US: The SERO Project looks back at its achievements in 2018

January 2019 Newsletter

Table of Contents

HIV is Not a Crime III

HIV is Not a Crime III Training Academy (HINAC III), produced by Sero in partnership with the Positive Women’s Network-USA, educated and trained 245 advocates from 36 U.S. states and six countries (Canada, Mexico, Belize, Germany, UK, and Colombia).

 

The gathering was held June 3-6, 2018, at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) with in-state organization partners, the Indiana HIV Modernization Movement, and Brothers United. 

 

HINAC III included a two-day Black United Leadership Institute (BULI) pre-conference for 50 participants, to elevate leadership of Black people, especially PLHIV, in state-level efforts to address HIV criminalization. The full report from the 2018 HINAC Training Academy can be read here.

 

The inaugural HIV is Not a Crime (HINAC I) event was held at Grinnell College, in Grinnell, Iowa, in June 2014. HINAC II was held in May 2016 at the University of Alabama/Huntsville, with 297 participants from 34 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and four countries (Mexico, Canada, England, and Germany). 

 

Planning is now underway for HINAC IV, date and location to be announced soon.

 

Sero video from HINAC III for Day With(out) Art 2018: Alternate Endings, Activist Risings

Sero supporter Mark S. King worked with Visual AIDS to create a video at HINAC III as part of Visual AIDS Day With(out) Art 2018: Alternate Endings, Activist Risings. Thank you to Mark and Visual AIDS, as well as Stacy Jennings, Billy Willis III, Susan Mull, Shyronn Jones, and Contonnia Turner, all featured in the video.

 

Network Empowerment Project: Tools to Strengthen a Movement

Sero’s Network Empowerment Project was inspired by the Denver Principles and other PLHIV self-empowerment initiatives and launched to facilitate the creation and strengthening of PLHIV networks, whether they are focused on advocacy, education, recreation, provision of services, or social support.

 

PLHIV networks improve health outcomes for people living with HIV as well as contribute to stigma reduction and improve advocacy outcomes. PLHIV Networks enable us to:

  • Determine our own agenda(s), rather than having them defined by others;
  • Choose our own priorities and strategies;
  • Select and hold accountable leadership of our own choosing;
  • Speak with a collective voice.

When we create community and work together, our voices are heard more clearly, and we have a greater influence on the policymaking that so profoundly affects our lives. PLHIV networks also have traditionally been the incubators from which emerges new PLHIV leadership.

 

NEP’s online tool kit provides resources, research, and contacts to help create and strengthen PLHIV networks.

Sing Your Song: PLHIV Networks Change Lives

On December 1, 2018, World AIDS Day, Sero released a new video about PLHIV networks, filmed at the Mississippi Positive Network‘s “We, the Positive” summit in Jackson, Mississippi in October 2018. It is a moving illustration of the power of networks to change lives and strengthen the voice of PLHIV.

 

State Updates

Texas: A Network is Born

In May 2017, history was made when Texans living with HIV, from Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Beaumont, and elsewhere, created the Texans Living With HIV Network. Venita Ray, a woman living with HIV who helped organize the meeting, said, “TLHIV will be a collective voice for all Texans, ensuring that we are involved with all policies and decisions that impact our quality of life.”

“TLHIV will continue the legacy of involvement by people living with HIV embodied in the Denver Principles,” says Ray, who also serves as deputy director of Positive Women’s Network-USA. “Nothing about us without us!”

Sero staffers Tami Haught and Robert Suttle, along with facilitator Laura McTighe, were on hand at the gathering, which was supported by Sero and the Southern AIDS Coalition.

Michigan Passes HIV Criminalization Reform

Excerpt from Michigan Makes Strides in HIV Disclosure Law press release], published by Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety:

January 8, 2019 – LANSING, MI. After five years of work by the Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), advocates living with HIV and other national and local partners, Michigan’s HIV disclosure law has been modernized.

The new legislation, HB 6020 and HB 6021, was introduced by State House Representative Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) and was supported by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. After passing both chambers, the bill was presented to Governor Snyder who signed the bill December 27, 2018.

Previously, a person living with HIV (PLHIV) could face a felony up to 4 years in prison for not disclosing their HIV status prior to any type of sexual penetration. The degree of risk of HIV transmission was not a factor in the statute; including circumstances where there was no HIV transmission, nor even any risk of HIV transmission.

The amended law removes those living with HIV who are on treatment and virally suppressed—posing no risk of transmitting HIV—from being subject to prosecution. It also narrows the scope of sexual activities subject to prosecution, from “any type of sexual penetration to only “vaginal and anal sex.” Oral sex, which poses no or negligible risk of transmission regardless of whether the person with HIV is on treatment or virally suppressed, is no longer subject to prosecution.

View the full press release here.

Virginia is for (Justice) Lovers

In November, Ending HIV Criminalization and Over Incarceration in Virginia Coalition (ECHO VA) and Sero hosted a strategic planning meeting for service providers, grassroots activists, public health professionals, legal experts, and PLHIV to engage across differences; strengthen connections to broader struggles for racial, gender, economic, and health justice; and to develop shared values and priorities in the movement to end HIV criminalization in Virginia.

Georgia: HIV Rural Research and Training Conference

Sero hosted a workshop on HIV criminalization at the HIV Rural Research and Training Conference in Savannah, Georgia in September 2018. The workshop focused on strategies and tools to advance HIV criminalization reform efforts and, specifically, to update attendees on legislative reform efforts underway in Georgia and Florida.

Jack White III, co-director of THRIVE SS‘s Political and Social Action Network, presented current efforts of the Georgia HIV Justice Coalition. Sero’s Kamaria Laffrey discussed successes and challenges the Florida HIV Justice Coalition has experienced.

