News

Timely Aid for Advocates; Access to Employment and Ongoing Discrimination Are Continuing Concerns for People with HIV/AIDS

HIV employment discrimination remains a significant problem.  Despite the fact that most people with HIV who receive regular health care remain healthy for years, and the fact that HIV is transmitted through limited and established routes, many Americans remain unwilling to work in proximity to people living with HIV. The Center for HIV Law and Policy's new primer was prepared in response to this problem, to arm advocates with the basic understanding necessary to assess and undertake a case on behalf of individuals who experience unfair treatment in the workplace because they are living with HIV.

One piece of the Patient Projection and Affordable Care Act, or Health Care Reform, implementation involves creation of Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans to offer options to those, such as people diagnosed with HIV but without access to employer-provided health insurance, who typically can't get affordable heatlh care coverage.  As comments to the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services point out, the signficance of this option will be seriously diluted if premium costs, coverage of reproductive health services, overly long waiting periods, and other problems aren't addressed.

With THE POSITIVE JUSTICE PROJECT,  the Center for HIV Law and Policy launched the first national movement to repeal HIV-specific criminal laws and to end the arrest and imprisonment of people based on positive HIV test results. "Too often, people who have taken the step of getting tested for HIV are treated as if infection with the HIV virus is the equivalent of packing a loaded, unlicensed gun," said Catherine Hanssens, CHLP Executive Director.  "It's time for testing advocates to focus on a real legal barrier and danger for people contemplating an HIV test -- the laws and policies that make the fact of a positive test evidence of wrong-doing and the basis for prosecution and increased prison terms."  CHLP senior advisor Sean Strub added, "There is no more extreme manifestation of stigma than when it is enshrined in the law."

Join Grammy-nominated Jazz composer and pianist Uri Caine and songstress Barbara Walker for tapas, cocktails, dessert and great music in an intimate townhouse setting just steps from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
6:30pm - 8:30pm

Tickets: $150

On July 13, 2010, the Obama administration revealed its proposed strategy for dealing with the HIV treatment and prevention needs of people affected by the epidemic in the United States. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy is the culmination of work and advocacy by people living with HIV, their advocates, AIDS service organizations, federal and state agency representatives, and corporate representatives, such as pharmaceutical companies,with a stake in the plan. Please check our Blog for our thoughts on the NHAS. And read the Strategy and related administration documents here: National HIV/AIDS Strategy, National HIV/AIDS Strategy Implementation Plan, and the Presidential Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Agencies and Departments.

The Women's Advocacy Resource Connection Electronic Forum (WARC E-Forum) on women's experiences with HIV launched today, July 12. The WARC E-Forum provides a unique place to report and collect the shared experiences of women and their advocates with HIV-related discrimination in the U.S. and to address the gaps in civil and human rights protections for women living with HIV. The information gathered through the WARC E-Forum will be available to help shape implementation plans for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to help make sure that it concretely addresses the needs and rights of HIV positive women.

In response to the White House Office of National AIDS Policy's first report on community discussions that will inform development of a National HIV/AIDS strategy, the Center for HIV Law and Policy, Lambda Legal and the ACLU AIDS Project submitted addtional recommendations on issues that merit more attention, including strategies to end state-supported stigma and discrimination with respect to criminal prosecutions of people living with HIV and the inhumane treatment of correctional facility inmates who have HIV.

On June 2, 2010 a Macomb County, Michigan Circuit Court judge dismissed an October, 2009 charge brought under the state's anti-bioterrorism law against an HIV-positive man,  Allen, who was involved in an altercation with a neighbor. The court did agree with a previous Michigan Court of Appeals decision, People v. Odom, supported by information on the CDC website, that HIV-infected blood is a "harmful biological substance" as defined under the bioterrorism law because it is implicated in the transmission of HIV. An assault charge against Allen  is still pending. 

On May 10th, 2010 the Center for HIV Law and Policy and several Teen SENSE coalition partners submitted comments on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) proposed standards for the elimination of sexual assault in state and federal correctional facilities across the country. These comments emphasize that the standards should proactively address the connection between comprehensive sexual health care for youth in state custody in the areas of medical screening and care, youth education programs, and staff training, and the elimination of sexual abuse against these youth.

The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) has released a updated version of Housing Rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS: A Primer to include a section on the application of how an advocate can use international human rights law to support a person with HIV's right to safe, stable, and affordable housing.