Lavender Law
CHLP Senior PJP Attorney Jada Hicks returns to Lavendar Law for a presentation entitled, HIV Criminalization in the Trump Era: State and Local Strategies For Success.
Speakers:
-- Nathan Cisneros (Moderator) (Williams Institute UCLA School of Law)
-- Jose Abrigo (Lambda Legal)
-- Michael Elizabeth (Equality Federation)
-- Jada Hicks (The Center for HIV Law and Policy)
-- Kate Mozynski (Equality Ohio)
HIV criminalization reformers enjoyed unprecedented engagement with the federal government during the Biden administration. From DOJ to HHS to the Office of National AIDS Policy and the President himself, the executive branch made increasingly clear calls for states to reform or repeal outdated HIV-related criminal laws. All that changed with the incoming Trump administration. Resources previously available, such as the federal policy documents calling for HIV criminalization reform, have been scrubbed. HIV testing and treatment services have been cut or jeopardized. DOJ has ended all investigations into possible ADA violations in HIV criminal enforcement. Indeed, the word HIV itself now appears to be a sensitive topic within the federal government, and no one expects any major criminal legal system reforms for the foreseeable future.
How are advocates, reformers, and legal practitioners responding to this changed political and policy landscape? What strategies for moving forward look promising with litigation, legislation, and the like, and what avenues have been foreclosed? In this session, participants will hear how lawyers and advocates are moving forward with HIV criminalization reform at the state and local level, given a difficult and uncertain federal environment. Panelists will (1) review the changed federal position on HIV policy and HIV criminalization, (2) explore legal wins and failures in politically challenging state and local environments, and (3) detail new tools, strategies, and legal arguments for pushing forward with reform in both the short- and medium-term. Panelists will also take stock of how to continue this work in a sustainable way—both personally and professionally—whatever a person’s engagement with the legal profession.