Sero’s Tami Haught and Cindy Stine led a discussion on building a diverse coalition of PLHIV; medical, public health, and legal professionals; and AIDS service, healthcare, and faith-based organizations to mobilize for change. 

To get involved with the Georgia HIV Justice Coalition, contact Johnnie Ray Kornegay III at johnnie.kornegay@counternarrative.org. For information about theFlorida HIV Justice Coalition, contact Kamaria Laffrey at kamaria.laffrey@seroproject.com.

Florida: Learning from the Legislative Process

Efforts in the Florida legislature to modernize HIV-related statutes made progress in 2017 and 2018. After a day-long stakeholders planning session in October, 2018, the Florida HIV Justice Coalition is now organizing for the 2019 legislative session.

Sero’s Kamaria Laffrey coordinates the Florida HIV Justice Coalition and works closely with its steering committee to expand their coalition of advocates and allies to share a clear, unified message with the community, media, and legislators on the detrimental effects of HIV criminalization.

 

The Steering Committee includes representatives from ACLU-FL, Lambda Legal, AHF, Sero Project, PWN, Southern Poverty Law Center, SAVE, Equality FL, The AIDS Institute, and Sex Workers Outreach Project. Kamaria also works on a regional training program to groom leaders, particularly women living with HIV, to educate and mobilize on HIV criminalization issues across Florida.

Pennsylvania: PLHIV Organizing in the Keystone State

Sero, Positive Women’s Network-Philadelphia, and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania are working together to raise awareness of HIV-related stigma, discrimination, and criminalization in Pennsylvania.

 

Last May, Sero’s Sean Strub participated on a panel discussion at the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania with Julie Graham, a criminalization survivor, Alder Health Service’s Rosemary Brown, and Ronda Goldfein, Esq., executive director of the PA AIDS Law Project. Strub and Goldfein participated on a similar panel held in the Lehigh Valley at Northampton Community College.

 

In September, a delegation including Waheedah Shabazz-El (PWN-USA), Teresa Sullivan (PWN-Philadelphia), Andrea Johnson (PWN-Philadelphia), Adrian Shanker and Atticus Ranck (Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Center in Allentown), Adrian Lowe (PA AIDS Law Project), as well as Strub and Goldfein, met with Pennsylvania Surgeon General Rachel Levine and her staff to review a range of HIV-related issues.

 

A statewide strategic planning session is scheduled for February 2019 to coordinate plans for launching a new Pennsylvania PLHIV HIV Justice Network.

 

If you are interested in joining the movement to create a statewide network in PA, contact: info@seroproject.com.

 

Idaho Moving Forward

The Idaho Coalition for HIV Health and Safety hosted a 2-day strategic planning meeting September 25-26, 2018. The meeting focused on drafting a modernization bill, messaging and advocacy organizing strategy.

North Carolina HIV Advocacy Conference

Sero’s Tami Haught joined Carolyn McAllaster (Duke HIV/AIDS Law Clinic), Jacquelyn Clymore (NC HIV/STD/Viral Hepatitis Director), Alicia Diggs (Positive Wellness Alliance), and Jeffery Edwards-Knight (Mecklenburg County Public Health) at the 2018 NC HIV Advocacy Conference: Building Power Across the Spectrum.

The opening plenary, “HIV Criminalization in North Carolina: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going,” presented changes in North Carolina’s HIV control measures, reviewed task force processes, and discussed the interaction between state and county health officials and where North Carolina fits within national efforts to end HIV criminalization.

North Carolina AIDS Action Network debuted this short video.

International AIDS Conference

At the 22nd International AIDS Conference, held in Amsterdam in July 2018, Sero helped make awareness of and action addressing HIV criminalization a priority:

Sero co-sponsored a pre-conference, Beyond Blame 2018: Challenging HIV Criminalization.

Sero’s Robert Suttle spoke on a panel at the conference’s opening plenary (Robert’s comments begin at 1:38:00). Right after Robert’s eloquent comments, Sir Elton John and Prince Harry came on stage for their presentation!

An Expert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of the Criminal Law was released at a press conference with representatives from the International AIDS Society, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, UNAIDS, Sero, and HIV Justice Worldwide. The statement, now endorsed by more than 70 of the most respected HIV scientists, physicians, and researchers in the world, was also published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, the President of the International AIDS Socity, listens intently as Kerry Thomas, a member of Sero’s board of directors, spoke at the press conference by telephone from the prison in Idaho where he is incarcerated and serving a 30-year sentence for HIV non-disclosure, despite using condoms and having had an undetectable viral load.

Sero’s Kamaria Laffrey (left) spoke at the march that opened the conference, joined by Laela Wilding and Quinn Tivey, icon AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor’s granddaughter and great-grandson, who are continuing Dame Elizabeth’s legacy through their work with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

S.O.S.

Dear Sero Project supporters and allies,

Working to end HIV-related stigma, discrimination, and criminalization can be frustrating or disheartening, especially for those who suffer the most extreme consequences of such injustice. That’s partly because HIV stigma bias is, unfortunately, rising rather than declining. Even as we make progress in our efforts to end HIV criminalization—and we have made progress this year—the road ahead stretches long into the future.

Decades ago, I first viewed my AIDS activism as a temporary priority, something that could be fixed and then I could move on with other endeavors and priorities in my life. My perspective changed over time, as it did for others, because we learned, or experienced, how inextricably HIV-related injustices are linked to other injustices. Even as effective therapy changed what it meant to live with HIV, it only brought those other injustices into starker relief.

