HIV
People living with HIV continue to face discrimination in employment, health care, insurance, immigration, parenting and other areas of life. Lambda Legal won the first HIV discrimination lawsuit in the nation, and since then we have helped maintain or expand protections across the country for people living with HIV. We pursue impact litigationImpact litigation Precedent-setting cases designed to affect large numbers of people and bring about meaningful social change (more keywords), education and advocacy to combat bias and stereotypes and to ensure that people are treated fairly by employers, health care providers and others. We also apply our legal expertise to policy issues affecting people living with HIV — including HIV testing, collection of private information about behaviors and sexual partners, access to medical care and treatment and HIV prevention.
National Context
In the third decade of the epidemic, HIV continues to have a devastating impact on our communities. Over 1 million people nationwide are living with HIV today, and there are approximately 40,000 new infections each year. Among people living with HIV in the United States, 45 percent are men who have had sex with men. The epidemic is having a particularly serious impact on black gay men. Homophobia continues to fuel HIV stigma and presents a significant barrier to HIV prevention efforts. Access to treatment remains an important issue, with hundreds of thousands of people with HIV not in regular care. Discrimination against people living with HIV remains a serious problem that both marginalizes people living with HIV and poses barriers to treatment and care.
Lambda Legal's Impact
In our early work, we forced hospitals to treat people with HIV and convinced drug companies to lower the price of medications. Recent successes have made it possible for people with HIV to have access to organ transplants and parent their children without unwarranted court interference. In 2004, we won the largest HIV discrimination settlement of its kind on behalf of an employee who was kept from performing his job just because he has HIV. We are currently fighting to end the government's discriminatory policy that bars people with HIV from applying for Foreign Service jobs, pursuing a federal courtFederal Court The United States’ national court system, handles civil and criminal cases (more keywords) challenge against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Our work has helped combat discrimination, bias and stigma; ensure access to treatment; and promote effective prevention policies.
