By Lashanda Salinas, HNP Advocate for TN
The views and opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the position of Positive Women’s Network – USA.
June 04, 2024
March has been an amazing month, and a lot has been going on in my life. From March 17th-19th, I attended AIDSWatch with so many advocates, new and old. We arrived on the 17th, when everyone got registered and we all had a fun, relaxing day. On March 18th, there were workshops planned for the day. Paula Foster from Nashville Cares (TAAN) and I lead a workshop titled “Navigating Advocacy in Conservative Legislatures: A Lesson from Tennessee.” Paula talked about how a bill becomes a law and HIV Criminalization. After she was finished, I was able to tell my story to everyone that was in the room.
On the 19th, we all loaded up on buses and went to Washington, D.C. to speak to senators and their staff. I am so amazed about the attention that they gave us. Not only did they listen to us, they heard us. The group I was in was supposed to see Senator Marsha Blackburn, but she was out of the office that day. We spoke to her legislative assistant, Jack. On April 16th, I received a letter from her letting me know that her assistant gave her the information that we left. She also thanked us for stopping by.
The following week, I went to Nashville to be part of TAAN’s (Tennessee AIDS Advocacy Network) annual Day on the Hill event. Day on the Hill took place from March 26th to 27th. On the 26th, everyone arrived at the DoubleTree Hotel and got checked into their rooms. Later that evening, we all took pictures before the reception. At 6:30 PM, we all went to the conference room where dinner was served, and we gave out awards to Representative Dewayne Thompson and Senator Page Walley. I was asked to speak and tell my story. While I was speaking, I decided that I wanted to give the advocates a pep talk. I wanted to provide encouragement to the people who have never spoken to their State Senators and Representatives before.
At the end of my speech, I told them: go to the capital with your heads up high. Don’t let them make you feel like you don’t matter, because you are the subject matter expert. If you don’t do anything else for me, please show up at the capital and show out professionally. SHOW UP AND SHOW OUT.
On the 27th, we all gathered for breakfast, and I presented Senator Becky Massey with an award for HB0832/SB0807. This is the bill that passed and became law on July 1st, 2023. This bill removes those convicted of criminal exposure of HIV from the sex offender registry. This bill allowed me to come off of the sex offender registry in July of 2023. Because of this law, I was able to get my life back. For Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, I was able to celebrate with my family for the first time in 17 years. In past years, I would stay home while everyone else was around family.
The last award I gave was to Representative Bud Husley for the work he is doing for us. After breakfast, we went to the Capitol and got in our group and spoke with our representatives.
I look forward to seeing what 2024 has in store for me.
