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Author Topic: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!  (Read 6679 times)

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Offline aphaun

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The United States Federal Government is contributing to HIV/AIDS stigma.

Stigma prevents you and everyone affected by HIV/AIDS from talking about it.
 
The United States policy on AIDS is similar to that of a developing country. The proof is in North America's rising new Infection rate: it’s been going up since the year 2000.

“…the US is one of only a handful of countries to completely ban HIV-positive visitors, even for short term tourist stays (other countries are: Armenia, Brunei, China, Fiji, Iraq, Korea (South), Moldavia, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia).”— Aids Info Docu Schweiz [site now closed]

Stigma is one reason why we in this forum hide our true names. Seems they're only revealed when they end up on a quilt. The ramifications of disclosure are enormous. Misinformation makes society regard  us as an aberration. This is totally harmful. This should not be the case twenty-five years into the epidemic.

United States policy in AIDS in some ways resembles the policy in South Africa, (another “U.S.A.” when it was called the Union of South Africa—a clever ploy to disguise produce exported during Apartheid), where fear, confusion and misinformation today fuel the spread of the disease. No one there can talk about it, and it’s not that different here (in the U.S.A.). (Well actually, I’m not in the U.S.A., but very close.) Were I to disclose, I would be barred from entering the U.S.A. So I have to keep my mouth shut and hide my meds. Isn’t this situation stupid?

And there are no International AIDS Conferences in the U.S.A. I think that’s why there have been 3 in Canada—it makes it convenient for you in the U.S.A., in spite of the U.S. ban. I suppose there’ll be another one in Timmins, Calgary, Windsor or Igaluit one day, again to skirt the ban.

Note what occurred in 1991 in Florence in the History of IACs below.

http://www.amfar.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/feat/record.html?record=69

The immigration rules are just plain cruel.

http://www.aidsnet.ch/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=246

The shame attached to AIDS compounds the physical and psychodamage of an already difficult health problem. The United States should be a leader in its attitude about AIDS, but it behaves in a mediaeval manner, nurturing paranoia, hysteria and irrational response.

This has to change.

How can we stop AIDS if we can’t talk about it?

How can we stop AIDS if it is incorrectly categorized with leprosy?

How can we stop AIDS if we hide it, deny it and avoid testing and treatment for fear of disclosure?

When we face AIDS in a mature manner with compassion and understanding, we will all be better served.

If talks are underway with Belgium to ease HIV travel and immigration restrictions, it is a step in the right direction. But I can’t hold my breath long enough for this to happen there or elsewhere.

Here are some relevant links with respect to damages to our psyche on account of AIDS restrictions that reinforce stigma upon us.

http://www.amfar.org/cgi-bin/iowa/programs/publicp/z.record.html?record=174

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/aids/index.html?query=TRAVEL%20RESTRICTIONS&field=des&match=exact

http://www.actupny.org/actions/Immigration.html

It is up to YOU, residents of the United States, to push for a change in attitude.

Press your Member of Congress to change these regressive attitudes.

Do this for your own dignity, self-respect and for better health care.

Do this to prevent the spread of AIDS.

—aphaun

Offline wellington

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2006, 04:12:53 pm »
I concur aphaun. I'm dreading my next visit to the US to visit family in Florida. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, I'm sure, but it would give considerable peace of mind to know that I won't be mishandled.

The world is ready for a reason to love America again. A change to your border policies would be a worthy step in that direction.

Offline Val

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2006, 04:44:58 pm »
I don't wanna sound pessimistic, but as long as the Bush Administration is in power,  there is not going to be any change whatsoever in the U.S.'s policies about AIDS. Hivers can protest for as long as they want, nothing will shake a Theocracy like this one!  Yes, because when we say "Bush Administration", what we really are saying is the Evangelists.  And from this ilk, my friend,  there is absolutely nothing for us to expect but hell!

Val
___
___
P.S. Nice sources!
_____________
Arthus Bertrand
http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/affichage.php?reference=TVDC%20YABFR084&pais=France
Ali Mahdavi
http://asyoudesireme.online.fr/index.htm
Richard de Chazal
http://www.richarddechazal.com/
Daniel Nassoy
http://www.danielnassoy.com/pages/galeries_portraits_2.html
Photography:
The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφίς graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφή graphê, together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines".

