Federal judge says US military cannot turn away enlistees who are HIV-positive

(CNN) — The US military cannot turn away enlistees who have HIV, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, striking down the final part of a controversial Pentagon approach to the condition that has been chipped away at in recent years.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the Pentagon’s ban on HIV-positive people seeking to enlist in the armed forces contributes “to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals.”

“Modern science has transformed the treatment of HIV,” Brinkema wrote in her ruling, saying that “asymptomatic HIV-positive service members with undetectable viral loads who maintain treatment are capable of performing all of their military duties, including worldwide deployment.”

The Pentagon, she added, “must allow similarly situated civilians seeking accession into the United States military to demonstrate the same and permit their enlistment, appointment, and induction.”

HIV is not easily transmitted to another person. It can’t be spread through saliva, sweat, tears, communal exercise or sharing a bathroom. Most people get HIV through anal or vaginal sex or when sharing needles, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medication called antiretroviral therapy, when used as prescribed, can suppress HIV in the body to very low levels or even levels that can’t be detected by tests. People who stay virally suppressed or undetectable won’t transmit the virus through sex or syringe sharing, the CDC says.

The Pentagon’s policies toward HIV-positive Americans have been mired in legal battles in recent years. In 2022, Brinkema, in a separate pair of cases, struck down the military’s ban on people who are HIV-positive from joining the armed forces as officers or deploying abroad. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin subsequently issued a memo that said people who are HIV-positive will no longer automatically be barred from serving in military leadership or serving overseas.

The challenge to the enlistment policy was brought by three HIV-positive individuals looking to join or rejoin the military in the last few years. All three were unable to do so because of the now-enjoined policy.

One of the plaintiffs, Isaiah Wilkins, was serving in the Georgia National Guard when he sought to enlist in the Army Reserve. During that process, he learned that he is HIV-positive, complicating those plans and prompting him and the two other unnamed plaintiffs to bring their lawsuit.

“This is a victory not only for me but for other people living with HIV who want to serve,” Wilkins said in a statement Tuesday. “As I’ve said before, giving up on my dream to serve my country was never an option. I am eager to apply to enlist in the Army without the threat of a crippling discriminatory policy.”

The Pentagon had pushed various arguments in defense of its policy, including that caring for HIV-positive service members would create financial burdens for the Department of Defense and that deployment might make it likely that such individuals “could experience viral rebound” if they don’t adhere to their medication regimens that manage the infection.

The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.

CNN’s Jen Christensen and Katherine Dillinger contributed to this report.