Sweeping language introduced to modernize Ohio’s HIV laws proposed by an unlikely lawmaker
Earlier this year, Ohio Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton) surprised many LGBTQ+ advocates when she introduced two bills to protect the rights of people living with HIV.
There are no co-sponsors on either bill, just Carruthers: a conservative Ohio Republican with only seven weeks left in office who is also a primary sponsor of one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently being considered by the Ohio legislature.
Still, Carruthers’ office sent out a press release on May 10 that LGBTQ+ advocates had been waiting many years to read:
“State Rep. Sara Carruthers will hold a press conference to discuss the recent introduction of House Bill 498. The legislation will remove the criminal offense related to donating blood when the donor has HIV.”
Just a few weeks earlier and after she lost her March primary, Carruthers introduced both HB 498 and HB 513. These two bills aim to overhaul the Ohio Revised Code to bring laws affecting living with HIV more in line with modern science and research.
Then, the day before the press conference was to be held, Carruthers canceled the event with no explanation. She subsequently did not respond to multiple requests – phone calls, emails and website submission forms – to comment on the legislation.
But now, six months later, a first hearing on the two bills appears imminent, and Carruthers is speaking out – a little – on the legislation that so many Ohioans have fought for years to see proposed.
Enforcement without science
Currently Ohio has six laws on the books that either criminalize certain acts for people living with HIV – including sexual acts with zero possibility of HIV transmission – or substantially increase sentences for this population compared to people who do not have the virus.
In February, Equality Ohio and Ohio Health Modernization Movement (OHMM), a coalition of advocacy groups and community leaders, released results of a three-year effort to count prosecutions in Ohio’s 88 counties. Compiling information from court dockets and public records requests to court clerks and prosecutors, the groups tallied 214 cases prosecuted over a six-year period, from 2014 to 2020.
Notable recent cases have included Caymir Weaver, a 23-year-old Mahoning County resident who was sentenced in 2023 to a year in prison for exposing someone to HIV even though he couldn’t transmit the virus.
With Ohioans actively being prosecuted under the six laws, advocates say the sense of urgency to reform the statutes is clear.
“It’s finally time to have the laws match the science,” said Bryan Jones, steering committee member of OHMM.
But the path forward to this much-needed reform?
“That’s definitely less clear,” said Jones.
Updating Ohio’s laws
Ohio’s laws that criminalize living with HIV were first passed in 1989. That year, AIDS-related complications were the second leading cause of death among men between 25 and 44 years.
The original laws did not specifically reference HIV status, instead requiring prosecutors to prove that having sex while living with “the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” was akin to carrying a deadly weapon.
Several high-profile examples of HIV transmission dominated the country’s attention in the 1990s, notably the New York case of Nushawn Williams, who had sex with over 100 women.
Following the media panic caused by cases like that of Williams, many states updated their HIV laws. In 2000, Ohio’s laws were changed to more specifically add HIV status into the language and criminalize exposure, not transmission.
Carruthers’ two bills would modernize the law and reduce prosecutions:
- HB 498 (“To remove criminal offense related to donating blood with AIDS virus”): This bill would repeal the following language in the Ohio Revised Code that currently charges individuals living with HIV with a fourth-degree felony if they sell or donate their blood or blood plasma knowing that it is being accepted for possible transfusion to another individual.
- HB 513 (“To revise criminal and disciplinary provisions relating to HIV, AIDS”): This expansive bill would reform or repeal several state laws currently criminalizing living with HIV, including:
- Repealing the law that imposes a felony charge on those who engage in sexual conduct before disclosing their HIV status.
- Repealing the mandatory testing requirements for people accused of committing felonious assault and causing someone to come into contact with bodily fluids.
- Eliminating several felony enhancements for people living with HIV, including for people engaging in sex work after an HIV diagnosis.
- Providing an expungement process for those who had previously been convicted of HIV-specific felonious assault and a process by which individuals can be removed from the sex offender registry due to an HIV-specific felonious assault conviction.
- Removing stigmatizing and inaccurate language.
- Providing protections against non-consensual HIV testing and HIV information disclosure.
“After over 30 years of HIV research and significant biomedical advancements to treat and prevent HIV transmission, many state laws are now outdated and do not reflect our current understanding of HIV,” Carruthers said in a statement on November 8.