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2006, 05:20:25 pm »
For your information, to say that there has was and  will never be any international AIDS CONFERENCE IN THE USA, you are dead wrong, maybe you need to do your reasearch before you speak of things you know nothing about, The United nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS was held in New York City in 2001. I was one of the many persons invited to this assembly, also in the letter received from UNAIDS to assist persons who were known to be hivt stated,
!: United States consular officers have the authority to issue this visa to people with hiv/aids without further consultation with INS or the need for amedical exam.
2. INDIVIDUALS COMING TO THE UNGASS with a visa annotated 212, and individuals who are visa-exempt should not be asked any questions about hiv/aids by INS inspectors at U.S. port on entry.
Persons attending this meeting also received letters from the State Department of Health in New York City, along with Cicatelli Associates.
For those of you who might be intrested in copies of this letter, I would be happy to fax to you, becuase it not only talks about that assembly, but it gives reference to the rights of persons infected with hiv who wish to enter the USA, on business, vacation etc.
 

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2006, 05:28:30 pm »
For more information you can also type in your search engines UNAIDS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2001, and read to your hearts content, also when it comes to why hiv is listed as communicable you may get answers to those questions from Humberto Cruz
Director
Division of HIV Health Care
Aids Institute
Albany New York 12237,
another source for information is Cicatelli Associates 212 594 7741

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2006, 05:38:31 pm »
That doesnt change the fact that a HIV+ person wishing to enter the US as a visitor would have to lie about there status to gain entry thats what the real problem is here.
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2006, 06:04:47 pm »
vistors are not required to reveal their status, yo do not do a medical test when you apply forr a visiting visa, the only time you are tested is for permanent residency, work visa and in some cases to attened college.
Persons hiv positive who are on medication may be reqired to have a letter from their health dept in their country which will list the medications but not what they are for.
There have been several other coferences on hiv/aids held in the usa in previous years and some coming up in the coming months, hivt persons from the caribbean, europe and other countries will be present at these conferences.
Immigration officers are not allowed to hassel or ask you any questions with regards to your hiv status, if they do they can be fined.
Any person who is simply visitng for the purpose of of vacation, will not be asked either because they are not in the system as being hivt, the only time you get in the system as being hivt, is when you get tested for permant residence, or a work or student visa.

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2006, 06:15:56 pm »
I can assure you there is a ban on HIV+ tourists entering the US.  This is not to say people don't do so but effectively they are breaking the law.  A law which was passed nearly 20 years ago!

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/docs/3E4632A8-4499-4A1D-8049-961C433B5A14.asp#cdf979f7-dabd-47ce-a87f-b855427f52e3

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/factsheets/hivfs.htm
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline JohnOso

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #8 on: August 29, 2006, 06:21:57 pm »
Wow, maybe i'm living in some bizarre parallel universe, but last time I looked there was a ban on HIV poz people being admitted to the US.

You may tap dance around the issue all you want, but I don't think the "pity visas" quite count in the grand scheme of things now do they?

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #9 on: August 29, 2006, 06:39:08 pm »
here is a solution vist the US Department of State, see reqirements for obtaing a us visa, and see if you can spot the difference between the requirements for a visitng visa and one for permanent residency.

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #10 on: August 29, 2006, 06:49:08 pm »
And since we are on the topic of Belgium, what are they doing about their law that says that gays and lesbians cannot adopt? Is that not discrimination as well?
Seems like people need to clean their own back yards before trying to clean others.
I am from Jamaica and thousands of Jamaicans line up each day( some sleep on the streets in front of the embassy to get a space in line) trying to get a US Visa, only to be told that they are not financially stable, meaning they do not won a home, a car or a business. Is this discrimination as well.
I wonder of many of us if we were not hiv infected would care?
How many other countries care abou persons with HIV/AIDS living in the USA?
How many other countries care about people living in New Orleans after Katrina?
How many other countries care if Americans have health insurance or not?
How many other countries care about american soldiers who have lost their lives fighting for this country?
How many countries care about the welfare and well being of Americans?
Maybe we need to give that some thought.

