PWN is proud of the role our leaders have played in this important step in ending injustice and stigma for people living with HIV in Virginia

 

PWN VA State Lead Deirdre Johnson testifies before the VA Senate Judiciary Committee

February 6, 2021: Last night, the full Virginia Senate passed a bill which, if also passed by the House of Delegates and signed by the governor, will modernize the commonwealth’s outdated, discriminatory HIV criminalization laws.

Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN) Virginia State Lead Deirdre Johnson, who is also the co-founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration (ECHO VA) coalition, and PWN Policy Director Breanna Diaz have dedicated countless hours to meeting with community stakeholders and supporting organizations, drafting bill language, and reaching out to and meeting with state legislators in order to make this happen.

“We are motivated to continue to see change happen in Virginia specifically towards HIV criminalization,” said Deirdre. “We firmly believe that this is a public health matter and in order for Virginia to end the HIV epidemic, these outdated laws must go.”

PWN thanks and applauds our partners at Equality Virginia, the Sero Project, and sponsors state senators Jennifer McClellan and Mamie Locke for working with us to make this critical first step toward HIV justice in Virginia happen.

Currently, Virginia law subjects people living with HIV to prosecution and punishment by criminalizing potential exposure, non-disclosure, or potential transmission of HIV.

PWN understands that these laws are not only cruel, unjust, and stigmatizing, but are also counterproductive to efforts to reduce HIV transmission. Modern science–long known to researchers and confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—shows that people living with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load through effective antiretroviral therapy cannot transmit HIV to sexual partners, even without condoms. While HIV criminalization has never been shown to reduce transmission or incidence of HIV, improving access to care and the services people diagnosed with HIV need to stay in care has substantially reduced transmission. For example, New York reduced its rate of new diagnoses by 30% between 2013 and 2017 through investment in prevention, care, and services.

Furthermore, HIV criminalization laws, like so many other laws, are not applied equally. People of color–Black people in particular—and sex workers are disproportionately charged and prosecuted under these laws and are more likely to receive prison sentences than white people living with HIV.

PWN looks forward to working with the members of the House of Delegates to pass  SB11398 and to securing Governor Northam’s signature so that we can finally see an end to these unjust laws, uphold the rights of people living with HIV, and move one step closer to ending the epidemic in Virginia.

“We are thrilled that the Virginia Senate has recognized that these outdated, discriminatory laws stand in the way of ending the HIV epidemic as well as violating the human rights of people living with HIV,” said Breanna Diaz, PWN’s policy director. “Criminalization has never and will never prevent HIV transmission. Investing in the care and services people living with HIV need will. This is a very important first step, and we hope the Virginia General Assembly will follow the Senate’s example.”

ECHO VA and Sero Project members in 2019

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