Eventually, I stopped looking for where the road ended, for some mythical point in the future when all will be well, and came to understood that activism was a defining value in my life, fundamental to my purpose. A similar commitment is reflected in Sero’s staff—Robert Suttle, Tami Haught, Ken Pinkela, Kamaria Laffrey, Cindy Stine, and Gonzalo Aburto—and it is shared by so many partners, allies, and comrades in the broader community of those fighting to end HIV criminalization. I salute all of them and I salute you.

Let’s hope 2019 brings a renewed respect for people living with HIV and many more allies in our struggle for justice for all.

Regards,

Sean Strub

Executive Director

 

Sero at Harvard Law School

Last March, Sero’s Executive Director, Sean Strub, participated on a panel, Creating a Viral Underclass, at an event at Harvard Law School organized by Harvard Law School Lambda, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, and the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation.

 

Sero Holiday Card Project

Every year, Sero’s Cindy Stine coordinates a Holiday Card project to send cards to incarcerated people, mostly people living with HIV or other chronic health conditions. Volunteers all over the U.S. prepare cards according to the restrictions imposed by prison officials (no glitter, colored paper, etc.) Cindy collects the cards and sends them to the recipients to let them know there is a community that cares about them and is thinking of them, especially over the holidays.

Media Watch: Sero in the News

 

Many thanks to Allison Nichol, Sero’s Senior Legal and Policy Advisor, for her dedication and commitment to the rights of people living with HIV. Allison has taken a new full-time position as Director of Legal Advocacy for the Epilepsy Foundation of America. We are grateful that she will continue to work with Sero on several projects in a pro bono capacity, and we wish her the best of luck in this new role.

 

Thank You

Sero’s work is made possible by contributions from many donors, including major support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, H. van Ameringen Foundation, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Ittleson Foundation, ViiV, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and the Levi Strauss Foundation. Please support Sero’s work by donating online.

 

US: New legislation updates Michigan's HIV disclosure law, reflecting advances in HIV science

Source Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety – Press release January 9, 2019

MICHIGAN MAKES STRIDES IN MODERNIZING HIV DISCLOSURE LAW

 January 8, 2019 — LANSING, MI. After five years of work by the Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), advocates living with HIV and other national and local partners, Michigan’s HIV disclosure law has been modernized.

The new legislation, HB 6020 and HB 6021, was introduced by State House Representative Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) and was supported by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate.  After passing both chambers, the bill was presented to Governor Snyder who signed the bill December 27, 2018.

 Previously, a person living with HIV (PLHIV) could face a felony up to 4 years in prison for not disclosing their HIV status prior to any type of sexual penetration. The degree of risk of HIV transmission was not a factor in the statute; including circumstances where there was no HIV transmission, nor even any risk of HIV transmission.

The amended law removes those living with HIV who are on treatment and virally suppressed-posing no risk of transmitting HIV-from being subject to prosecution. It also narrows the scope of sexual activities subject to prosecution, from “any type of sexual penetration to only “vaginal and anal sex.” Oral sex, which poses no or negligible risk of transmission regardless of whether the person with HIV is on treatment or virally suppressed, is no longer subject to prosecution.

For PLHIV who are not on treatment and not virally suppressed, it remains a felony if they do not disclose and do transmit HIV sexually. If they do not disclose and do not transmit, the penalty has been reduced to a misdemeanor in the amended statute. Any person with a “specific intent” to infect another person also remains subject to prosecution.

“The Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety (The Coalition)  salutes and applauds Rep. Hoadley’s effort in progressing a decades old law and thanks our partners in the coalition, the Sero Project for their guidance and MDHHS for leading the effort,” states Kelly Doyle, Executive Director of CARES (Community AIDS Resource and Education Services of Southwest Michigan). “Rep. Hoadley has worked with coalition partners to seek advice and leadership from PLWH and those who provide care for PLWH throughout the state.”

 “I’m encouraged that the legislature understands the advances in HIV science and look forward to continuing efforts that support PLWH,” states Pat Clark, advocate living with HIV.

 “The previous law needed immediate attention and updating from its inception 30 years ago,” said Curtis Lipscomb of LGBT Detroit.  “As a partner of The Coalition, modernizing Michigan’s HIV disclosure law significantly impacts our state’s residents who are affected by HIV and AIDS.  Although the new law doesn’t wave the magic wand to solves all immediate concerns, we have made progress that makes Michigan safer and smarter.”

 The new law reflects the significant advances in HIV science, particularly concerning how viral suppression impacts transmission risks. Viral load tests measure the amount of HIV in the blood of a person living with HIV; effective HIV treatment can suppress the level to below the limits of detectability by contemporary technology. When the viral load cannot be detected, the person with HIV is not at risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners.

 “My hope is that The Whitmer Administration invests in educating Michiganders living with HIV about the modernized law and the importance for getting tested for HIV,” Lipscomb adds.  “The work of The Coalition will continue to modernize and improve this bill to include PrEP and condom usage as well as work towards eliminating racial disparities in HIV healthcare.

 Contact Kelly Doyle for further information at (269) 806-3970.

 ###

 The Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety, founded in 2013, works to modernize Michigan’s HIV response to increase the health outcomes and safety of all Michiganders. The Coalition includes more than 30 Michigan non-profit organizations.

 CARES was founded in 1985 and supports 10 counties in Michigan. Its mission is to maximize the quality of life for people living with HIV and to minimize the transmission.

 LGBT Detroit, founded in 1994, commits to furthering its mission, increasing the prominence and visibility of Detroit’s LGBT culture, and building a strong, healthy and vibrant community, with a focus on youth and young adult development, sexual orientation and gender identity education and advocacy, and emotional and physical well-being.

