2006 Fall Lambda Legal Update: Feature Story
The Politics of Fear: Lambda Legal’s charge to dismantle HIV discrimination at the State Department.
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More than 10,000 Americans are employed by the United States Foreign Service. They are assigned to serve in embassies, consulates and other diplomatic posts in 180 nations. Lorenzo Taylor had prepared for more than a decade to join their ranks, but he was denied by the Foreign Service because of a policy that bars all HIV-positive applicants from being considered for employment. Lambda Legal is challenging this policy to ensure that people with HIV receive fair treatment when they apply for the Foreign Service.
Lorenzo Taylor's partner tested positive in 1984, and Taylor the following year. "These were the first days of the epidemic, a very scary time," Taylor remembers. After his partner passed away, Taylor went back to school to pursue further education. At 50, he holds a master's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, speaks French and Spanish fluently, and has more than 10 years of experience working as a liaison and interpreter with the State Department.
The federal government is violating laws — laws it created — that stop people with disabilities from losing jobs they were qualified to have.
Taylor passed each part of the rigorous application procedure for the Foreign Service, only to be denied clearance at the final medical exam. Under President Reagan, the State Department established its policy barring HIV-positive Foreign Service applicants. The State Department claims that people with HIV may require medical treatment not available in less developed countries; however, there is no consideration of the applicant's overall health. Taylor contacted Lambda Legal's Help Desk in February of 2002 to fight the fear-based discrimination that had blocked his application.
"The federal government is violating laws — laws it created — that stop people with disabilities from losing jobs they were qualified to have," says Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director at Lambda Legal. Taylor's lawsuit, filed in 2003, said the State Department's policy violates the federal Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits the federal government from discriminating against people with disabilities.
Taylor's case has worked its way through the courts for three years. Most recently, an appeals court issued a decision in June stating that Taylor presented "more than enough" evidence for the matter to go to trial, and called the State Department's policy "suspect." "The Court recognized that people with HIV are individuals," says Lambda Legal's HIV Project Director Bebe Anderson. "No longer can the State Department hide behind its paternalistic policy."
Building on our court victory, Lambda Legal is also engaging our communities with an educational campaign directed at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has the power to change the State Department's policy. Lambda Legal delivered 5,000 petition signatures from our members to Rice's office at the beginning of the summer, urging her to repeal this discriminatory hiring practice. Lambda Legal advertised the campaign online and spread the word at Pride festivals across the country, telling Taylor's story and describing how Rice can put an end to this discrimination. By the end of the summer, petition signatures totaled more than 15,000. We are now pushing to reach a goal of 20,000 signatures in time for a delivery to the State Department on December 1, 2006 — World AIDS Day.
When he was Secretary of State, Colin Powell spoke passionately about the need for employers to stop discrimination against people with HIV, saying, "Corporate leaders can see to it that their managers implement fair employment practices to ensure there is no discrimination related to a person's HIV status — no stigmatization. This is one of those lessons we have to get to all employers and nations around the world."
Powell spoke those words but failed to act when he could have changed the State Department's policy. Now Condoleezza Rice has the power to make a difference. Until then, Lambda Legal will continue to press Lorenzo Taylor's case in court — and in the court of public opinion. ■
