For several weeks this spring, the door Isaiah Wilkins had been pushing for years was finally pried open.
In late May and early June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did two things that few expected. First, we agreed to rehearse. Wilkins vs HegsethA case that challenges. military Participation of people living together is prohibited HIVin front of a full court. And in doing so, it revealed it lifted the hold the Pentagon had been using to keep the ban in place. The real effects were immediate. Properly managed HIV-infected individuals could again walk into the recruitment office and attempt to enlist while their cases were ongoing.
“This fight continues to show that there is hope,” said lead plaintiff Wilkins. Defender. “After oral arguments in Virginia, things looked bleak. … I think this shows that science can win.”
related: Two military personnel denied promotion due to HIV infection, just won a lawsuit
military history he was supposed to have
For Wilkins, 27, gambling was the life he was meant to have.
Wilkins, who is gay, grew up steeped in the spirit of service. Most of his maternal family wore the uniform, including his mother. He enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard at the age of 17 while attending Georgia Military College. His instructors there encouraged him to attend West Point, and he was accepted to the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School. He envisioned flying medical evacuation aircraft during his 20-year military career, perhaps in aviation.
“You’re really there on the worst day of someone’s life to get them the help they need,” he said.
Later, during summer training at West Point, he was separated from his unit, led through a back hallway to the colonel’s office, and told that a routine entrance blood test had tested positive for HIV. His first question was whether HIV would kill him. His second question was whether he could remain in the military.
The answer to the second question posed over the next few weeks was “no.”
“They were like, put a good word in for me,” he said.
What followed were the darkest days of his life, and he describes the rejection as not only painful but unscientific. He relied on what he called his safety net. The best friends he met while working in 911 dispatch, his fellow first responders, and the West Point staff who took him under his wing and turned weekly board game nights into a form of therapy. His conservative and religious family surprised him with their support.
He channeled that same drive into law enforcement and is now a Georgia State Trooper. This job, similar to the military career he had hoped for, puts him on the receiving end of people’s worst days.
“There’s something about being part of an organization that’s bigger than yourself and having the opportunity to help people,” he said.
His medical reality, he points out, is almost mundane. “One pill a day,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
He also noted that the military already allows people who contracted HIV during their military service to continue in uniform if they are medically healthy.
“All we’re talking about is whether people with HIV should be allowed to serve in the military, and people with HIV shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military, because that question has already been answered,” Wilkins said.
related: Military ban on people infected with HIV faces legal challenge
Legal victory is possible from afar
Scott Schoetz, a longtime HIV rights lawyer and co-counsel on the case with attorney Peter Perkowski, said the legal journey to get to this point has not been an easy one. Mr. Schoetz, who lives with HIV, has spent years challenging military policies that are rooted in prejudice rather than science.
In August 2024, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia struck down the military enlistment ban, calling it “irrational, arbitrary, and capricious.” The government appealed. In February, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit sided with the Pentagon and reinstated the ban. The plaintiffs then filed what Schoetz called a lengthy petition asking the Chancery Court to reconsider the case.
The Fourth Circuit agreed. Then the second surprise happened. The court found that the panel’s suspension, along with the rescinded opinion, was lifted, meaning Brinkema’s injunction was once again in effect.
For people living with HIV, the impact is immediate, Schoetz said.
“If you go to a recruitment center and you’re turned down or told it’s not possible, we want to be heard,” he said.
related: Federal appeals court unexpectedly reverses, reigniting challenges to Pentagon’s HIV policy
The government tries to close the door again
The government is still trying to close the door. Schoets said in an update after the press conference that the Justice Department filed a motion to reinstate the suspension on June 1, and the plaintiffs filed an objection on June 11.
“The Department of Justice did not explain why it bypassed the district court and went straight to the Fourth Circuit,” Schoetz said in a follow-up message. “I think they were trying to rush things to avoid an adverse ruling.”
