Edwin Cameron, a justice on South Africa's Supreme Court, has been appointed by South African President Mothlanthe to the Constitutional Court, the nation's highest court. Cameron has been particularly vocal on the subject of HIV/AIDS: “Praised by Nelson Mandela as ‘one of South Africa's new heroes', Judge Cameron was the first judge to disclose that he was HIV-positive.”
Hunter of Justice writes: “A former Rhodes Scholar who became a human rights lawyer, Judge Cameron is the co-author of several books, including Witness to AIDS, a memoir on his experiences as a person living with AIDS, and Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. During his time on the Court of Appeal, he has been a leader in developing that nation's civil rights and liberties jurisprudence. Last summer, Judge Cameron addressed the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, arguing that homosexual sexual conduct should be decriminalized throughout the world, as a necessary step in fighting AIDS. (video here) He is the co-author (with Scott Burris – Temple Law) of a scholarly paper elaborating that argument.”
According to the blog, Cameron is the first openly gay man or woman appointed to a nation's highest court.
