A Georgetown alumnus is suing the State Department to challenge its 20-year ban on HIV-positive individuals from entering the Foreign Service.

Lorenzo Taylor (SFS ’79) alleges that he was unfairly denied appointment as a Foreign Service officer in 2002 after he passed the requisite Foreign Service examinations.

“Lorenzo Taylor is being denied the job of his dreams – after years of preparing for it – because of a 20-year-old policy that bans every person with HIV regardless of overall health,” said Jon Givner, director of Lambda Legal’s HIV Project, in a written statement.

“The blanket policy is in violation of federal law requiring reasonable accommodations.”

The HIV Project, a legal group that works on behalf of clients in cases of alleged HIV-related discrimination, is representing Taylor.

Justice Department lawyers argued at a D.C. Appeals Court hearing on Thursday that it would be unsafe to send officers to positions where they would not have adequate medical care. A federal court ruled against Taylor in 2003.

“The department currently does not hire any new foreign service employees who are found to not have worldwide availability at the time of their entry into the Foreign Service,” said State Department spokeswoman Amanda Rogers-Harper.

Taylor said that the policy is hypocritical because it permits officers who become HIV-positive after they have been admitted to continue in their positions.

“There are lots of individuals in the Foreign Service who became HIV-positive after they were hired,” Taylor said.

He attributed that policy to a compromise made between the Foreign Service officers’ union and the State Department in the 1980s.

Rogers-Harper said that the policy “does not differentiate HIV from any other medical condition,” and that the department makes similar provisions for other afflictions, including heart disease, diabetes and asthma.

While a spokeswoman for Lambda Legal noted that Taylor had otherwise passed his medical exams, Taylor said that he has been diagnosed with a slight case of asthma.

Taylor, who is fluent in French and Spanish, said his interest in Africa and economic policy began when he studied at Georgetown. He worked for the State Department from 1979-1988, and then worked at the Department of Health and Human Services until 1999.

In his 2003 brief in the original case, Taylor v. Colin Powell, his lawyers noted that he has never suffered an HIV-related illness and has traveled around the world without complications.

“By concluding that Mr. Taylor’s health is too poor to permit overseas work, the Department has capitulated to an outdated and inaccurate generalization about people with HIV,” he said.

In Thursday’s appeal, Taylor’s lawyers argued that he should be allowed to take HIV check-up tests with his paid leave just as other officers may receive eye or foot exams when they return to the United States during time off.

Lambda Legal cited a June 2002 speech to corporate leaders by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell that they said shows hypocrisy by the federal government.

“Corporate leaders can see to it that their managers implement fair employment practices to ensure there is no discrimination related to a person’s HIV status – no stigmatization. They are just like anyone else. This is one of those lessons we have to get to all employers and nations around the world,” Powell said.