Metro Weekly

President Obama sings Ryan White Act lifting ban on incoming travelers with HIV/AIDS

“We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease — yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic — yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country.”

President Barack Obama, speaking Friday, Oct. 30, before signing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009. The law also finalizes an effort begun under former President George W. Bush to lift a ban on HIV-positive foreigners from entering the U.S. Lifting the ban should take effect in early 2010. (White House Media Affairs Office)

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