Op-Ed: HIV Quarantines Already Exist

Last week, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee re-introduced a bill to repeal HIV criminalization laws across the nation, and it couldn't have come at a better time. 

Earlier this year, the LGBT community went on red alert when a public health bill in Kansas proposed that people living with HIV should be quarantined.

It felt shockingly similar to those days in the 1980s when people like Jesse Helms actually called for “quarantine of those infected.” One poll at the time revealed that 50 percent of Americans supported this type of policy.

Luckily, activists secured revised language in the Kansas statute, making sure an HIV quarantine didn't become reality. So for a hot second, the marriage equality fight (rightly) shared the stage with this potential shocker. But alas, crisis averted. Resume previous heading.

Not so fast, Mr. Sulu. The thing is, we already have quarantines, just as shocking and dangerous, in 33 states across the country. Virtual quarantines are literally written into our criminal law. And these aren’t old laws, slowly and finally being pulled from the books; they’re relatively new, and still being proposed and debated in states across the country. 

I’m referring to the biggest civil rights issue that should be on everyone’s radar, but largely gets ignored: HIV criminalization.

In varying degrees across the country, people are going to jail or receiving heightened penalties for otherwise minor crimes for notdisclosing their HIV status to their sexual partners. The stark reality of this is no less shocking than those calls for quarantine were in the '80s.

People living with HIV are going to jail, and they’re going because of their HIV status. These people are going to jail despite doing all the right things: getting tested, getting treated, using condoms. Yes, you can use a condom and still be tried. Folks are going to jail for failing to disclose, or being falsely accused of not disclosing, their status.

Laws differ from state to state. Some are unclear and confusing. Some require the intent to actually transmit HIV, but others don't. Some only apply to unprotected sex, while others are more far-reaching. Some are so vague and confusing they’d apply to any intimate behavior, like kissing, or even spitting on someone.

In fact, a Texas man is serving 35 years in prison for spitting on a police officer. HIV is not transmittable by saliva—at least according to those hacks at the Centers for Disease Control.

Moreover, because there are no clear guidelines on how these laws are enforced, their application often ends up in the hands of some religiously overzealous county prosecutor.

What is clear is that people who did nothing wrong but contract a virus are being singled out. In the words of Sean Strub—the brilliant, tireless activist on the front lines of this issue — we are creating a “viral underclass.”
 Call it what you want, but "quarantine" sounds like the right word to me.

Make no mistake—this isn’t just about HIV. When these laws are passed, we’re told they're seeking the laudable goal of effectively addressing a medical issue and combating a virus. But if that were true, why aren’t there similar laws for diseases like HPV and gonorrhea?

Every year in the U.S., roughly 4,000 women die of cervical cancer that is traceable to HPV. Why is there is no disclosure requirement there?

This is about agendas of hate and homophobia—stoked by repeated appeals to fear and ignorance—using the ugly stigma of HIV to further that disdain.

The civil rights abuses of this travesty should be enough to shock you into action. When I first heard about this, I’m embarrassed to say, I knew shockingly little about it. And I’m a lawyer. But it gets worse.

These laws are a serious threat to the progress we have made fighting the spread of HIV and finding a cure and vaccine. How? Because the laws turn on your knowledge of your status.

In the poz community a scary slogan has developed: “Take the test, risk arrest.” People would rather remain ignorant than get placed in criminal jeopardy.

And sadly, this line of thinking isn’t all that irrational. The laws are doing the opposite of what they’re supposedly intended to do: get people tested and treated so that they can reduce transmission. Scary.

Legally speaking, when courts examine a law or action by the state that singles out one group of people, they often conduct a review of how well that law is tailored to address a problem or societal need.

As we’ve seen, courts are starting to grant higher levels of scrutiny to laws singling out LGBT people. It has become empirically clear that each of these laws singling out people living with HIV is preventing success of this critical public health goal.

Any of us can be one step away from HIV—a broken condom, a botched blood transfusion or a child born with HIV—just like we are always one step away from numerous viruses or illnesses. It is sadly part of the human biological experience.

Right here in New York City, not two miles from where I sit, is an abandoned island that was used as a forced quarantine facility for infectious diseases like typhoid, scarlet fever, and leprosy. This is where these kinds of laws lead. Long ago, we realized that putting people in camps wasn’t the answer. Neither is using our criminal laws to create virtual camps for those living with HIV.

These laws have facilitated an ominous but thriving symbiotic relationship between the forces of homophobia and HIV-ignorance. This is why it’s critical to add this to our list of activism musts. It falls on us to fight because the forces of homophobia continue to spew that HIV/AIDS is a gay-only disease. Of course it isn’t. HIV/AIDS not just among gay people but among everyone. Most heterosexual voters living in the 33 states with HIV criminalization laws haven’t even considered this danger. They simply buy the facile, reasonable-sounding propaganda that “Yeah, people should disclose their status.”

It’s up to us to expose the simple truth: The second we start fighting people with HIV instead of HIV itself is the moment we start losing this critical public health battle. In 33 states, that moment has come and gone. We'd all better wake up and get on board with this fight, before the entire nation becomes a quarantine for the more than 1.1 million people currently living with the virus…and for us all.

Learn more at www.seroproject.com. Find the law in your state and be heard.

***

JIM MORRISON is host of HereTV's political talk show For & Against. You can catch full episodes on Here TV's all-new paid YouTube channel.

Watch Morrison discuss HIV criminalization laws with activist Regan Hoffman below: