On the right to access antiretroviral therapy (ART) by HIV-positive LGBT+ persons

Abstract

Free and permanent access to antiretroviral drugs and constant and specialized medical follow-up are essential elements that make up an adequate, comprehensive and effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is required without exception by all HIV carriers, regardless of the viral stage they are in. The consolidation of this service as a right is a clear achievement of the social movements formed by gender and/or sexual orientation dissidence worldwide since the eighties, because LGBT+ HIV-positive people are in a situation of helplessness and specific vulnerability when living with the virus. Thus, thanks to these social struggles, access to ART has been established in most contemporary states of law as a guarantee related and essential to the fundamental rights to life, health and equality.