Webinar: Molecular HIV Surveillance (PWN-USA, 2019)

PWN’s Barb Cardell’s webinar on Molecular HIV Surveillance and its implications for marginalized communities living with HIV, including intersections with HIV criminalization.

US: Robert Suttle reflects on outdated HIV-specific criminalisation laws and the work of advocates to change them all over the US

by 
 
UNDER LOUISIANA LAW, YOU CAN WIND UP WITH A $5,000 FINE AND FIVE YEARS’ JAIL TIME IF SOMEONE COMES IN CONTACT WITH YOUR SPIT — IF YOU’RE HIV POSITIVE. THESE LAWS ARE BASED ON OUTDATED SCIENCE AND MULTIPLE ORGANIZATIONS ARE WORKING TO CHANGE THEM.

Whenever Robert Suttle thinks about his time in jail, his eyes go soft, he lets out a long breath and his lips purse a bit. It’s noticeable that he — after almost a decade — still gets emotional about what put him behind bars.

In 2008, while working as an assistant clerk for the Louisiana Court of Appeals, Suttle went through a bitter breakup that resulted in a tit-for-tat trial, ending in Suttle being sentenced to six months in jail and registering as a sex offender for intentionally exposing a sexual partner to HIV. But there was no transmission of the virus.

And even though Suttle says he disclosed his status to his partner and that the sex was consensual, it didn’t matter much under Louisiana’s HIV exposure law, which states that anyone with HIV or AIDS who has unprotected sex can be tried and charged with a nonviolent felony. Offenders can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and must register as a sex offender in some cases.

But Louisiana’s intentional HIV exposure statute, enacted in 1987, revised in 1993 and again in 2011, is out of date and not backed by science. For example, spitting and biting are considered grounds to be charged for criminal exposure to AIDS, even though it’s impossible to transfer the virus through spit and exceedingly rare for HIV to be passed on through biting (and the risk is nonexistent if the skin isn’t broken).  

What’s more, Suttle, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2002, couldn’t pass the virus on anyway. Antiretroviral treatment had made his viral load undetectable, which means the level of HIV in his blood was so low that it would’ve been impossible to transmit.

“I didn’t quite understand how it could come to this,” Suttle says. “It was being gay and HIV positive that led me to … being criminally liable.”

As more people become aware of possible criminal charges — thanks in part to local reporting on alleged offenders — some of those most at-risk are unwilling to get tested. Criminalizing one’s status has created a stigma, advocates say, which in turn can endanger whole communities.

“[People know] that if they test positive, they can get charged or arrested,” says Gina Brown, an HIV and AIDS activist in New Orleans who is HIV positive. “The laws need to change, and people in charge need to get educated.”

Across the nation, HIV transmissions have been steadily declining since the beginning of the decade. At the same time, the demographics of the disease have changed. No longer does HIV primarily affect gay men; today, those who are most at risk also include injection drug users and poor people of color, particularly in the South. Despite that shift, regulations and laws that criminalize one’s HIV status still abound, and they have roots in outdated science that has largely been debunked.

There are currently 26 states with HIV-specific criminalization laws, some of which penalize behavior regardless of whether the virus was actually transmitted. That number was higher in the 1980s and ’90s, when fear of HIV — and myths around how it spread — was rampant. Lawmakers claimed at the time that the statutes were meant to protect the general public. Instead, they have had the opposite effect: Since you can’t be prosecuted if you don’t know your status, there’s an incentive to not getting tested. Studies have also shown that HIV criminalization has little to no effect on deterring people from spreading the virus willingly, and in fact, such laws have only worsened its spread.

Nearly all of the states with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses — in 2017, Louisiana ranked third — have HIV-specific exposure laws still on the books.

“People don’t know the collateral consequences,” says Suttle, who now works as an assistant director at Sero Project, a nonprofit that fights stigma and discrimination by focusing on HIV criminalization. “These laws hinder people from getting care.”

Suttle says the biggest obstacle is education, especially among people who still view HIV and AIDS as a death sentence.

“Education of the masses cannot be stressed enough. You can talk to anybody, and people honestly think that [people charged under HIV exposure laws] should be fully prosecuted and locked up,” Suttle says, adding that Sero Project has tried to humanize people living with HIV through anti-criminalization campaigns, lobbying and public outreach.

Sero Project is one of only a handful of national organizations — the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and the Center for HIV Law and Policy are two others — that have been on the front lines of fighting against HIV criminalization.

This year, Sero Project, in partnership with the Positive Women’s Network, launched a training academy to teach advocates how to organize and repeal state HIV criminalization laws. In South Carolina, Sero Project’s training helped establish a coalition of 50 lawmakers, advocates and nonprofits to try and change the state’s HIV criminalization laws.

“They gave us the tools to do our own work here within our community, and educate people. Now we have more and more people who are interested, because every time we get out and share with the community, we’re getting more people asking about the laws,” says Stacy Jennings, chair of the Positive Women’s Network regional chapter in South Carolina. “It’s sad that [people living with HIV] don’t know [about the laws] because they should know. Every chance we get we’re teaching them.”

As a result of Sero Project’s efforts to get communities educated on local laws, Suttle has seen a sea change in the number of people coming forward to fight the stigma around being HIV positive.

And that’s been helpful in places like Louisiana, where advocates say the need for educating and empowering people to get tested and stay healthy is dire.

“We actually have been able to get into the offices of legislators and tell them why this law is outdated and plain wrong,” says Brown, the AIDS activist. “We have some of the highest rates of HIV transmission in the country, and that won’t get better so long as there are laws that actively make people fearful of getting tested.”

