A passenger walks through an airport
© AFP/File Romeo Gacad

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The ban first imposed 20 years ago, and made law in 1993, required foreigners with HIV to apply for special waivers and opponents said it discriminated against people with the disease without cause.

"Barring some unforeseen event, the HIV Travel Ban -- a relic of the days when HIV was a source of fear and stigma and terror -- is finally over," commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote on his blog on the Atlantic magazine's website.

Sullivan said that "for those of us who have long dreamed of becoming Americans, and have been prevented by 1993 law from even being able to enter or leave the US without waivers or fear or humiliation, this is a massive burden lifted."

The travel ban law was repealed Wednesday in an amendment to a bill providing increased funding to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa and elsewhere. The bill won backing from both parties in a 80-16 vote.

Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, and Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon sponsored the repeal of the ban.

With the vote, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services now has the authority to lift the HIV ban. It remained unclear if President George W. Bush's administration would take action or leave the issue to the next president, US media reported.

"We applaud the Senate for rejecting this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States," said Joe Solmonese, president of the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.

The ban came out of ignorance about the disease, rights groups said.

"Congress has finally moved to end the HIV ban -- a ban based on myth and misinformation," Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, was quoted as saying in US media.

"For 20 years, the United States has barred HIV-positive travelers from entering the country even for one day. Today the Senate said loud and clear that AIDS exceptionalism must come to an end."

©AFP