LAMBDA LEGAL ARCHIVE SITETHIS SITE IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED. TO SEE OUR MOST RECENT CASES AND NEWS, VISITNEW LAMBDALEGAL.ORG

Lambda Legal Congratulates HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes on Appointment to Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

Browse By

Blog Search

September 3, 2014
Comments
Lambda Legal HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes

Lambda Legal is proud to announce that HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes has been appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. The 25-member Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) provides advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding programs and policies intended to promote effective prevention of HIV disease and to advance research on HIV disease and AIDS. Schoettes will be sworn in on Thursday, September 4 and serve a 3-year term.

Lambda Legal HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes, said:

I am honored to have been selected to serve in this capacity, and I look forward to working with the other members of the Council to promote sound federal policies with respect to HIV. Much remains to be accomplished to achieve the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, and this appointment will provide a new platform from which to ensure that improving the lives of people living with HIV - and reducing the stigma and discrimination they face - remain central to efforts to end the epidemic.

Most recently, Schoettes helped prevent a crisis by filing a federal class action lawsuit after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana announced it would no longer accept the federally funded premium subsidies that enable lower-income Louisianans living with HIV to purchase health insurance. Schoettes was also part of the legal team that secured a ground-breaking ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court setting aside the felony conviction of an HIV-positive man for having a one-time sexual encounter with another man during which they used a condom and HIV was not transmitted.

Legal Director and Eden/Rushing Chair at Lambda Legal, Jon Davidson, said:

Scott’s appointment is a well-deserved recognition of his profound expertise and exemplary national leadership on the rights of people living with HIV and on the development of sound HIV public policy. We are delighted that he will have a more direct role helping the federal government address the HIV epidemic that continues to have such a disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men, transgender individuals, people of color and low-income individuals. 

Learn more about Lambda Legal's HIV Project here.

Read the press release.

HIV