Federal Judge Strikes Down AIDS-Grant Restriction
June 1, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A federal judge in Washington has struck down a U.S. government requirement that nonprofit groups sign an antiprostitution pledge to receive AIDS grants, saying the rule violates organizations’ free-speech rights.
The ruling was a victory for DKT International, a charity in Washington that sued the U.S. Agency for International Development and Andrew Natsios, its former chief administrator, after it was prohibited from receiving a grant last year because the charity refused to say it opposes prostitution and sex trafficking.
DKT argued that signing the pledge would hamper its efforts to help prostitutes prevent the disease.
The charity was denied a $60,000 grant that would have supported DKT’s efforts to market and distribute condom lubricants in Vietnam (The Chronicle, September 1, 2005). Lubricants can prevent condoms from breaking, thereby helping to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Since 2003, the Bush administration has required charities that receive funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development to fight HIV/AIDS to sign the pledge. The administration said the policy helps the United States convey a consistent message abroad.
But Judge Emmett G. Sullivan disagreed. In his opinion, he said, “The government’s interest in preventing garbling of its message, maintaining integrity of federal programs, and speaking in a single voice cannot result in compelling organizations, like DKT, to parrot the government’s policies.”
New York Ruling
The ruling came only two weeks after a similar legal decision was reached in New York. In that opinion, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ordered a temporary injunction against the government’s antiprostitution policy in response to a lawsuit by the Alliance for Open Society International, the Open Society Institute, and Pathfinder International.
The latest decision will allow DKT International to renew its work in Asia, which had been suspended temporarily because of the dispute, said Philip D. Harvey, the charity’s president. “We are moving back on track in Vietnam,” said Mr. Harvey.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which is handling the lawsuit for the Agency for International Development, has not decided whether to appeal Judge Sullivan’s decision, said Charles Miller, a spokesman for the department. “No determination has been made for our next step,” he said.
The Washington court’s decision in the case, known as DKT International Inc. v. United States Agency for International Development, et al., is available online at http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/ opinions/district-court-2006.html.
The New York district case, known as Alliance for Open Society International Inc., et al. v. United States Agency for International Development, et al., is available online at http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/pov/osi_court_documents.html.