—

This is the third installment in NationSwell’s multimedia series “Positive in the South,” which explores the HIV crisis in the Southern U.S., and profiles the people and organizations working to alleviate it.

Published in NationSwell on December 22, 2018

US: A summary of HIV-specific bills aimed at updating Michigan’s existing laws currently moving through Senate

Senate HIV Bills Package Explained

By | December 19th, 2018|Michigan, News

A package of bills is moving through the Michigan Senate that could change the way Michigan health officials monitor and address the HIV epidemic. Introduced last May in the Michigan House of Representatives, the eight-bill package contains HIV-specific bills that are aimed at updating Michigan’s existing laws that contain outdated language regarding issues like the spread of HIV, the role of local health departments in the virus’ treatment and criminal punishment for those who do not inform their sexual partner of their HIV-positive status.

Criminalization and Spread of HIV

Two bills within the package, 6020 and 6021, have come under extra scrutiny by some HIV advocacy organization around Michigan since they were amended from their original form to pass through the House. They were proposed by Democratic State Rep. Jon Hoadley of Kalamazoo who intended to “modernize our outdated HIV criminalization statute” by reducing the sentence for non-disclosure of one’s HIV status to a sexual partner from a felony to a misdemeanor, and to provide a change “to the sentencing guidelines” that currently exist.

“But the legislative process is never a linear line and there were still concerns that folks had around disclosure, around folks who are intentionally trying to transmit HIV without discussions and a number of other issues,” Hoadley said. “So, working in a bipartisan way to get as much as we could in the 99th legislative session, Dr. Canfield and I worked together with other stakeholders to put together a version of a bill that was able to then move.”

In a Dec. 11 Senate health policy committee, Republican State Rep. Edward Canfield said that the emphasis of the bill’s changes are on promoting treatment for HIV.

“I believe that what we’ve come up with in this package as it’s presented to you today really does bring the state of this health condition forward and helps people realize that getting treated is the best pathway,” he said. “… So it not only helps people live lives, but it protects our public health as well.”

The two bills now rest in the Senate, waiting on a decision before the lame duck session is over. Should they not come up for a vote, the bills will die and will need to be proposed again in the 100th legislative session in 2019. Hoadley said that despite the amendments the bills will provide two main benefits.

“The first is that we strike the very outdated definition that was used in the current law that criminalized behaviors, some of which can literally not transmit HIV. So, we’re really limiting the type of behaviors to vaginal and anal intercourse,” Hoadley said. “Second, we create a tiered system. So, if someone knows their status, does not disclose, acts with reckless disregard, and transmits HIV, that is treated at current felony level still. But, if they don’t transmit then that would potentially be a misdemeanor if all the other criteria are met.”

To illustrate his point, Hoadley said that currently there were 19 cases prosecuted under the current law that were considered felonies even though no transmission of the virus occurred.

“So, if this had been in the law, 19 people would have spent fewer of their years in prison,” he said.

Hoadley added that he feels the new bill will make current HIV transmission cases fairer because they will provide an extra level of defense for those who have been able to take medication and suppress their viral load — or literally reducing the function of the virus to undetectable levels within their system. People who have been medically suppressed for six months are “by definition not acting with reckless disregard, so they are not eligible for prosecution under the law.”

“So, for the first time in Michigan, as we work to continue making the criminal justice system fairer — there’s still a lot more to do there — people have a shield from accusations that they didn’t disclose or whatever the case may be, they have an affirmative defense,” Hoadley said. “That part is really groundbreaking as well.”

6020 and 6021’s Critics

But as groundbreaking as that defense is, it is only viable for those who can afford care to suppress their HIV. Critics of the bill’s changes like former BTL contributor Todd Heywood who is the chair of the Ingham Community Health Center board, testified against the legislation as an HIV expert. He said that this unfairly discriminates against people of color without access to treatment centers.

“There is already a racial disparity as it relates to the prosecution of people living with HIV. … Black men who have sex with women represented just 16 percent of the cases of people living with HIV (outside of Wayne County). They represented 36 percent of the prosecutions,” Heywood said. “We know in the state of Michigan and nationally that people of color have less access to medical care and have higher viral loads already. The way the current legislation is written will exacerbate this prosecution and create a deeper racial disparity that is unfair to people of color without addressing any of the other underlying issues.”

When asked about these racial disparities, Hoadley said he understands there is still much work to be done, but said he feels that this is a better alternative to the existing law on the books, citing it as “terrible about what it criminalizes.”

“I think we have to always be looking at race-based discrepancies in both our health system and our criminal justice system. One of the reasons I think the bill addresses a part of that is by eliminating many of the unscientific ways that someone could have gotten charged with these crimes previously, regardless of someone’s intent or not; everybody’s a little bit safer,” Hoadley said. “When we talk about discrepancies in the criminal justice system, this bill will, across the board, limit the number of folks who could even enter into eligibility of the law and also creates tiers. And part of that balancing act is that the current law captures so many more folks who could not even to some degree transmit HIV.”

In his testimony, Heywood also provided a numerical representation of the additional cost of maintaining a prisoner who has HIV using his own medication.

“Four bottles of one month’s worth of HIV drugs for me and I will tell you that that adds up to be between $62,000 and $67,000 a year to keep me alive,” Heywood said. “And we as taxpayers will then have to bear that burden when we put somebody in prison. That information is not in your fiscal analysis and I think that that needs to be taken into account. It is fiscally irresponsible when we have other options and ways to address this.”

Heywood’s reference to “other ways” refers to Michigan’s section of the public health code that addresses people infected with diseases that are “health threat[s] to others.” That statute does not criminalize those with contagious diseases, but rather puts them into immediate emergency treatment. His testimony suggested an amendment that would link the new bills to existing legislation.

