Judge Rules U.S. Aids Policy Violates Free Speech

A United States District Judge has ruled that the government's international AIDS funding policy violates the First Amendment. District Judge Victor Marrero stated in his preliminary injunction that the Supreme Court "has repeatedly found that speech, or an agreement not to speak, cannot be compelled or coerced as a condition of participation in a government program."

The current policy, legislated by Congress in 2003, denies federal funds to organizations who refuse to sign an anti-prostitution loyalty oath. The document assures the government that the organization has a policy that denounces sex work and other high risk behaviors.

According to the government, the policy was created to prevent prostitution and protect women from being exploited. But upon closer examination, the moral motivations become clear. The rules also require government agencies to give equal funding consideration to groups that have a "religious or moral objection" to AIDS treatment methods such as condoms or needle exchange programs. Smells like 'bush' to me.

The Alliance for Open Society International Inc., the Open Society Institute and Pathfinder International all signed the loyalty oath last September, then turned around and filed a lawsuit challenging the law. The organizations spend tens of millions of dollars a year for international AIDS prevention programs.

Rebeka Diller, the groups' attorney, summarized their legal strategy in an interview with Voice of America.

"We argued that it (the policy) violated the First Amendment for two reasons. One was that it extended so far as to restrict what organizations could do with their private funds. And second, it forced organizations to adopt the government's point of view on a contested social issue in order to be eligible to receive government funding."

Diller called the decision "a tremendous victory for public health" and that it "will enable these organizations to serve very vulnerable women."