Bush administration seeks approval of social conditions for recipients of AIDS money
The American Government sought Tuesday to overturn a court decision that lets nonprofit AIDS groups apply for federal funding without signing pledges to oppose prostitution and sex trafficking.
At least one of the groups, DKT International Inc., has refused to sign the pledge because it helps distribute condoms to prostitutes and other sex workers in Vietnam.
DKT last year sued the US Agency for International Development (USAID – Amerikas Danida), contending their free speech rights were violated by a 2003 law that requires them explicitly to oppose prostitution and sex trafficking to qualify for part of a 15 billion US dollar AIDS program.
In May, US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan sided with DKT, saying the funding conditions insist that groups “parrot” the US government’s position on prostitution.
But the Justice Department, in its appeal Tuesday, called the funding condition “highly germane” to the overall goal of fighting the spread of AIDS and HIV.
“Congress could reasonably determine that the governments efforts to stamp out prostitution and sex trafficking would be most successful if HIV/AIDS services are provided by organizations that affirmatively oppose two underlying causes of the disease,” the government said.
The case now heads to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. A date for arguments has not yet been set.
Kilde: The Push Journal
