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Helping jump the biggest hurdle at AIDS Watch 2020 HIV HAS ALWAYS BEEN POLITICAL.
less of transmission or ability to transmit. HIV exposure laws are relics from an earlier time and fly in the face of the science around how HIV is transmitted. These laws perpetuate stigma, and they deter people — especially black Americans and LGBTQ folks — from accessing HIV testing. Laws that criminalize HIV have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with control. They give law enforcement purview over our sex lives. Critically, these laws try to
Reagan took five years to say the word “AIDS.” Bush I
take away a person’s right to disclose their health status on
signed the Americans with Disabilities and Ryan White Care Acts, but required states to certify prosecutions of peo-
their own terms. We have the tools to bring the epidemic
ple who knowingly exposed others to HIV,
under control by Trump’s “deadline,” but the
giving rise to HIV disclosure laws.
promise of ending HIV cannot be realized
Under Clinton, the CDC named HIV as the
without an honest assessment of existing pol-
leading cause of death for black men between
icies and strong HIV advocates on the ground
ages 25-44. Under Bush II, activists had to
holding policymakers accountable.
fight to expose policy shortfalls and confront systemic drivers of HIV that also restrict access to care and dictate moral behaviors. Under Obama, the U.S. Justice Department
Georgia is indicative of the rest of the counERIC PA U L K
issued temporary and non-binding guidelines suggesting elimination of HIV-specific criminal laws, except in a few specific cases. Flash forward to today. President Trump has promised
among marginalized communities including
young, black, gay and bisexual men and transgender communities. The epidemic is driven by social and economic inequities that include poor access to healthcare, criminalization and stigma.
to end AIDS by 2030, but more than 30 states, including
When these factors are set against a policy landscape aimed
Georgia, have active HIV-specific statutes and cases that
at undermining the social safety net, weakening the Afford-
criminalize people living with HIV.
able Care Act, and dismantling discrimination protections
This week, I will join other state advocates at the Gold
for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, efforts to
Dome to do something about it, and you can too. What is HIV criminalization? According to AIDS United, it’s an “overly broad use of criminal law to penalize alleged, perceived or potential HIV exposure; alleged nondisclosure of a known HIV-positive status prior to sexual contact… or
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try. The burden of new HIV transmissions is
end the HIV epidemic are undermined. As such, we must hold our elected officials accountable and advance legislation that actually supports ending the epidemic. Please register to join me and other advocates from around the state on February 6 to demand HIV criminal justice re-
non-intentional HIV transmission.”
form during the AIDS Watch Georgia 2020 day of advocacy
When HIV is criminalized, people living with HIV can face
at the Gold Dome.
unjustly long jail sentences simply for having sex — regard-
Eric Paulk is deputy director of Georgia Equality. georgiaequality.org
theQatl.com