Jesse Helms, a former North Carolina senator, died on Friday, July 4th, aged 86. Depending on whom you talk to, Helms was a principled firebrand, or proof that only the good die young.

My suspicion is that reactions have generally mirrored those accrued to the death of Jerry Falwell last year. Both Helms and Falwell were either admired as forces of good, or reviled as forces of evil, depending on who you talk to. [Reactions collated by the AP]

A tragic legacy of his bigotry towards the gay community (”Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches”), however, is the current HIV travel and immigration ban, a law spearheaded by Helms in the late 1980s (the “Helms Amendment”). The PEPFAR bill, passed by the House in February, added a repeal of the HIV travel and immigration ban in the Senate version, led by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore). Top-ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden (D-Del) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind) also supported adding the removal of the ban. Rep Barbara Lee (D-Calif - our representative here in Oakland) has pushed to have the House adopt the Senate version with the ban repeal attached.

What might make Helms turn in his freshly-dug grave is there seems to be very little opposition to turning over the ban. Two Republican senators objected to specific funding provisions of the bill, but no one took issue with the repeal of the travel & immigration ban. The bill will probably come up for vote this week.

One thing everyone can agree on is that Helms prided himself in defending unpopular positions. But whether you consider his political steadfastness admirable, or symptomatic of a sclerotic outlook on an ever-changing world, also probably depends on your political proclivities.