A U.S. soldier asked a federal judge to bar the Trump administration from firing HIV-positive service members from the military under a new policy intended to improve readiness. (See the full Department statement here)

The policy, announced in February, directs the Pentagon to discharge service members who can’t be deployed outside of the U.S. for more than 12 consecutive months “for any reason.” It takes effect Oct. 1.

An earlier directive put in place at the height of the AIDS crisis prevents service members with HIV from deploying overseas, meaning the new policy “makes it effectively impossible for people living with HIV to serve,” the soldier said Thursday in a filing seeking an injunction against the rule. There are about 1,200 soldiers with HIV, according to the complaint.

“Soldiers, sailors, fighter pilots and marines are seeing their promising careers cut short, their dreams of service shattered and their health jeopardized due to antiquated notions about HIV and the stigma that results,” Scott Schoettes, the soldier’s lawyer with Lambda Legal, said in a statement. Read more Bloomberg

These Groups Are Fighting Trump's Policy Discharging HIV-Positive Troops From Military

Two advocacy groups are requesting an injunction against a policy they say effectively discharging HIV-positive servicemembers from the military.

Lambda Legal and OutServ-SLDN filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday against the Trump administration's "Deploy or Get Out" policy unveiled in February 2018. The new regulations compel the Pentagon to discharge any members of the military who are unable to deploy for 12 consecutive months.

Filing on behalf of two active servicemembers, the groups claim the policy effectively targets HIV-positive troops by forcing them out of the military.

"The military's accessions and deployment policies with respect to people living with HIV violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution," advocates claimed in this week's motion, in which Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis is named as a defendant. "As a group, people living with HIV meet all of the criteria defining a suspect or quasi-suspect class."

"Therefore, regulations and policies that single them out for disparate treatment should be subjected to heightened scrutiny," the brief added.

Under current policy, people with HIV cannot join the U.S. military, but those diagnosed after their enlistment can remain in the armed forces under strict regulations. A 1991 Pentagon directive bars HIV-positive service members from deploying overseas but does not prohibit them from serving in other capacities. Read more via INTO

background on the DoD policy, published February 5, 2018

New Pentagon plan could boot thousands of non-deployable troops

Service members who have been non-deployable for the past 12 months or more will be separated from the military, based on new Defense Department policies that are under final review.

The “policy will require the services to process members who are non-deployable for 12 consecutive months for admin or disability separation,” according to a draft summary of the policy obtained by Military Times.

“This memo will be followed by a [Department of Defense Instruction], which will take several months to complete.”

The new retention policy is being reviewed by the service chiefs and Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.

“The department intends to emphasize the expectation that all service members are worldwide deployable and to establish standardized criteria for retaining non-deployable service members,” said Air Force Maj. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman. “The goal of the policy is to further reduce the number of non-deployable service members and improve personnel readiness across the force.” Read more via Military Times