I do not support criminalization laws.  I do support education and responsibility, for self and others. 

·      In the rare cases when someone purposely or maliciously transmits HIV with the intent to harm (and these cases are rare: CDC data) current criminal laws can and should be used.

·      CDC data shows that in states that do have criminalization laws, they do not influence the behavior of people living with HIV.

·      Thirty-two states have such laws in response to a federal funding mandate (1994) that to receive AIDS care and education money they were required to enact such laws.  That federal law was reauthorized in 2000 with the Ryan White Care Act not requiring states to criminalize transmission.  Is this a surprise when three states and the US military still try to enforce these Sodomy laws when in 2003 the Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional?

·      The law does not so much require someone with HIV to inform all sexual partners, but allows the partner to file charges against the individual with HIV.

·      In some cases the law is so specific as to state that actual transmission does not need to take place, and is so vague as to state intentional exposure of body fluid.  That would mean kissing could be prosecuted under the law.

·      What happens when a person who is HIV Positive informs their sex partner that they are Positive the partner prosecutes out of revenge or financial gain?  We are a litigious country.

·      Consensual sex is consensual, and both individuals have responsibility in how they engage in sex. There is implicit consent both to the sex and to any medical risks arising from the mutual decision not to use a condom.  Why would one party be prosecuted and the other seen as a victim?

·      Other communicable diseases, some more contagious than HIV, do not criminalize the carrier.  This also is an endangerment of another’s health and life. What makes HIV different? 

·      Those who might be infected may not get tested, those not knowing their status could not be held liable for reckless transmission, therefore not prosecuted.  This would have serious public health implications.

·      A person can be asymptomatic for usually in excess of one year.  How would you know who infected the individual who is prosecuting?

·      In order to know if someone is positive for HIV and intentionally infected others, there would need to be medical screening (possibly compulsory).  How would this be done across all populations and all circumstances?  Or, would you focus on high-risk groups, thus increasing prejudice and discrimination?

·      Then there is the issue of civil rights.  Does one have less of a civil right to privacy because they are HIV positive than one who is HIV negative?  We already went through this with the Civil War.

But fundamentally, my three concerns are one, they are discriminatory, the second, the slippery slope that such legislation opens the door to.  Finley, 65% of homosexuals across the country are in favor of these laws.  Why are we fighting among ourselves?  It was the lesbians, transsexuals, butch men, and drag queens that as a group said no more at the Stonewall Bar that started our civil rights movement. When the AIDS epidemic started, it brought us together, and as such we changed the face of this epidemic in twenty years.  Now we are using it to split us up into two warring camps.

"Growth can stem from the most surprising places"

R. M. Andrews & Associates
Marc Andrews LCSW, DCSW, MS, President
Counseling & Clinical Supervision

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