“We could tie ‘health threat to others’ to this legislation which would then require that a person go through the probate process to address their HIV and the psychosocial issues that are involved in likely transmission behavior before they go through a criminal process,” Heywood said.

Hoadley said that he recognized the existing faults of the bill, but sees the currently rewritten legislation as a jumping off point to a more inclusive law.

“I think we have to continue to tackle places where we see discrepancies in health care,” he said. “For me, this shows why this project is a step in the right direction but not a finishing line.”

Privacy Concerns

Also included in the bills was a move to require women in their third trimester of pregnancy to get tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and syphilis. As written, the legislation would not allow a woman to opt out of such testing which essentially creates a system of mandatory testing. Currently, lawmakers are floating amendments that would allow a woman to opt out from the testing verbally. A second bill on testing would have mandated HIV testing consent be included in other general medical consents, and that a person not wishing to take an HIV test opt out in writing which presents a barrier to that process. Lawmakers are working on an amendment to allow people to verbally opt out of HIV testing.

Additional legislation would eliminate the 90-day record retention rule related to HIV partner services. The new legislation would allow the state to maintain those records indefinitely. Something they already do, in violation of Michigan law.

“Currently under Michigan law, the partner notification information that is solicited after somebody is diagnosed with HIV is only supposed to be kept for 90 days. What the state has not said publicly is that since 2003 they have been collecting that data,” Heywood said. “They currently have a database containing over 500,000 names and information of people at risk for HIV, living with HIV or tested for HIV. In addition to that, they shifted about three years ago to a federal database owned by the CDC not in the state of Michigan that all of that information is being stored on, in violation of Michigan law. ”

Lawmakers are working on an amendment which will allow the data to be maintained no longer that 365 calendar days.

An amendment related to partner services is also being considered which will prohibit local and state health officials from contacting a person identified as a sexual or needle-sharing partner of a person living with HIV, or the persons living with HIV when they have declined partner services.

“The problem with this is that there is nothing to stop me when I have a partner notification conversation with a health department official from saying — and I apologize Sen. Shirkey for identifying you — Sen. Shirkey and I shot needles of methamphetamine up and now Sen. Shirkey’s name is in a federal database as a methamphetamine user,” Heywood said. “Whether it is true or not, the senator would have no knowledge of that and no option to remove that from the database. That is deeply problematic.”

The lame-duck session is scheduled to end this week, Thursday. More updates about this legislation will come out as it moves through the Senate.

Published on December 19, 2018 in Pride Source

Belarus: Welcoming important developments in the fight against unjust HIV criminalisation

HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE along with our partners at The Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS and Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) welcome this week’s announcement of an amendment to Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, which finally allows consent following disclosure to sexual partner as a defence. Whilst recognizing there is still a long way to go to remove all unjust criminal laws against people living with HIV in Belarus, we congratulate our partners and colleagues in Belarus People PLUS for this achievement!

Today, Parliamentarians of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus adopted in the second reading three bills, one of which was the law “On introducing amendments to some codes of the Republic of Belarus”. Among other changes, an amendment was adopted to article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (one of the most draconian HIV-specific criminal laws in the world), which now allows that people who have warned their partners will no longer be held criminally responsible for potential or perceived HIV exposure or transmission.

Read Yana’s story on GNP+’s website

Until today, Article 157 states that people living with HIV are totally criminally liable for potential or perceived HIV exposure or transmission, even if the so-called injured party had no complaints against their partner, knew about the risks and consented. Prosecutions took place because infectious disease doctors informed police and many people were convicted (read Yana’s story here)

In 2017, 130 criminal cases were initiated under Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, with another 48 in the first half of 2018. Now, it will be possible to revisit those cases.

Anatoly Leshenok, representative of the NGO, People Plus states: “The adopted changes are only the first step in achieving our goal of decriminalising HIV transmission. According to information received from the department for drafting bills, other, more fundamental changes to Article 157 of the Criminal Code of Belarus have not been approved. It is necessary to continue to work with these State structures and with public opinion in order to form a more tolerant attitude towards HIV-positive people. But those changes that have been adopted today –  that’s a success for our team! ”

Anatoly Leshenok. Photo: UNAIDS Country Office in Belarus
Anatoly Leshenok. Photo: UNAIDS Country Office in Belarus

After approval by the Council of the Republic and the President, the amendments will make it possible to revisit previous sentences of the courts, and improve lives of people that were broken previously, as well it provide opportunity now and in the future for people living with HIV in serodiscordant partnerships to plan their lives without worrying if they are criminals every time they have sex.

 

Kenya: Five people living with HIV file petition at the High Court in Nairobi to declare HIV criminalisation law unconstitutional

Overturn law criminalising deliberate transmission of HIV, say petitioners

Five people living with HIV have petitioned the judiciary to declare unconstitutional a law that makes it illegal to transmit the virus and other sexually transmitted infections.

The petitioners said the law makes it almost criminal for HIV-positive people to marry and for women living with the virus to give birth and raise children.

The petition targets Section 26 of the Sexual Offences Act, which criminalises intentional transmission of HIV even among married couples.

Those found guilty can be jailed a minimum 15 years or for life.

“Thousands of discordant couples and breastfeeding mothers living all over Kenya run the risk of being arrested and charged under this provision if they come forward for HIV testing,” said M.A, the fourth petitioner representing discordant couples.

The petition was filed at the High Court in Nairobi on Monday with the help of the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and Aids.

“The key to a successful HIV response and ending Aids is making sure everyone with HIV knows their status and gets on treatment. These laws make that impossible,” the petitioner said.

