Decades into the HIV epidemic, some government policies continue to misunderstand the actual risk of HIV transmission and to ignore the urgent health care needs of people living with HIV. Here are a few highlights of the ACLU's work on fighting these HIV-related policies all across the country this year.
- Access to HIV-related medications in Illinois jails. When people with HIV are incarcerated, they often face a disruption in access to their medication. While this is a problem for all inmates, it's particularly important not to have a break in HIV drugs, since that can lead to the development of drug-resistant strains of the virus. Arick Buckles faced this problem in an Illinois jail when he was denied his HIV medications for seven days because staff said they were too costly. The ACLU of Illinois recently against the jail with an agreement to change the jail's policies regarding the provision of HIV medications and to train staff on the medical need for uninterrupted access to the drugs. Our next step is to leverage this settlement into broader policy change across Illinois and other states.
- Removing barriers to parenting by HIV+ adults. This spring, a Wisconsin child placement agency initially approved a couple to be foster parents, but then reneged once it learned that one of the adults was living with HIV. We pointed out to the agency that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics both have made clear that there is no risk of transmission of HIV in typical household settings, that universal precautions protect the children, and that courts have held that policies like the one at this agency violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The agency has dropped its restrictions on placement with the couple and has already placed several children in their home.
- Ending segregation of HIV+ prisoners in the U.S. We reported last December that, as a result of a lawsuit we filed a federal judge ruled that Alabama's policies of segregating HIV+ prisoners in separate prison housing, barring them from food service work release jobs, and requiring them to wear armbands that identify them as having HIV all violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. We have continued to work with Alabama officials to implement changes to the policies. This summer, they moved the HIV-positive prisoners into the general population at the women's prison, and in early September, they announced that the men's prisons will be integrated in 2014.. And this spring the ACLU helped convince South Carolina prison officials to end their segregation of HIV+ prisoners, which was the last state with such an explicitly discriminatory policy.
- An end to a misguided state law requiring invasion of the privacy of HIV+ students. Illinois was the only state in the country that still had a law requiring state health officials, upon learning that a student tested positive for HIV, to notify the student's principal, who could then disclose the student's HIV status to others at the school. Over 25 years after this law passed in 1987, at the height of AIDS panic nationwide, it's clear that HIV is not transmitted through casual contact at school or playing sports, and that this law invaded student privacy for no good reason. The ACLU's five-year effort to help pass a repeal bill finally worked, and the governor signed it last month.
- Chipping away at the criminalization of having HIV. Minnesota charged Daniel Rick with a crime for having sex while HIV+, even though he had disclosed his HIV status to his partner. The Supreme Court of Minnesota ruled that the state's law banning "knowing transfer of a communicable disease" doesn't apply in such a situation. The court's decision affirms that the government must respect the personal and private decisions of consenting adults regarding sexual intimacy and procreation.
With your help, the ACLU will continue its work to fight government discrimination against people with HIV, to change policies based on irrational fear of HIV exposure, and to end discriminatory barriers to essential HIV-related health care.
