Subject: HRC Pushes Bill To Repeal Discriminatory HIV Provision
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 18:27:25 -0500

________________________________________________________

NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign

1101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
email:  [email-masked]
WWW:    http://www.hrcusa.org
________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 2, 1996

                          HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN PUSHES
           BILL TO REPEAL DISCRIMINATORY HIV PROVISION
                             Pledges to Continue Working To Pass It

EMAIL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THROUGH HRC'S WWW SITE!
                                        http://www.hrcusa.org

Washington -- The Human Rights Campaign hailed a bipartisan bill
to repeal a discriminatory measure that would kick out all armed
service members who have tested positive for the AIDS virus, even
if they are healthy and performing their jobs competently.

     "That was one of the meanest, most vindictive measures to
come out of the 104th Congress, and we will do everything in our
power to ensure repeal of that discriminatory measure," said
Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's senior health policy advocate.

     The bill to overturn the HIV measure was introduced in the
House  late Thursday by Reps. Peter Torkildsen, R-Mass., Jane
Harman, D-Calif., Connie Morella, R-Md., and Ron Dellums,
D-Calif. It is expected to be introduced next week in the Senate
by Sens. William Cohen, R-Maine and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

     The repeal bill is expected to have broad bipartisan support
in both houses, Stachelberg said, noting that Georgia Sen. Sam
Nunn, ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee,
has called the HIV expulsion measure "punitive."

     The bill  would repeal a provision of the $265 billion
Defense Department's 1996 authorization. That provision, written
by Rep. Bob Dornan, R-Calif., would discharge within six months
the 1,049 HIV-positive U.S. service members and immediately cut
off all health care benefits to their dependents. Half these
service members are married and, on average, they have served in
the military for a decade, according to the Pentagon. Nearly 20
percent of them are officers.

     "The Human Rights Campaign worked closely with congressional
offices and the White House to craft this repeal measure,"
Stachelberg said. "We are pleased that President Clinton is
putting the full force of the White House behind undoing this
atrocious provision."

     Clinton has voiced strong opposition to the measure since
the authorization bill passed Congress late last month. "The
president doesn't believe it should be in the defense
authorization bill and will look for a way to try to take it out
prior to the effective date in June," White House spokesman Mike
McCurry said Monday. Clinton is expected to sign the
authorization bill next week.

     Dornan and other GOP extremists added the HIV provision to
the House version of the defense authorization, but it was not in
the Senate bill. When the two versions went to a House-Senate
conference committee for reconciliation, House Republicans made
sure this discriminatory measure became part of the final bill,
Stachelberg said.

     "This measure would remove trained, experienced, physically
healthy and productive men and women from the armed forces,"
Stachelberg said. "It singles out men and women with HIV and
treats them differently from service members with other
diseases."

     Currently, service members with the virus that causes AIDS
may serve their country as long as they can perform their duties,
but they are not deployed overseas. The same policy is applied to
service members who have other chronic medical conditions such as
diabetes, asthma, heart disease or cancer.

     The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian
and gay political organization, with members throughout the
country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign
support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay
Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in
the community.

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