A growing global consensus amongst experts and institutions such the World Health Organisation and Unaids show that laws criminalising HIV transmission weaken the ability of governments to end the Aids epidemic.

The sexual offences Act section 26 says: “any person who, having actual knowledge that he or she is infected with HIV or any other life threatening sexually transmitted disease intentionally, knowingly and willfully transmits it… is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less 15 years but which may be for life.”

Kelin boss Alan Maleche said this is one of the worst HIV criminalization laws in the world.

“This petition will not only safeguard the rights of those living with and affected by HIV and other sexually transmitted infections but also help alleviate the discrimination and stigma they face and help Kenya remain on track in achieving the 2020 UNAIDS Fast Track targets in ending Aids,” he said yesterday.

In 2015, the High Court declared section 24 of the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Act unconstitutional.

The section also criminalised intentional spread of HIV, instituting a maximum jail-term of seven years with the option of a fine.

Nelson Otwoma, the Director at the National Empowerment Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, said HIV criminalization laws are also notorious for abuse and arbitrary enforcement.

“Such abuse will always be targeted at persons living with, vulnerable to or believed to be living with HIV whether or not their actions were culpable and whether or not their actions exposed another to the risk of contracting HIV,” he said.

Published on December 13, 2018 in the Star

US: Q & A with Sen. Scott Wiener, one of the authors of Senate Bill 239 that modernised HIV criminalisation law in California

Successful HIV Criminalization Reform in California: Q and A with Sen. Scott Wiener

The majority of states have laws that criminalize activities engaged in by HIV-positive people that are not criminalized when engaged in by the rest of the population.

Many of these laws improperly single out HIV over other infectious diseases and reflect a lack of understanding of both how HIV spreads and how it can be treated.

In 2017, California passed legislation which modernized and improved California’s HIV criminalization law. One of the authors of the law was State Senator Scott Wiener. I recently had a chance to ask Sen. Wiener some questions about that process.

His responses are given here in hopes of supplying useful information for legislators, lobbyists, and activists in other states who are interested in starting the reform process in their own states or other jurisdictions around the world. This interview has been edited for clarity.

Mark Satta: You sponsored and helped author California Senate Bill 239, which in 2017 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. Senate Bill 239 modernized HIV criminalization in California. Can you give us a brief overview of what California HIV criminalization law looked like before the passage of this new law and what the major changes are that passage of the new law brought about?

Sen. Scott Wiener: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, California, like many states, adopted very harsh felonies to punish HIV-positive people who engaged in sexual activity with other people without disclosing their HIV status.

California has a catchall misdemeanor for willfully exposing someone to an infectious disease, which has been on the books for many years. But HIV, of all the many serious, deadly infectious diseases, was singled out for especially harsh felony treatment. The laws didn’t require you to transmit HIV, and in fact didn’t even require any meaningful risk of infection. So if you were virally suppressed, for example, or if the other person was on PrEP, or if you were engaging in sexual activity that really didn’t create much of a risk, under the old laws, it didn’t matter. They were very broad, draconian laws.

There was one law specific to sex workers where there didn’t even have to be physical contact. If [a sex worker] solicited someone without telling them they were HIV-positive, even if they never actually had sex, they were guilty of a felony. The new law converts sex worker felonies into misdemeanors.

It was really women, and in particular African American women and sex workers, who were targeted. And really, the laws did nothing to actually reduce HIV infections — all it did was stigmatize people with HIV and encourage people to hide their status.

So they’re just terrible, horrible laws and that’s why we tried to reform them.

Satta: In writing the bill, what were the major sources of information that you and Assembly member Gloria consulted to determine the ways in which California’s criminalization of HIV failed to accord with our scientific and medical understanding of HIV/AIDS?

Sen. Wiener: Part of [our information was] based on data on how you reduce and eliminate HIV infections, and the whole concept of getting to zero, which I’m very familiar with. You do it by encouraging people to get tested regularly so they know their status, and then if they do test positive, they quickly go on medication to become virally suppressed. And the people who are negative have access to all preventative tools, including PrEP.

So when you criminalize and single out people with HIV, it encourages people not to get tested. Because if you don’t know your status then you can’t be guilty of a crime. It encourages people to be very secretive about their status. And being secretive about your status undermines public health. That’s not how you get people tested or into treatment. You want people to feel comfortable being very open about their status. So that was the bedrock of the science we relied on.

If our goal is to prevent HIV infections, to keep people negative, and to keep positive people healthy, we must do that through a public health approach, not through a criminalization approach. Criminalization does not reduce HIV infections — in fact, it does the opposite.

We also had plenty of data on who was being targeted by these laws. It was targeting specific demographics. So even if one were to believe that criminalization somehow reduces infection—which it doesn’t— why would almost half of arrests and prosecutions be of women when they’re only 12 percent of the HIV-positive population? We also worked extensively with a broad coalition that included many public health organizations, physicians, and people who really understand the science.

Satta: In advocating for the bill in the California state senate, what messages and information resonated most strongly with your colleagues?

Sen Wiener: It depended. When you explained about how criminalization doesn’t reduce infections, for a certain segment of colleagues, that was enough. But what really resonated with others was that HIV was being treated differently than other infectious diseases, and more harshly. I had one colleague—a moderate Democrat from a pretty conservative district—and I was not sure if we would get her vote. When I talked to her about it and told her that HIV was being treated differently, as a felony, while other infectious diseases were a misdemeanor. She said to me, “Wait, you’re telling me that Ebola and TB are a misdemeanor, but HIV is a felony, and you want to move HIV into the same category as TB and Ebola?” And I said, “Yes.” And she said, “That’s all I need to know. Whenever I’m asked about it, that’s how I’ll answer.” And she voted for the bill.

