Having HIV will no longer automatically disqualify you from serving as a Nashville Police Department officer, the Tennessee city agreed to in a legal settlement Friday.
The agreement settles a federal discrimination lawsuit filed last year by a former Memphis police officer. The officer, who filed the report under the pseudonym John Doe, said Nashville police rescinded his job offer in 2020 after learning he had HIV. That was despite a letter from his health care provider saying he posed no danger to others because his medication had successfully suppressed the virus to a level where he could no longer transmit it.
Nashville police say Riley Strain’s death was an accident with “no signs of trauma related to foul play.”
At the time, Nashville’s city charter required all police candidates to meet the physical requirements for admission to the U.S. Army or Navy. These regulations exclude people with HIV from enlisting in the military, and are currently the subject of a separate lawsuit by Lambda Legal, which also represents Doe. Nashville has since voted to amend its charter.
Nashville, Tennessee skyline. (Adina Orteanu/500px via Getty Images)
In Friday’s settlement, the city of Nashville agreed to pay Doe $145,000 and rewrite its public coroner policy. That includes adding language directing coroners to “individually assess each candidate’s health and suitability for duty” as a first responder or police officer.
Jose Abrigo, an attorney at Lambda Law Offices, said in a statement: “Medical science has advanced tremendously to the point where people with HIV can live normal lives and today work just like anyone else.” There’s no reason why it can’t be done.” “We hope this settlement is a testament to the continued work we need to do to remove bias and discrimination and update our laws to reflect modern science.”
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Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice last month sued Tennessee over its decades-old felony aggravated prostitution law, which it says illegally imposes harsher criminal penalties on people living with HIV. Tennessee is the only state that requires lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” for those convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV.
