BOSTON (AP) — A military college student who says he was removed from his duties for testing positive for HIV is suing state and federal military officials.
The 20-year-old student from Revere, Massachusetts, says in a complaint filed Thursday that he tested positive for HIV in October 2020 at Norwich University.
The student, identified in the lawsuit as “John Doe,” said that he was deemed unfit for service and dropped from the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and the Vermont Army National Guard.
The complaint was filed in federal court in Burlington, Vermont,
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Vermont National Guard didn’t respond to emails seeking comment Thursday.
The Department of Defense has a policy that states it can deny military service eligibility to people who contract HIV.