 Satta: What advice would you give activists and legislators in other states or jurisdictions who are interested in advocating for legislative reform around HIV criminalization?

Sen. Wiener: First, build a very, very strong and broad coalition. The endorsement list for SB 239 was pages long. It included every reputable civil rights organization, public health organization, LGBT organization, immigrant organization — I mean, everything. You look at these incredibly well-respected organizations ranging from the ACLU, to Planned Parenthood, to respected healthcare advocacy organizations, and even before you delve into the facts, you say, “Look: if all these groups are supporting this, this is a bill I’m supporting.” This is especially true for Democrats.

Because of that broad coalition, lobbying for the bill was incredibly impactful. As an author, that made my life a lot easier. I talked to almost every member of the legislature about the bill one-on-one over the course of the year, but having the coalition aggressively lobbying made a big difference.

Then, really talk to legislators, colleague to colleague. Lots of people have this reaction where they think that if someone is trying to infect someone, they should be guilty of a felony. But you have to talk to them about the notion of the sociopath trying to infect people. Does that happen? Yes, but it’s extremely rare, and those are not the people being prosecuted under these laws.

You also have to indicate that this is a priority for LGBT civil rights organizations. That was very powerful, too. Equality California made the bill its number one priority of the year. For a number of Democrats, this is very compelling. Democrats, in California at least, want be on the right side of LGBT issues. And even though HIV goes beyond the LGBT community, obviously, there’s an enormous overlap.

Also, educate the reporters who are going to cover potential legislative reform. What we found was that there were a couple of publications in California—the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee in particular—that had reporters who really got it. For a number of other publications it was more hit and miss. And even when you had a good reporter, the editors would put clickbait headlines on. So other than some really good articles in the Bee and the Chronicle, we were never able to get accurate coverage. It would always be sensationalist. The headline would be something like, “Bill Proposes Making it Not a Felony to Intentionally Infect Someone with AIDS.” The Los Angeles Times was unfortunately notorious for clickbait headlines like that, which really flamed people up. We even got to the point where we did a call in and we invited the press just to talk about the basic facts of the bill and it didn’t work. So, before you even start you need to identify the reporters likely to report on this, sit down with them, and try to educate them about the facts.

Mark Satta is a 2018-2019 Petrie-Flom Center Student Fellow. 

Published on December 11, 2018 in Bill of Health

Kenya: Positive Justice campaign launched today to challenge unjust HIV-specific law

Today, on International Human Rights Day, the National Empowerment Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK) and the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS (KELIN) have launched the Positive Justice campaign to finally end HIV criminalisation in Kenya.

Today's Positive Justice launch (photo: @KELIN via Twitter)
Today’s Positive Justice campaign launch (photo: @KELINKenya via Twitter)

In 2015, in Aids Law Project v Attorney General and Others [2015] the High Court of Kenya declared section 24 of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act unconstitutional and suspended the law. The High Court ruling focused on the absence of a definition for “sexual contact”, holding that it is impossible to determine what acts were prohibited. It also found the provision does not meet the standards for a justifiable limitation of the constitutional right to privacy.

However, Section 26 of the Sexual Offences Act (2006) still contains vague and overly broad provisions that have resulted in a number of recent arrests and unjust prosecutions for biting (March 2018), breastfeeding (September 2018), and alleged non-disclosure (December 2018).

Today’s Positive Justice campaign launch (photo: @KELINKenya via Twitter)
Today’s Positive Justice campaign launch (photo: @KELINKenya via Twitter)

Consequently, today KELIN have filed a petition asking the High Court in Nairobi to strike down as unconstitutional Section 26 of the Sexual Offences Act on the grounds that it discriminates against people living with HIV, women, and the poor, and violates a number of fundamental human rights.

Download and read Petition 447 – which will be heard on 4th March 2019 for directions  – at this link: http://www.kelinkenya.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Petition-447-of-2018-Final.pdf

According to a KELIN press release published today

The prosecuting authority’s interpretation of Section 26 of the Sexual Offences Act, as demonstrated by the prosecutions of several of the PLHIV challenging the law, effectively makes it a crime for a woman with HIV to birth and raise children. The prevailing interpretation also effectively criminalizes marriage between a person who has HIV and a person who does not.

“Laws that make criminals of people simply for having HIV ignore science. People who are on HIV treatment and are virally suppressed are not infectious. The key to a successful HIV response and ending AIDS is making sure everyone with HIV knows their status and gets on treatment. These laws make that impossible. Thousands of discordant couples and breastfeeding mothers living all over Kenya run the risk of being arrested and charged under this provision if they come forward for HIV testing,” noted M.A, the fourth petitioner and a representative of the Discordant Couples in Kenya.

HIV criminalization laws are also notorious for abuse and arbitrary enforcement. “Such abuse will always be targeted at persons living with, vulnerable to or believed to be living with HIV whether or not their actions were culpable and whether or not their actions exposed another to the risk of contracting HIV,” cautioned Mr. Nelson Otwoma, the Director at the National Empowerment Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK).

It is for this reason that five people living with HIV and stakeholders working in HIV response came together to file the petition and launch the campaign dubbed Positive Justice. The campaign seeks to raise awareness on the negative effects of enforcement of the law on PLHIV, and engage relevant stakeholders including the media, legislature, judiciary, law enforcers, and Ministry of Health in advocating for the rights of people living with HIV.

“This petition will not only safeguard the rights of those living with and affected by HIV and other sexually transmitted infections but also help alleviate the discrimination and stigma they face and help Kenya remain on track in achieving the 2020 UN AIDS Fast Track targets in ending AIDS,’ said Mr. Allan Maleche, the Executive Director at KELIN.