From a Steve Ralls, Communications Director at Immigration Equality, Huffington Post op-ed:
In about 72 hours, a plane from The Netherlands will arrive at JFK Airport in New York and two passengers onboard will, for the first time in more than two decades, be able to step safely onto U.S. soil. The arrival of Clemens Ruland and Hugo Bausch will also signal the end of a shameful and discriminatory policy that has exacted a heavy price on our country’s reputation in the scientific community and kept countless individuals – both straight and gay – separated from their loved ones.
Beginning today, the United States’ decades-old HIV Travel and Immigration Ban will be a relic of the past, and the stigma and discrimination it has engendered around the world will, with any luck, begin to fade, too.
Slowly, but surely, America rejoins the rest of the civilized world under the Obama administration. It is nice to live in a country with a smart president that does not kowtow to retrograde reactionaries. For those on the flight from The Netherlands, welcome to The United States of America.
