South Dakota has signed into law a bill that could open up anti-LGBT+ discrimination under the guise of protecting religious beliefs.
Republican governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 124 on Wednesday (10 March) which would give churches leeway to operate during the pandemic.
The bill states that the government would not be able to “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” without “compelling government interest”.
But human rights advocates say the bill would allow for discrimination against LGBT+ people across a wide range of goods and services. Activists warn the language is so broadly written that it could enable discrimination against anyone who offends an individual’s or institution’s religious beliefs.
It is similar to the religious freedom restoration act (RFRA) which then-governor of Indiana Mike Pence signed into law in 2015. The RFRA allows Indiana businesses to cite their religious freedom as a legal defence, which can be used to discriminate against the LGBT+ community based on religion.
The 19th reported at least 36 RFRA-type bills – including SB 124 in South Dakota – have been filed in state legislatures since January 2021. Of these, 25 have been attached to bills intended to allow churches to operate during COVID.
Speaking to The Advocate, Janna Fairley, communications director for the ACLU of South Dakota, said religious liberty is important, but it “shouldn’t be used to discriminate”.
“We’re deeply disappointed to see this bill signed into law and are concerned that it will be used to justify harm to already vulnerable communities,” Fairley said. “No one should be turned away from housing, health care or critical social services because of who they are.”
The organisation has urged the South Dakota legislature to change the wording of the bill so it only applied to government treatment of religious services, but it was not changed to do so.
Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), spoke out against SB 124 earlier this month, saying the bill “threatens protections for LGBTQ people, women and people of faith”.
“South Dakotans believe in religious liberty and LGBTQ equality — those two values are not mutually exclusive,” David said. “South Dakota potentially risks the loss of business opportunities and the revenue that comes with it, significant legal fees and damage to the state’s reputation.”
Noem has said she will sign into law a bill that would ban trans people from playing in sports that align with their gender identity. She said on Twitter on Monday (8 March) that she was “excited” to sign the bill “very soon”.
According to the Rapid City Journal, she is still evaluating the bill, despite her excitement for it to pass. She said during a press conference that she had no plans to meet with any trans people to discuss their thoughts on the bill, but South Dakota’s executive branch is “certainly open to listening to everybody”.
Protestors stood outside in the snow and freezing cold temperatures in solidarity with the trans community. The ACLU of South Dakota shared pictures from the protest on Twitter and said: “Today and everyday – trans people belong.”
As the victim of a transphobic attack fended off her assailant, a police officer allegedly lobbed racist and anti-LGBT+ slurs at her instead of helping.
Luis Cruz was strolling through Manhattan, New York, on 11 April, 2020 when a man began harassing her, according to court papers.
She called the cops. But when the officer arrived to Tompkins Square Park in the Alphabet City neighbourhood, instead of coming to her aid, she instead discriminated against her, the lawsuit claimed.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) officer allegedly shoved Cruz and neglected to arrest her actual attacker, the Manhattan Supreme Court heard, according to the New York Post.
Even as Cruz’s reported attacker pelted her with a chain and spat on her, the suit detailed, the defendant “falsely detained” Cruz instead.
The officer – identified in court documents by her surname “Moore” – allegedly shouted “get away from me, faggot” and launched a volley of hateful slurs at the victim.
Moore “refused to arrest the male who struck, spits and insulted plaintiff due to plaintiff’s race and sexual orientation in being a transgender female”, the lawsuit claimed.
Cruz’s attacker was only arrested after she dialled 911 a second time and a police sergeant responded instead. They ordered Moore to arrest the assailant.
After the arrest, Cruz filed a “formal complaint” against Moore to the sergeant.
NYPD has a history of transphobia
New York City’s trans community and the police have a historically fraught relationship.
In 2018, Linda Dominguez, a 45-year-old cosmetologist, cut through a park to get to her apartment when she was stopped by authorities.
Hygiene in the American Wild West was probably about what you’d expect – unhygienic.
Despite being part of a group, Dominguez – a trans woman – was the only one arrested. She was later cuffed to a pipe in a cell with pink handcuffs and repeatedly deadnamed.
She later filed a lawsuit against the police department accusing officers of causing her “mental anguish, ongoing humiliation and embarrassment”.
As part of a settlement agreed in 2020, the department was ordered to retrain its staff in protecting trans civilians as well as pay Dominguez $30,000.
Milo Yiannopoulos, the gay man whose conservative messaging and willingness to speak the truth sparked riots on university campuses may well trigger more outrage now that he describes himself as “Ex-Gay” and “sodomy free,” and is leading a daily consecration to St. Joseph online.
Two years ago, when Church Militant’s Michael Voris famously challenged Yiannopoulos to live a chaste life, Yiannopoulos was not defensive. Instead, he acquiesced, and humbly admitted his human weakness.
