Posts
On April 23, activists condemned
Georgia’s HIV criminalization laws as heavy-handed and unnecessary at a
gathering at the Phillip Rush Center. In Georgia, it is a felony for an
individual with HIV infection to have sex with someone who is not infected without
disclosing one’s status, even if protection is used and even if the disease is
not transmitted. Mark King, “My Fabulous Disease” blogger, organized the event,
which included Georgia’s Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham, AID Atlanta’s
Craig Washington, Lambda Legal’s Greg Nevis, SERO Project Executive Director
Sean Strub, and Assistant Director Robert Suttle. After the speakers, a
question-and-answer period followed when audience members asked questions and
shared personal stories of how HIV impacted their lives.
According to the speakers, the focus
should be on reducing stigma associated with the disease. They blamed stigma as
the reason why many persons with HIV infection do not seek treatment or
disclose their status to friends and sexual partners. King saw this issue as
another instance when people with HIV would have to advocate for themselves.
According to King, the criminalization is being driven by stigma, and most
people felt that the stigma is worse. Although people with HIV infection are
doing much better medically, they felt that today the social stigma is worse.
For this reason, people are much less comfortable about disclosing their
illness and sharing with friends or partners.
Activists want to eliminate HIV
criminalization completely, although they acknowledge the need to punish people
who intentionally endanger others by infecting them with HIV or other STDs.
King commented that the great majority of people with HIV do not intentionally
attempt to infect others and suggested assault laws be used for those who do.
The question of how HIV-positive persons will have a problem protecting
themselves from possible legal recourse was considered. In addition to
practicing safe sex and closely monitoring viral loads, other measures can be
taken to ensure that HIV-infected individuals are protected from the law.
Nevins, an attorney, suggested keeping a record of disclosure either through a
text message, in-person conversation, or otherwise. Nevin emphasized that if
accused of not disclosing status, it is the HIV-positive person’s
responsibility to prove disclosure.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
