Yep, what happened in Maine sucks. It's one thing not to give a group of people rights. It's another thing to take away rights that a group has. But, whatever, been there, done that.
Instead, I'm rather excited that the federal government is lifting the ban on HIV+ people traveling into the United States. That makes me really happy because it changes the potential for my research. There have been time I've been at conferences and had to listen to speakers from other countries say they had to lie about their health to get into the country to speak, and there have been plenty of other times when I've been to conferences and someone was not able to attend because they didn't want to lie, and they knew it would be illegal for them to enter this country. That means I lose a chance to learn from some pretty great people.
This also means that the International AIDS Conference can be held in the United States! I'm not saying I'll be able to attend, but the chance of attending increases when it's actually in this country. And the travel ban was the number one reason why it hasn't been in this country in recent years. After all, if it's illegal for half the presenters and attendees to show up, why have it here? And I just made up that number; I don't know how many attend who are HIV+, but a lot do.
The potential of lifting the ban is really exciting.
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