Source: Washington Blade
The State Department on Feb. 15 ended its longstanding policy of automatically rejecting candidates for the U.S. Foreign Service if they test positive for HIV, saying officials will now assess each candidate on a case-by-case basis to determine if their HIV status enables them to be deployed for overseas assignments.

The policy change came less than two weeks before a lawsuit filed by a gay man who was denied entry into the Foreign Service because of his HIV status was scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Washington.

“Now people like me who apply to the Foreign Service will not have to go through what I did,” said Lorenzo Taylor, a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Taylor, who speaks three languages and easily passed the government’s stringent application process to become a Foreign Service officer, received an initial job offer from the State Department in 2003. But officials rescinded the offer after a medical examination showed that Taylor was HIV positive.

The State Department cited its existing medical clearance policy that barred people with HIV from the Foreign Service on grounds that they could not receive proper medical care in certain diplomatic assignments, which would take them to developing countries with less advanced health care facilities. The policy required that Foreign Service officers be eligible for deployment anywhere in the world.

Under the new policy, the requirement for worldwide deployment still stands. However, it now recognizes that many people with HIV remain healthy and fully capable of worldwide deployment and that each Foreign Service applicant with HIV should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Full article: State Dept. ends HIV ban for Foreign Service - Washington Blade