, filed by the two aviators under the pseudonyms "Richard Roe" and "Victor Voe", claims that the Pentagon discriminates against members of the seropositive armed forces through a long-standing rule of the Ministry of Defense that prohibits their deployment outside the United States. without waiver.

The Trump administration introduced a new rule last February that any member of a service that can not be deployed outside the United States for more than one year should be taken out of service. Proponents of the policy said that this reduced the burden on deployable service members, who were deploying faster due to the need to cover non-deployable service personnel.

"This directive would probably have been applied to almost all members of the services living with HIV," says the trial.

Roe and Voe argue that they "are released despite the contrary recommendations of their commanders and doctors only because they have been tested positive for HIV" despite the respect of the treatment plan and the absence of symptoms.

The air force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, dismissed the charges in December, claiming that "the air force does not find all the aviators with HIV asymptomatic unfit "and that" the determination of the physical fitness of each member of the Air Force suffering from chronic disease is carried out on a case by case basis ".

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