The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) has updated two resources that could be helpful to HIV anti-discrimination advocates and attorneys representing PLWH. Together with the HIV Medicine Association (HIV MA), CHLP updated the Sample Expert Statement on HIV Transmission Risk describing in more detail the ways in which HIV is and isn’t transmitted.
US: ACLU supports the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act
While science has vastly advanced since the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic more than 30 years ago, the ways in which many criminal laws treat people living with HIV look like throwbacks to the dark days of the past when fear and misinformation about HIV and how it is transmitted wer…
H.R. 1843, REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act Outreach Toolkit | The Center for HIV Law and Policy
H.R. 1843, the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal (REPEAL) HIV Discrimination Act, was introduced on May 7, 2013 by U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).
US: Advocate editorial supports REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act
This past week, U.S. representative Barbara Lee reintroduced a bill to repeal HIV criminalization laws across the nation, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Earlier this year, LGBT people went on red alert when a public health bill in Kansas proposed that people living with HIV could be quarantined.
Lambda Legal Urges Congress to Pass the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act
Lambda Legal is voicing its support the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act, which would encourage states to reconsider laws and practices that unfairly target people with HIV for consensual sex and conduct that poses no real risk of HIV transmission. Scott Schoettes, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director, says: “The more messages we can send to states to modernize or eliminate HIV criminalization laws the better—and that is exactly what this bill does. It is high time the nation’s HIV criminalization laws reflect the current reality of living with HIV, both from medical and social perspectives. Except for perhaps the most extreme cases, the criminal law is far too blunt an instrument to address the subtle dynamics of HIV disclosure.”
US: Excellent article by Ari Ezra Waldman explaining why US HIV criminalisation laws are unjust and how to move forward
In Georgia, a woman was sentenced to eight years in jail for failing to disclose her HIV status to a male partner, despite witnesses’ statements that he already knew she was HIV positive. There’s a man in Ohio who is serving 40 years for failing to tell his ex-girlfriend that he was HIV positive, even though the case was motivated by an ex-lover’s jealous rage.
Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives (HJN, 2013) (4 of 4)
The Keeping Confidence one day conference was a free event to discuss findings from a report that we produced in conjunction with Birkbeck College. For more detailed information on the project please follow this link to the project description page: sigmaresearch.org.uk/projects/policy/project55/
Feedback from afternoon workshops and closing whole group discussion
Prof Matthew weait, Birkbeck College
Dr Robert James, HIV Patient Representative, Lawson Unit, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Catherine Dodds, LSHTM
Video produced by georgetownmedia.de
Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives (HJN, 2013) (3 of 4)
The Keeping Confidence one day conference was a free event to discuss findings from a report that we produced in conjunction with Birkbeck College. For more detailed information on the project please follow this link to the project description page: sigmaresearch.org.uk/projects/policy/project55/
Overview of updated 2013 BHIVA/BASHH position paper, ‘HIV transmission, the law and the work of the clinical team’
Dr Mary Poulton, Consultant and Clinical Head, Sexual Health and HIV, Kings College Hospital
Video produced by georgetownmedia.de
Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives (HJN, 2013) (2 of 4)
The Keeping Confidence one day conference was a free event to discuss findings from a report that we produced in conjunction with Birkbeck College. For more detailed information on the project please follow this link to the project description page: sigmaresearch.org.uk/projects/policy/project55/
Response Panel
Chaired by Dr Adam Bourne, LSHTM
Ms Ceri Evans, Senior Health Adviser, West London Centre for Sexual Health, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Dr Robert James, HIV Patient Representative, Lawson Unit, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Mrs Juliet Reid, Chief Executive, Centre for All Families Positive Health (CAFPH)
Video produced by georgetownmedia.de
Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives (HJN, 2013) (1 of 4)
The Keeping Confidence one day conference was a free event to discuss findings from a report that we produced in conjunction with Birkbeck College. For more detailed information on the project please follow this link to the project description page: sigmaresearch.org.uk/projects/policy/project55/
Part 1: Overview of Keeping Confidence report and recommendations
Dr Catherine Dodds, LSHTM
Prof Matthew Weait, Birkbeck College
Introduction by Matt Williams, Monument Trust
Video produced by georgetownmedia.de