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According to CNN on the 21st, U.S. federal judge Leonie Brinkema ruled on the 20th that the U.S. military is prohibited from refusing citizens who test positive for HIV to join the army, overturning the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon)'s "last part of the controversial handling measures" on HIV. As early as 2022, Brinkema overturned the military's regulations that HIV-positive patients were not allowed to join the army as officers or be stationed overseas.

The Pentagon, Washington, DC, USA.

Federal Judge Brinkema reportedly said that the U.S. Department of Defense's ban on HIV-positive people from joining the military violated the "Equal Protection Clause" in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, "exacerbating discrimination against this group of people and seriously hindering the military's recruitment goals." She required the Pentagon to allow civilians in similar situations to apply to join the U.S. military and assume corresponding responsibilities. The case verdict stated that asymptomatic HIV-positive soldiers can perform military duties, including participating in global deployments, if they continue to receive treatment and are able to maintain their HIV load at extremely low levels.

During the trial, the US Department of Defense argued that "regardless of whether the treatment is successful or not, the military must reject potential service members with known risks to avoid medical, financial and diplomatic risks". The Pentagon also emphasized that restricting HIV carriers from joining the military "has a reasonable relationship with ensuring a safe blood supply for combat medical treatment". But Brinkema believes that the Pentagon's policy "has no connection with the legitimate interests of the government, and has failed to provide any examples of soldiers transmitting HIV through blood transfusions". In addition, soldiers who test positive for HIV are not allowed to donate blood.

According to reports, the plaintiffs in the case are three HIV-positive patients, represented by lawyers from the American Minority Veterans Association. These people wanted to join or rejoin the military, but were unable to do so due to current policies. One of the plaintiffs, Isaiah Wilkins, found out that he was HIV-positive when he sought to join the Army Reserve, which made his plan difficult to achieve. After the verdict was announced, Wilkins said in a statement: "This is not only a personal victory for me, but also a victory for those HIV-positive people who want to serve."