HIV Positive Criminals:
Have Sex, Go to Jail
2013 - unprotected-oral-sex-makes-positive-man-sex-offender/
This may be the defining HIV issue of our time, and it is a true test of our
compassion and understanding of both HIV stigma and the law. Please read this closely.
Around the country, and without leadership or guidelines from the
Federal government, individual states have taken it upon themselves to draft laws that “protect” people from those of us with HIV. Whether using
bio-terrorism statutes (!) or simple “assault with a deadly weapon,” people with
HIV who do not disclose their status to their sexual partners are risking arrest
and prosecution.
You’re already having a visceral response to this scenario, aren’t you? You
may have the vague feeling that anyone who doesn’t disclose their HIV+ status to
a partner probably deserves to be punished. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Not
only do most people support laws forbidding sex without disclosing an HIV+
status, but even a majority of gay men support such laws, and it is
understandable, albeit a misinformed view, as to why.
Many of us know someone who was infected by a partner who didn’t disclose
their status, or even lied about it. I have friends who dated someone claiming
to be negative, until they found a telltale prescription drug bottle and then
discovered they had been infected. Worse yet are the news reports showing some
big, scary black man who has been raping white women and infecting them with
HIV. How could anyone argue against bringing these liars and malicious
infectors to justice?
But the sad fact is, most prosecutions under these laws are not being imposed
against those who are deliberately malicious or even criminally negligent. They
are being imposed using not science, but the same ignorance, stigma, homophobia
and racism that has plagued HIV/AIDS throughout the years. And well intentioned
people like you and me are buying into it.
In Texas, a man is serving more than twenty years for spitting on a cop,
despite the impossibility of transmitting HIV. And in the vast majority of
cases against people having sex without disclosing, no transmission even
occurred. In fact, whether or not there was any real risk of transmission is of
little concern to prosecutors. People on medication with no viral load, for
whom transmission is a remote possibility if at all, are being sentenced to jail
time for not disclosing… even if they used a condom and did not transmit a
thing. And the sentences are outrageous: decades of jail time in many
cases.
Consider the black woman for whom disclosing her HIV status is more than a
mere embarrassment; it could mean the collapse of her support network, the loss
of a job or even physical danger. She is a compliant patient with no viral
load, and insists her sex partner uses a condom. He somehow learns of her HIV
status, calls the cops, and she is prosecuted and imprisoned. These are not
fantasy scenarios, they are happening with increasing speed around the
country.
The effect of these laws on public health is sobering. If those who know
their status risk prosecution for not disclosing, and those who don’t get tested
at all can have sex without legal consequences, how does that draw people into
HIV testing? As activist Sean Strub says, “Take the test and risk arrest.”
The laws in some states are written so strictly that it is a legal risk for
any HIV positive person to have sex at all. All the prosecutors need is to know
you are HIV positive and you had sex with your accuser. If the accuser claims
you didn’t disclose, you’re in for an uphill battle convincing a judge
otherwise. You’re saddled with the distasteful nature of any positive person
actually having sex, and if it was gay sex, well, God help you.
Activist Sean Strub has taken this issue up as a personal crusade. He took it
to the United Nations AIDS Committee last month, and brought along two
heartbreaking stories in the testimony of Robert Suttle and Nick Rhoades.
2013 - unprotected-oral-sex-makes-positive-man-sex-offender/
This may be the defining HIV issue of our time, and it is a true test of our
compassion and understanding of both HIV stigma and the law. Please read this closely.
Around the country, and without leadership or guidelines from the
Federal government, individual states have taken it upon themselves to draft laws that “protect” people from those of us with HIV. Whether using
bio-terrorism statutes (!) or simple “assault with a deadly weapon,” people with
HIV who do not disclose their status to their sexual partners are risking arrest
and prosecution.
You’re already having a visceral response to this scenario, aren’t you? You
may have the vague feeling that anyone who doesn’t disclose their HIV+ status to
a partner probably deserves to be punished. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Not
only do most people support laws forbidding sex without disclosing an HIV+
status, but even a majority of gay men support such laws, and it is
understandable, albeit a misinformed view, as to why.
Many of us know someone who was infected by a partner who didn’t disclose
their status, or even lied about it. I have friends who dated someone claiming
to be negative, until they found a telltale prescription drug bottle and then
discovered they had been infected. Worse yet are the news reports showing some
big, scary black man who has been raping white women and infecting them with
HIV. How could anyone argue against bringing these liars and malicious
infectors to justice?
But the sad fact is, most prosecutions under these laws are not being imposed
against those who are deliberately malicious or even criminally negligent. They
are being imposed using not science, but the same ignorance, stigma, homophobia
and racism that has plagued HIV/AIDS throughout the years. And well intentioned
people like you and me are buying into it.
In Texas, a man is serving more than twenty years for spitting on a cop,
despite the impossibility of transmitting HIV. And in the vast majority of
cases against people having sex without disclosing, no transmission even
occurred. In fact, whether or not there was any real risk of transmission is of
little concern to prosecutors. People on medication with no viral load, for
whom transmission is a remote possibility if at all, are being sentenced to jail
time for not disclosing… even if they used a condom and did not transmit a
thing. And the sentences are outrageous: decades of jail time in many
cases.
Consider the black woman for whom disclosing her HIV status is more than a
mere embarrassment; it could mean the collapse of her support network, the loss
of a job or even physical danger. She is a compliant patient with no viral
load, and insists her sex partner uses a condom. He somehow learns of her HIV
status, calls the cops, and she is prosecuted and imprisoned. These are not
fantasy scenarios, they are happening with increasing speed around the
country.
The effect of these laws on public health is sobering. If those who know
their status risk prosecution for not disclosing, and those who don’t get tested
at all can have sex without legal consequences, how does that draw people into
HIV testing? As activist Sean Strub says, “Take the test and risk arrest.”
The laws in some states are written so strictly that it is a legal risk for
any HIV positive person to have sex at all. All the prosecutors need is to know
you are HIV positive and you had sex with your accuser. If the accuser claims
you didn’t disclose, you’re in for an uphill battle convincing a judge
otherwise. You’re saddled with the distasteful nature of any positive person
actually having sex, and if it was gay sex, well, God help you.
Activist Sean Strub has taken this issue up as a personal crusade. He took it
to the United Nations AIDS Committee last month, and brought along two
heartbreaking stories in the testimony of Robert Suttle and Nick Rhoades.
Please take three minutes to watch the testimony of Robert, who was jailed
for six months and will be labeled a sex offender for years — it is emblazoned
on his driver’s license in red block letters.
for six months and will be labeled a sex offender for years — it is emblazoned
on his driver’s license in red block letters.
Sean’s own testimony about people with HIV being viewed as “vectors of
disease,” with less rights but more responsibility to disclose, and you may view
this issue quite differently than you do now..
disease,” with less rights but more responsibility to disclose, and you may view
this issue quite differently than you do now..
Sean has also produced a trailer for a film he is producing, “HIV is Not a
Crime,” and I urge you to watch it.
Crime,” and I urge you to watch it.
Is your record of disclosing your status perfect? Mine isn’t. I have been a
compliant patient for many years and have an undetectable viral load. There has
been instances in which disclosure felt unsafe, or I was in environments such as
public sex clubs in which no one is asking or telling.
I don’t believe I deserve to go to jail for those indiscretions. Do you?
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
REMEMBER: Guys that know their Positive status, are taking meds and undetectable do not SPREAD HIV! "Neg" guys, that have never been tested/don't have truly accurate results are responsible for all HIV transmissions.