Offline jack

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2006, 06:50:31 pm »
I guess during the 8 years of Klinton, bush wouldnt let him end this ban.
We all know there was much fear when this ban was put in place, and we all know how difficult it is to get the goverment to change laws unless you are giving them money.
bush will only be president for two more years. At that time the world will change overnight, terrorism will end, and the ban on hivers entering the US will surely be tossed.

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #12 on: August 29, 2006, 07:00:06 pm »
This is a discussion about the ban on tourists entering the US I honestly don't see what belgiums ban on gay and lesbian adoption has anything to do with that?  And your right if I wasn't infected with HIV I probably wouldn't be too interested in the ban but I am so it does directly affect me I personally see it as a form of discrimination a long with a lot of other people. I don't understand what that point was supposed to mean.
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #13 on: August 29, 2006, 07:31:08 pm »
The point is discrimination is discrimination, like I said people need to clean their own back yards.
if you can't see the point I was trying to make , then to try to explain would be senseless now would'nt it

Offline Ann

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #14 on: August 29, 2006, 07:34:21 pm »
Brandy,

A UN General Assembly Special Session is NOT an HIV/AIDS Conference. Big difference.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline blondbeauty

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #15 on: August 29, 2006, 07:41:23 pm »
Brandy, I don´t need a visa of any kind to enter the USA as a visitor. But if I try to enter the country and get caught with my box of sustiva and truvada, even if I carry a prescription of my Dr. What would happen to me?
The only member in these forums approved by WINBA: World International Nail and Beauty Association.
Epstein Barr +; CMV +; Toxoplasmosis +; HIV-1 +.
Counts when starting treatment:
V.L.:80.200 copies. CD4: 25%=503
Started Sustiva-Truvada 14/August/2006
Last V.L.count (Oct 2013): Undetectable
Last CD4 count (OCT 2013): 52%= 933

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #16 on: August 29, 2006, 07:49:18 pm »
Hi blond beauty,
I asked the same question of friends who came in with their meds, you are not asked any questions.
as the perception is you ARE VISITING AND INTEND TO GO BACK HOME.
Persons visitng who suffer from other diseases and travel with meds, are not asked any questions either.
like i said before the issue arises for persons seeking Permanent Residence.

Offline brandy

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #17 on: August 29, 2006, 08:10:13 pm »
Ann,
apparantly the organizers of the UNAIDS general Assembly do not know the difference either, as the letterhead sent to persons invited to the conference stated UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASEMBLY/  CONFERENCE ON HIV/AIDS to be held in new york city blah blah blah.

Offline aphaun

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #18 on: August 29, 2006, 10:01:23 pm »
This is a copy of my last post in the thread:
Belgium started negotiations with the US on lifting the ban on HIV POS

I understand what is going on here. Indeed we are in parallel universes.

The United Nations is an entity unto itself. Anyone on U.N. business is immune from laws and regulations of the territory on which the U.N. does business, whether a delegate to UNGASS or a speaker with a gun in his pocket.

http://www.un.int/usa/host_p-i.htm

“if and when they find out their hiv status, the information is not relayed to US authorities, so they can still travel to the usa on that visa.”—brandy
—from thread: Belgium started negotiations with the US on lifting the ban on HIV POS

There is the proof that even you realize that there are consequences if the U.S. authorities discover the truth.

Offline Val

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #19 on: August 30, 2006, 02:00:09 am »
Brandy,
I don't know whether you're poz or not, and I don't know whether you're a denialist either!  However, I've been following this thread and am surprised by the way you just throw hot potatoes in the air pretending they are the truth.  In addition, you have a tendency of mixing everything up --- all kinds of subjects in order to get your point across.
I will not enter into any debate with you, but would rather share a little story with you that my dear doctor told me some time ago.  It is the story of a French National who is Hiv+, and went to Texas for a little vacation.  He was stopped, searched (naked) by U.S. authorities at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, and asked all kinds of questions pertaining his health.  In the end of the inquisition, dear Brandy, he was deported on the first flight available to Paris,  and barred for life to entering the U.S.A. Now, he was deported mainly because of two reasons: 1) On the formulary given to him at the plane, he checked "NO" for the question about "Communicable Diseases". 2) They found all his meds with the prescription that my doctor wrote out to him.
Of course, you can doubt (and try to explain)  my doctors' and my story!  But, then again, you've spent a considerable amount of time denying the U.S. Federal Law which, by the way, is for all States.

