It’s one of the great achievements of medical science that an HIV infection is nowhere near the death sentence it was in the 1980s and 90s. Indeed, with access to the right treatment and care, you can keep the virus suppressed and untransmittable and live as long and healthy a life as someone without HIV. That’s why I was surprised to find out that the U.S. military has a blanket ban on any HIV-positive recruits.

I discovered this anachronistic policy while reading the first draft of journalist Jordan Gonsalves’ feature about a young man named Isaiah Wilkins who was, for a time, a star U.S. Army cadet. “To lose him as a future leader for the Army was a shame,” Major Jeremiah Ellis, deputy commandant of West Point Prep, told Gonsalves. “He was absolutely the kid that I could see leading our soldiers one day.”

Then he was diagnosed with HIV, and for all intents and purposes, the military gave him the boot. Not only is Wilkins not allowed back into the Army, the government says he owes them over $16,000, because he only completed three of his eight years of his service commitment before being discharged. Now he’s suing both the Army and the Department of Defense.

If he wins, the impact of the case will help bring the military into the present, and could have knock-on effects elsewhere. “If the military is welcoming to people living with HIV, workplaces everywhere will see people living with HIV as less of a danger,” says Scott Schoettes, one of Wilkin’s attorneys. “For many Americans, this will reduce the shame of disclosing their status and even getting tested all together.”

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