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News & CommentaryMar 2024
HIV
Fighting Back Against Discriminatory Laws That Impact People Living with HIVFighting Back Against Discriminatory Laws That Impact People Living with HIV
The ACLU is challenging a Tennessee law that criminalizes HIV status. This law unfairly prevents people from securing employment and housing. -
Press ReleaseNov 2023
HIV
Plaintiffs File Federal Suit to Overturn Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution StatutePlaintiffs File Federal Suit to Overturn Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution Statute
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution statute and related sex offender registration requirements are unconstitutional and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to a federal lawsuit filed today against the state by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Transgender Law Center, and the ACLU of Tennessee in the U.S. District Court in Memphis on behalf of four Jane Doe plaintiffs and OUTMemphis, the state’s oldest and largest service provider for LGBTQ+ people. Plaintiffs argue that the Aggravated Prostitution statute is rooted in fear and discrimination, targeting people living with HIV for harsh punishment and forcing them to register as “violent sex offenders” for the rest of their lives. Criminalizing people with HIV defies evidence-based best practices and is patently unlawful as it singles out people living with HIV — a protected disability — for harsher punishment. “People convicted of Aggravated Prostitution must spend years in prison and then register as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives – meaning they cannot access the housing, employment, healthcare and community life that they need to get back on their feet,” said Molly Quinn, executive director of OUTMemphis. “This statute solely targets people because of their HIV status and keeps them in cycles of poverty, while posing absolutely zero benefit to public health and safety.” “HIV stigma is becoming a thing of the past, and it’s time for state law to catch up. OUTMemphis fights so that queer people are free to live in safety, with dignity, and we believe everyone deserves that regardless of their HIV status.” Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution law was passed in 1991 at a time of national panic over HIV. The law targets people engaged in sex work, enhancing their charges from misdemeanors to felonies solely based on HIV status, making it difficult to find other employment. Since then, many states have moved on from criminalizing HIV, better understanding the rates and methods of transmission and the way criminalization is counterproductive to effective testing and treatment. New treatments such as Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) can reduce viral loads to undetectable levels, blocking the possibility of transmission. And yet, Tennessee state law enhances sex work from a misdemeanor to a felony, solely based on HIV status, which has long been recognized as a disability protected from discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Tennessee has no comparable law for any other infectious disease, even those that are more prevalent and transmissible than HIV. “Disability discrimination is illegal,” said Alexis Agathocleous, deputy director of the National ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, “and yet the Aggravated Prostitution singles out economically-marginalized people living with HIV for excessively harsh punishment. The results are predictable: Black women are the targets of this archaic, unscientific law – many of whom are simply trying to secure food, a place to sleep, or a way to meet their basic needs.” Entirely divorced from science, Tennessee’s law applies indiscriminately, ignoring that either party to a sexual encounter can ensure against HIV transmission in many simple and effective ways. “Each of us, regardless of our race, our genders, or our HIV status, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and welcomed as full members of our communities,” said Milo Inglehart (he/him), staff attorney at Transgender Law Center. “With today’s filing, we join the ACLU, ACLU-TN, OUTMemphis, and our individual plaintiffs to challenge the counterproductive and discriminatory Aggravated Prostitution statute that unlawfully singles out people living with HIV, disproportionately impacts Black transgender and cisgender women, and places lifelong, punitive restrictions on those who are criminalized for trying to survive.” “The Aggravated Prostitution statute is a relic from when HIV first emerged in the 1980s and is motivated by fear, misinformation and discrimination — not sound science or evidence,” said Jeff Preptit, ACLU-TN staff attorney. “Instead of criminalizing HIV, which disproportionately targets transgender and cisgender Black women who are already socially and financially marginalized, lawmakers should invest in evidence-based public health responses to support people living with HIV to end the epidemic. All Tennesseans should be able to live a full life free from discrimination and harm, regardless of our health conditions.” In addition to violating the ADA, the lawsuit also argues that, among other things, the law violates equal protection, due process and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The plaintiffs are asking the court to strike down the Aggravated Prostitution statute and the resulting lifetime sex offender registration requirement as clearly discriminatory because they unlawfully punish people on the basis of a protected disability. The complaint filed today can be found online at: /cases/outmemphis-v-lee?document=Complaint Background on the legal challenge to Tennessee’s discriminatory Aggravated Prostitution law can be found here: /documents/fact-sheet-legal-challenge-to-tennessees-discriminatory-aggravated-prostitution-law For more information about the case: /cases/outmemphis-v-lee#legal-documents -
TennesseeOct 2023
LGBTQ Rights
+3 Issues
OUTMemphis v. LeeOUTMemphis v. Lee
OUTMemphis v. Lee is a first-of-its-kind challenge to a state-level HIV criminalization law as a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Constitution. Plaintiffs OUTMemphis and Jane Does 1-4 seek to strike down Tennessee’s discriminatory, irrational and cruel enforcement of its “Aggravated Prostitution” law and related sex offender registration requirements. -
PodcastOct 2023
LGBTQ Rights
+6 Issues
How ACT UP Changed the Face of AIDS and ActivismHow ACT UP Changed the Face of AIDS and Activism