Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - June 27, 2006
Lou Chibbaro Jr
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a lower court decision dismissing the case known as Lorenzo Taylor vs. Condoleezza Rice.
State Department officials have acknowledged that Taylor, an Arlington, Va., resident, was highly qualified for a Foreign Service post at the time he applied for a job in 2001. But personnel officials informed him that his HIV-positive status disqualified him for the job under a State Department policy that says people with HIV are ineligible for deployment overseas.
The policy says Foreign Service officers must be capable of serving in certain "hardship" posts in developing countries, where they most likely could not obtain adequate medical care. The policy applies whether or not the individual's actual assignment is to a "hardship post."
In 2002, the gay litigation group Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund filed a lawsuit on Taylor's behalf, charging that the State Department policy violated the federal Rehabilitation Act. The act prohibits the federal government from discriminating against people with disabilities, including HIV.
Lambda attorney Jon Givner presented evidence showing that routine medication has kept Taylor healthy and symptom-free, and that his immune system was strong enough to allow him to serve anywhere in the world. He would need medical monitoring only twice a year, Givner argued, and that level of care was considered a "reasonable" degree of accommodation required under the Rehabilitation Act.
The lower court - the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia - granted a government motion to dismiss the case on "summary judgment," saying the State Department made a reasonable claim that Taylor's condition could impose an "undue hardship" on the Foreign Service.
Judge Arthur Raymond Randolph, writing for the three-judge appeals panel, said the State Department failed to provide sufficient evidence to warrant a judgment in its favor without a trial to weigh contradictory claims from both parties.
"The secretary's claim that granting Taylor Class 2 clearance [for a Foreign Service job] is unreasonable and would impose undue hardship is suspect," Randolph wrote.
The judge noted that the State Department sometimes hires Foreign Service employees with medical conditions other than HIV and that Taylor presented evidence indicating he is healthy enough to serve anyplace as long as he receives a twice-yearly check-up.
"This evidence is more than enough to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding the reasonableness of the proposed accommodation," Randolph wrote in the ruling.
Lambda Legal cheered the decision.
"We are pleased to see that the court sees through the faulty reasoning used by the State Department to substantiate this discriminatory and baseless policy," said Givner, who serves as director of Lambda Legal's HIV Project.
Givner has argued that the State Department has undermined the rationale for the policy by allowing Foreign Service officers who are diagnosed with HIV while on the job to retain their jobs by providing "reasonable accommodations" to allow them to continue working.
"There is no evidence to suggest that this has caused any difficulties for the State Department," Givner said.
A State Department spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
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