Carruthers said that the current laws increase stigma, exacerbate disparities and may discourage HIV testing: the very opposite of how to approach a public health issue.
“It is crucial for Ohioans to recognize that HIV is not a crime; it is a health condition that requires that supportive network of healthcare professionals across the state dedicated to ending the HIV epidemic,” Carruthers said.
An unlikely sponsor
Carruthers lost a March primary 53.1% to 46.9% to Pastor Diane Mullins, a pastor at Calvary Church who openly espouses anti-LGBTQ+ views and conspiracy theories in her sermons and who went on to win the Ohio House seat in the general election in November.
Carruthers was one of 22 Republicans who joined all House Democrats in voting to seat Jason Stephens as House Speaker, a move which caused her to be condemned by the Ohio Republican party and made her the subject of funding efforts that successfully defeated her in favor of a more conservative Republican candidate.
Which is not to say that Carruthers isn’t a staunch conservative, including on LGBTQ+ issues.
Carruthers is the primary co-sponsor of HB 8, the Parents Bill of Rights, a bill that would force all teachers and school staff – including school social workers, counselors and psychologists – to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents.
The bill also requires parental notification for any LGBTQ+ content in the curriculum and bans LGBTQ+ content in grades K through 3, which could include same-sex parents or gay penguinsin children’s books.
Despite the provisions of the bill that would forcibly out LGBTQ+ students, Carruthers declared during a House session in June 2023 that the bill was solely about protecting the rights of parents.
“The Parents’ Bill of Rights is not anti-LGBTQ, nor does it have anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community,” she said, contradicting the specific language of the bill regarding LGBTQ+ youth. HB 8 passed the House in 2023 and now sits in the Education Committee of the Senate.
She has spoken out against the sports participation of trans females and voted for HB 68, the ban on trans female athletes and gender-affirming care for Ohio minors.
Thus on paper, her sponsorship of these HIV decriminalization bills may look surprising, but advocates of the bills say she had personal motivation to get involved.
“She was immediately on board because she had her own personal experiences having lost friends because of HIV. She took this up and we’re grateful that she did,” said Maria Bruno, then public policy director of Equality Ohio, in March.
Carruthers’ sudden cancellation of the press conference left advocates scrambling to put together an event with medical experts and community leaders to speak on behalf of the bills, minus the presence of the state representative actually sponsoring the legislation.
“She wanted to have the press conference after a first hearing so that it could be more finite and comprehensive,” Carruthers’ office told The Buckeye Flame.
The path forward
Carruthers’ office has said that HB 498 and 513 will have a first hearing in the Criminal Justice committee during this upcoming lame duck session: the period of time after the November election when legislators execute a mad dash to pass legislation. On January 1, bills that have not yet been passed have to start the legislative process from scratch, minus legislators who lost their elections, which includes Carruthers.
“She is actively looking and hopeful to find a representative who will continue with this legislative journey in the upcoming GA,” said a representative from Carruthers’ office.
Decriminalization advocates say they are committed to HIV law modernization, no matter how long it takes.
“We all know this might take a few years, but we are willing to stick together and do this work,” said Kim Welter of OHMM.
Still, there is hope that HB 498 and 513 will resonate with legislators.
“What we have seen is an appetite for criminal justice reform,” said Bruno. “We have faith that [legislators] will see this for what it is, which is ultimately criminal justice reform.”
In order to be successful, advocates say education for Ohio legislators will be critical.
“Basically we need to do the education and to help our legislators get out of the 80s and into the 2020s to learn about things like [undetectable = untransmittable], PrEP and other things they might not know,” said Welter.
Although they are in it for the long haul, advocates’ appetite for change is not new. Bryan Jones has been working on introducing modernization legislation since 2009. He is pleased with this burst of progress with HB 498 and 513, but noted the finish line is off in the distance.
“This is as close as we have ever gotten to modernizing Ohio’s laws, but we clearly have so much further to go,” said Jones.
IGNITE ACTION
- Contact the members of the Criminal Justice Committee here to weigh in on HB 498 and 513.
- Read the OHMM (“Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio: Analysis of Court Cases from 2014 to 2020”) report here.
- Read the Williams report (“Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio HIV-related criminal incidents from 2000 to 2022”) here.
- Catch up on all of Ohio’s current LGBTQ-related legislation by checking out our Legislative Guide here.