A new three-judge panel will decide on the motion, and Schoetz said he wouldn’t be surprised if the government seeks emergency relief from the Supreme Court if it loses.
A 10-year battle for service
Kevin Deese is living proof of how long it takes to achieve victory.
Dees was a cadet at the Naval Academy in 2014. On April 1, he was called by his cadet commander and told that a blood test revealed that he was infected with HIV. He will be allowed to graduate, but like the rest of his class, he will not be commissioned as an officer.
“Without a doubt, that day was the hardest day of my life,” Deas said. defender.
In his case, Dees & Do v. Austinbecame one of the fundamental legal challenges to military HIV policy. The lawsuit, filed in 2018 by Lambda Legal, the American Modern Military Association, and Winston & Strawn, was filed on behalf of Deas, who is gay, and a former Air Force Academy cadet identified under a pseudonym. Both men had graduated from their respective military academies, but were refused service due to their HIV status.
In 2024, the government reached a settlement and agreed to commission the two men as officers in recognition of their careers earned years earlier. Dees is currently serving in the Naval Reserve. He stressed that he was speaking on his own behalf and that his comments were not endorsed by the Navy or the Department of Defense.
“I am extremely grateful to finally have the opportunity to serve in the Naval Reserve,” Deas said. “But the fight took 10 years.”
Deese urged Pentagon leaders to consider the human cost of the remaining bans.
“Also consider the disruption to the lives of those who are ready, able, willing and committed to serve,” he said. “As long as that door is closed, I’m going to keep knocking.”
His message to Wilkins and the other current plaintiffs is one I wish they had heard sooner.
“This isn’t over unless you decide,” Deas said. “The only outcome you can guarantee is if you decide to stop fighting.”
related: Lambda Legal speaks in court to allow people living with HIV to join the military
Fighting prejudice as well as policy
What makes this battle unusually difficult, Schoetz said, is that many legal jobs involve basic education.
“This is 95 percent of what we did in the lawsuit,” he said.
The military has expressed concerns about access to medical supplies, blood donations and battlefield infections during deployments. Schott said these arguments are based on outdated assumptions. HIV treatment is as simple as one pill a day or an injection every few weeks. Donating blood is voluntary and not mandatory. He also said fears that people with HIV could transmit the virus by bleeding on the battlefield are not supported by real-world evidence.
“It’s never been documented as a way for HIV to be transmitted,” he says.
This legal debate is also a cultural debate. Stigma against HIV has always relied, in part, on making people appear more dangerous than they actually are.
related: Federal appeals court sided with Pentagon over science, reinstating U.S. military ban on HIV enlistment
Why Wilkins went public
Wilkins knows the stigma all too well. He stays away from comment sections on articles about his own case. He also changed the way he talked about himself. During one medical examination, he recalled describing himself as HIV positive. The clinician gently corrected him.
“You’re just a person living with HIV,” the clinician told him.
The language remained with him. So was the loneliness I felt when I realized how few people still understood HIV.
“I think one of the key things in dealing with bias is lack of knowledge,” Wilkins said.
He became the named plaintiff because others had gone ahead, he said. he pointed to nicholas harrisona lawyer living with HIV hired in 2023, and other litigants who have challenged the military before him.
“I felt like I had a responsibility,” he said. “It’s a responsibility to people living with HIV, to people who are not in a place where they can speak out and stand up to the world’s largest, most powerful, most well-funded organizations.”
what happens next
For those who decide to give Open Doors a try, Schoetz offered some practical advice. Be honest about your health, record all interactions with your recruiter, and contact his team and the organizational plaintiff in this case, Minority Veterans of America.
But for now, the door is open.
Wilkins, who once sat in the colonel’s office wondering if his life and military future were over, could try again. So do others.
If he could talk to a teenager at West Point who received that diagnosis, he knows what he would say.
“First of all, you’re okay,” Wilkins said. “I know you don’t feel well, but it’s okay.”
And there’s still hope for the future, he said.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
