While a lot of hard work and persistent advocacy got results relatively quickly in Virginia compared with other states where advocates have been working on changing laws for years, the path from idea to law was not without its challenges. And while the bill that was ultimately signed into law drastically limits prosecutors’ ability to criminalize people based on their HIV status, it does not go as far as the coalition wanted and pushed for. The new law retains a felony, though it has added a much higher burden of proof for prosecutors wanting to use the law: They must prove both actual transmission and intent to transmit.
“The final result of SB 1138 is something that ECHO VA is proud to have worked on to see change towards the decriminalization of HIV in Virginia,” said Deirdre. “We know that we are not done with our work just yet. We still have to work to have the felony reduced to a misdemeanor, however, to have disclosure removed is a major step in the right direction towards eradicating stigma towards people living with HIV.”
PWN caught up with Deirdre and Cedric over email to learn more about the process, the outcome, and the lessons learned along the way that might be helpful for advocates elsewhere working to repeal or modernize their states’ HIV criminalization laws. We are grateful for support from Gilead Sciences, Inc, which has helped us resource PWN staff time to support this important work.
Q: Can you briefly describe the process you went through to get your bill to modernize HIV criminalization laws to the floor? e.g., how did you form a coalition? How did you find bill sponsors? How did the language get drafted?
ECHO VA strategic planning meeting in Nov. 2018
After that, we met monthly, created committees, and worked on executing the strategic plan the coalition had created. The next year was spent providing awareness and education that it was time for Virginia to change HIV criminalization laws as we presented at local, state, national, and global conferences about our work and what was ahead for ECHO VA Coalition.
We entered the legislative portion of this work in 2019, after providing our edits to the existing language of the “infected sexual battery” law in Virginia. This was utilized to create a bill (HB 864) that was an attempt to get rid of these laws; but it did not provide true equity in all elements of the bill, so after several failed attempts to work with the bill sponsor to amend specific areas of the bill, we worked in partnership with PWN and the Sero Project to kill the bill in the 2020 legislative session so we could start over. We were successful in doing that.
At that point, we decided to draft a new bill and added Equality Virginia to our partners. We received expert-level assistance from PWN in bill drafting and Equality Virginia assisted us in securing bill sponsors.
Q: What best practices can you share when building a coalition? Any lessons learned?
A: When building a coalition, it is important to have full transparency and constant communications among members. There are going to be times that decisions will need to be made quickly, and it is vital that everyone’s voice is heard and no one left behind.
Have a strategic plan that everyone in the coalition is aware of and follows. Refer to that strategic plan often and always when having to make tough decisions.
Believe in the work and each other.
Deirdre gives testimony during a legislative hearing for SB 1138
Let your coalition be led by those who are most impacted. For ECHO VA, we are led by meaningful involvement of people living with HIV.
Q: How was it working with the sponsors of the bill? What lessons can you share?
A: Senators Mamie Locke and Jennifer McClellan were a pleasure to work with. They were eager to learn more about HIV criminalization laws in Virginia and how they continuously work against public health. They took the time to make sure that they were knowledgeable about every fact that we gave them and stood strong when comments were made by their colleagues that were biased, discriminatory, and stigmatizing towards people living with HIV. We could not have asked for a better set of sponsors. We are looking forward to working with them to reduce the remaining felony to a misdemeanor.
We were extremely honored to have them follow this bill from the senate through the house of delegates. We are grateful that they also had frank conversations with us on the process and how the bill was being received by their colleagues. They were sincerely our legislative partners in change for SB 1138. Without their dedication to see that Virginia removed discrimination and ended the criminalization of people living with HIV, we would not have been able to effectively move SB 1138 through the senate and the house.
We highly recommend to begin researching the best legislative sponsor for your coalition from the very start. This should be a part of the conversation at your strategic planning.
Q: What’s next for ECHO VA?
Our next steps are to continue to work with our partners, Equality Virginia, Positive Women’s Network – USA, the Sero Project, and Senator Locke and Senator McClellan to change the felony penalty to a misdemeanor. We are also working on making sure that the news of this historical change reaches communities impacted by these changes.
Congratulations to Deirdre, Cedric, and all the legislators, advocates, and organizations who committed time, energy, and resources to achieve this giant step forward in ending HIV criminalization in Virginia! You are inspiring to PWN members and other advocates across the nation, and we look forward to learning more from you at the HIV Is Not a Crime IV Virtual Training Academy June 7-10, 2021!
Great JOB