Home : HIV/AIDS : General

ACLU and Public Health Groups Urge Appeals Court to Reject Bush Global AIDS Gag (12/21/2006)
WASHINGTON - The federal government is illegally restricting the ability of U.S. health organizations to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, charged the American Civil Liberties Union and more than 25 public health and human rights organizations in a legal brief filed today.

Bush Global AIDS Gag is Harmful to Public Health, Groups Tell Appeals Court (11/14/2006)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and 26 public health experts, human rights and HIV/AIDS organizations are urging a federal appeals court to reject a government policy that restricts the ability of U.S. groups to end the spread of HIV/AIDS in other countries.

ACLU Sues West Virginia Police Chief Who Blocked Life-Saving Measures for Gay Heart Attack Victim Assumed to Be HIV Positive (03/02/2006)
CHARLESTON, WV – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal discrimination lawsuit on behalf of the surviving family members of a Welch man who died of a heart attack after the police chief physically prevented his friend from performing CPR. The police chief blocked the CPR because he falsely assumed that the man, who was gay, was HIV positive and therefore a health risk.

Global AIDS Gag Holds Critical Funding Captive to Politics (11/09/2005)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed deep concern about a U.S. government policy that ties the hands of public health service providers and those who work with them in the global fight against AIDS.

ACLU Criticizes the CDC for Proposed Changes in Guidelines on AIDS-Related Materials (08/17/2004)
NEW YORK - In a letter submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Civil Liberties Union denounced suggested revisions to the agency's content guidelines for HIV/AIDS materials, which regulate the messages that HIV prevention organizations receiving federal funds can use in materials aimed at preventing HIV transmission. The new guidelines would require organizations to present HIV prevention materials for review by state and local health officials, who could be partisan, elected officials with no expertise in HIV issues and prevention.

A Report from the Frontline of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic (01/01/2003)
From "Where We Are 2003": The Annual Report of the ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project.

HIV and Homeless Shelters: Policy and Practice (12/21/1999)
A hands-on policy and practice toolkit for homeless shelters, focusing on the connection between HIV/AIDS, homelessness and shelters, including a five-part teaching guide, suggestions for improving conditions for residents with HIV, and a model non-discrimination policy that shelters are urged to adopt.

HIV PARTNER NOTIFICATION: Why Coercion Won't Work (03/01/1998)

Amicus Brief in Support of Plaintiff-Appellee in DKT International, Inc. v. United States Agency for International Development (11/14/2006)
The ACLU and other groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia emphasizing the damaging impact the global AIDS gag policy would have on public health worldwide. The groups also argue that the policy violates the free speech rights of U.S. organizations by restricting use of their private funds.

Amicus Brief in DKT International, Inc. v. United States Agency For International Development, et al. (11/15/2005)

ACLU Comments Urging the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") to Withdraw or Substantially Revise the Proposed Revision of Interim HIV Content Guidelines, 69 Fed. Reg. 33824 (June 16, 2004) (08/16/2004)

ACLU Letter to the House Urging Support for H.R. 1155, the Civil Rights Tax Relief Act (12/15/2003)

ACLU Letter to the Senate Urging Support of S. 557, the Civil Rights Tax Relief Act (12/09/2003)

Sign-on Letter to Omnibus Appropriations Bill Conferees Urging No New Funding to Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Under the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) Grant Program funded through the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill (02/05/2003)

Fax to the House Opposing the D.C. Appropriations Bill (10/14/1999)

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.

State Criminal Statutes on HIV Transmission (06/04/2008)