Val
___
___
Arthus Bertrand
http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/affichage.php?reference=TVDC%20YABFR084&pais=France
Ali Mahdavi
http://asyoudesireme.online.fr/index.htm
Richard de Chazal
http://www.richarddechazal.com/
Daniel Nassoy
http://www.danielnassoy.com/pages/galeries_portraits_2.html
Photography:
The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφίς graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφή graphê, together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines".

Offline joemutt

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2006, 03:12:23 am »
Brandy's information about adoption in Belgium (her off topic) is as wrong as  her information about hiv poz people travelling into te US.
Belgian parliament voted FOR the law allowing adoption by same sex couples on 5 April 2006.

Offline frenchpat

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #21 on: August 30, 2006, 04:42:22 am »
The point is discrimination is discrimination, like I said people need to clean their own back yards.
if you can't see the point I was trying to make , then to try to explain would be senseless now would'nt it

hum,

joining this heated thread.. :-\

Doesn't discrimination start at the individual level?

I find it is easy to use terms like "government" or "society" when we need to blame someone. Those entities only exist because they are made of people, human beings. These people make decisions that are sometimes good, sometimes bad, but they are people nevertheless. To deny them this quality is to make them either superior or inferior to us but definitely different. Heck, even George Bush is a human being ;D

So I don't know if the government of the country I live in cares about all the people you mention Brandy, but I know I do. And in some cases I feel helpless and sad.

It always seemed to me that technically speaking the UN building in New York (and Geneva)  was not considered US (or Swiss) territory or at least was not under US laws:

"Though it is in New York City, the land occupied by the United Nations headquarters is international territory, and its borders are First Avenue west, East 42nd Street south, East 48th Street north and the East River east.
The site of the United Nations headquarters has extraterritoriality status like embassies do. This affects some law enforcement where UN rules override the laws of New York City, but does not give immunity to crimes that take place there." (this taken from wiki but you can find the same on the un's site).

Maybe this is why the people you mentionned had no problems getting in... Anyway , it is a technicality , for I think that barring entry to someone who's got a health problem is definitely wrong.

checking the facts...

Pat
People have the power - Patti Smith

Offline aphaun

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Re: Negotiaion to Ease HIV Border Barrier with Belgium is Not Enough!
« Reply #22 on: December 04, 2006, 07:56:32 pm »
According to reports via Kaiser and AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Global Advocacy Department, I am delighted to post the following.

It's a great start. Keep writing those letters!

Dec. 4, 2006

World AIDS Day News

 Bush on World AIDS Day Issues Order To Lift Ban on HIV-Positive Foreigners Entering Country

     President Bush Friday on World AIDS Day issued an executive order to lift a provision of U.S. law that bans HIV-positive foreigners from entering the country without a special waiver, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/2).

Congress in 1993 enacted legislation that prevented HIV-positive foreigners from obtaining visas or citizenship.

According to the U.S. Department of State, if any foreigners traveling to the U.S., including people from countries not requiring visas, reveal that they have a "communicable disease of public health significance," they are prevented from entering the country.

The same rule applies to foreigners seeking permanent residence in the U.S. (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/22).

The current law allows waivers to be issued so HIV-positive people can enter the country to attend special events.

Under the new rule proposed by Bush, HIV-positive people would obtain a "categorical waiver" for business or tourist visas for visits of no more than 60 days.

It is not clear whether visitors still would be required to declare their HIV status.

HIV/AIDS advocates after the announcement praised Bush's decision but called for all restrictions on HIV-positive immigrants to be lifted.

"It's a step away from a terribly discriminatory and inappropriate policy, but it doesn't go far enough," Physicians for Human Rights Executive Director Leonard Rubenstein said, adding,

"If you want to remove stigma from AIDS, you have to go the whole distance and eliminate all restrictions on entry to the United States for people with HIV" (San Francisco Chronicle, 12/2).


 


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