A federal judge on April 6 reversed longstanding policies that previously blocked HIV-positive military service members from becoming officers and deploying in active duty outside of the United States, in what proponents are calling a “groundbreaking ruling.” The policy was put in place by the Department of Defense and prevented service members living with HIV—human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS—from commissioning as officers and being deployed overseas, thus limiting their opportunity for career advancement. However, District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in favor of three service members in two separate cases, which were first brought in 2018 by the LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal on behalf of the service members. The individual plaintiffs are service members living with HIV. One of them, Sgt. Nick Harrison, is a member of the District of Columbia National Guard, who has served in the military since 2000 and was diagnosed with …