This statement is available on our website here.

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As a founding partner of the Health Not Prisons Collective, PWN-USA is committed to the fight to end criminalization of people living with HIV for their health status. We also recognize the unique impact of HIV criminalization on cis and trans women and trans and gender diverse folks living with HIV through the intersecting systems of oppression that impact our communities.

Want to know how you can join the fight? Join us in educating your family, friends, comrades, and community members on the real impacts of HIV criminalization. Use the following sample social media posts from The Sero Project's toolkit TODAY to raise awareness this HIV is Not a Crime Day.

Sample caption: End the HIV Epidemic? End HIV Criminalization laws! These laws undermine public health efforts by deterring people from seeking HIV testing/treatment, stigmatizing those with HIV, & the communities most impacted by HIV— including POC, women, LGBTQ people, sex workers, and the formerly incarcerated. #HINACDay #HIVIsNotACrime

Today, February 28, marks the 4th annual National HIV Is Not A Crime Awareness Day (HINAC Day). This day was co-created by HNP Collective Partner Organizations, the Sero Project, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. HINAC Day calls us all to end state-sanctioned violence towards communities of people living with HIV across the world. In a time where people living with HIV, trans people, and other communities most impacted by HIV are increasingly subjected to violent attacks on our humanity and resources, that call is as important as ever. 

This HINAC Day, we magnify the work of our HNP Advocates. Each of our 7 advocates is building the advocacy skills necessary to be on the frontlines to end HIV criminalization in their respective states. This year, 2 of our advocates, Vanessa Slaughter (VA) and Valerie Pinkston (MS) have been awarded mini-grants from the Sero Project to host a HINAC Day Event in their communities. Vanessa hosted a community conversation on HIV criminalization, stigma reduction, and community empowerment on February 24th, and Valerie hosted a community power breakfast in collaboration with the MS HIV Decriminalization Network and several other local organizations on February 28th. We salute Vanessa and Valerie on their efforts to keep their communities engaged on HIV decriminalization!  

In addition to uplifting the work of our amazing advocates, we are also launching our brand new bill tracker for the 2025 legislative session. We recognize that advocates, activists, allies, and accomplices can’t mobilize to end HIV criminalization if they don’t know what’s happening in their state. We have put together a list of the bills we’re watching this year that impact HIV and sex work criminalization. We’ve also expanded the scope of our bill tracker to include bills that propose face mask bans. Not only will these proposed mask bans subject people living with HIV and people most impacted by HIV to further surveillance and harassment by law enforcement, they also seek to criminalize protest and prevent individuals from wearing a proven public health tool. 

If you have any questions or see an HIV criminalization or sex work criminalization bill that’s been introduced in your state, but isn’t reflected in our tracker, please reach out to HNP Collective Coordinator, Elena Ferguson (elena@pwn-usa.org). 

As advocates across the country recognize this day and share knowledge about the harms of HIV criminalization, we at HNP Collective will continue to commit to fostering hope through tactics that we do best and hope that you will join us until no person living with HIV is criminalized based on their health condition.