Equality (STDs) California: Risky Sex with HIV Should Not be a Crime!

Yes, this is how far the moral low ground has fallen in California.

The LGBT groups want to make it a misdemeanor to knowingly infect a sexual partner with HIV.

Don't believe me?

Check out the latest eblast below:

Allies,

Did you know people living with HIV in California can be charged with a felony and imprisoned for years based almost entirely on their HIV status, even in cases when there is no risk of transmission?

This is because California still has outdated and discriminatory laws that unfairly criminalize people living with HIV and actually contradict public health goals.

But Governor Brown can change this: Right now, there is a historic bill on his desk: Senate Bill 239, authored by Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Todd Gloria, which will modernize California’s HIV criminal laws and significantly improve public health.

Add your name to urge Governor Brown to sign SB239 >>

Modernizing HIV criminal laws is a national priority and key component of the Governor and California Department of Public Health’s own Getting to Zero plan: a blueprint for ending the HIV epidemic.

Senate Bill 239 would fulfill this important goal of the Governor’s plan. That’s why we are asking that you help us urge Governor Brown to follow his own "Getting to Zero" plan and protect people living with HIV from unfair prosecution.

California’s current HIV laws were passed in the 1980s and 90s, when little was known about how HIV is transmitted, there were no effective medications, and fear of people living with HIV was extremely high. Today we know much more. We now have medications that make it impossible for people living with HIV to transmit the disease to their partners, as well as HIV-prevention medication such as PrEP.

But our laws have not caught up with current science. Rather than promote public health, they criminalize and stigmatize people living with HIV and may actually deter people from getting tested and into treatment. That’s why it is crucial SB 239 is signed into law!

Governor Brown has been a vital, longtime ally of the LGBTQ community and people living with HIV. Help us urge him to make good on his own "Getting to Zero" plan and sign SB 239 to modernize California’s HIV laws:

https://contact.eqca.org/co/sb239

Sincerely,