“I know everything you’re saying, and I’m just not there yet. And I don’t know if I’ll get there,” Yiannopoulos told Voris. It seems that he has now arrived “there.”
At the link above you’ll find an interview with Yiannopoulos conducted by fellow homocon and alleged ex-gay Doug Mainwaring, who has appeared at NOM’s hate marches.
LifeSiteNews is operated by the Canadian anti-LGBT and anti-abortion Catholic group, Campaign Life Coalition. Its writers include US anti-LGBT activists Mainwaring and Porno Pete LaBarbera.
As for Church Militant founder Michael “Comically Bewigged” Voris, a reader tipped me years ago about having attended International Mister Leather with Voris, but I was unable to substantiate that before Voris came out as ex-gay.
Yiannopoulos was recently banned by Parler after posting that “homosexuals should be hanged.” LifeSiteNews has been banned from Twitter.
Filmmaker JAMILA WIGNOT’S new documentary of modern dance auteur , the tortured genius Alvin Ailey makes for such hypnotic viewing. With a combination of audio interviews with the man himself and some breath taking archival footage of his early performances, she gives an intimate portrait of one of the greatest interpreters of the universality of the African-American experience .
Wignot bases her film around a production of “Lazarus,” a new piece in honor of Ailey, which the present day Ailey company rehearses under the direction of ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ROBERT BATTLE and choreographer RENNIE HARRIS. But in between she starts with Ailey’s poverty stricken childhood with his single parent mother struggling to survive the Depression in 1930’s Texas.
His very tight bond with his mother lasts his entire life, until it is cut short in 1989 when he dies of AIDS aged 58. In order to shield her from the stigma of AIDS, he asks his Doctor to announce his death was from a blood disease.
In 1941 when he was just 10 years old he and his mother moved to Los Angelas for ‘ a better life’ and that was where he first discovered dance in the form of BALLET RUSSE DE MONTE-CARLO. He was totally hooked watching, but too afraid of the potential negative name calling, he never considered dancing himself. That is until his classmate and friend CARMEN DE LAVALLADE dragged him to the studio of LESTER HORTON, and the die was cast. It was De Lavallade who was also responsible for his next move when, when she and Ailey were cast as a dancing couple in a Broadway Show.
This was the beginning of his success as a dancer, but Ailey was very frustrated and at being unable to find a choreographer whose work fulfilled him, he started gathering dancers to perform his own Company.
It was 1958, and he had only been in NY for 4 years, and the new ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER soon had its debut at the 92ND STREET Y That performance included Ailey’s first masterpiece, Blues Suite, and two years later he premiered his most popular and critically acclaimed work, REVELATIONS, In creating Revelations Ailey drew upon his “blood memories” of growing up in Texas surrounded by Black people, the church, spirituals, and the blues.
It was not all plain sailing as former members recalled of the hardships of performing low budget tours around the country. All squeezed on a single bus dashing from city to city and having to staying in shabby motels which were the only ones to accept their mixed race Company.
However most of them, and several other figures from the dance world that lined up to testify to Ailey’s sheer genius. talked so admiringly about the choreographer, but not about the man. We learn later that he suffered from bipolar disorder which landed him a spell in a mental institution, but little more about his personal life.
One dancer commented that throughout his 15 year tenure with the Company and the good relationship he had enjoyed with Ailey, he had still only hung out with him once socially.
Even though Ailey hated being called a ‘black choreographer he had formed the Company to celebrate African American culture and to provide performances for black dancers, who were frequently denied opportunities due to racist mores of the time. But his sexuality was a total no-go area, although the film refers to one known affair, there is no other real reference to him being gay. It is suggested however that being closeted was a cause of his unhappiness and his regular bouts of depression.
This film gives such wonderful examples of Ailey’s stunning work and will totally delight his fans, but on the other hand it is still disappointing that we did not learn much about the great man himself. There was talk last year of Oscar Winner BARRY JENKINS (Moonlight) was working on a biopic on Ailey, maybe he’ll fill in the missing gaps them
Schools are within their right to demoralise children who support trans rights, according to a terrifying court ruling about a school in South Carolina.
A principal at an elementary school in Moore, South Carolina was in the right when she banned a student’s pro-trans essay from a school booklet, a federal appeals court has ruled.ADVERTISING
The child, named in court documents only as RRS, was 10 years old when she was assigned to write an “essay to society” in 2019. The court heard her maternal grandfather is part of the LGBT+ community, and RRS is a “proud advocate of LGBTQ rights”.
So she decided to write about LGBT+ equality for the assignment. Her essay, reprinted here verbatim, stated the following:
“To society,
“I don’t know if you know this but peoples view on Tran’s genders is an issue. People think that men should not drees like a women, and saying mean things. They think that they are choosing the wrong thing in life.
“In the world people can choose who they want to be not being told that THEIR diction is wrong. I hope people understand that people can hurt themselves from others hurting their feelings. People need to think before they speak because one word can hurt someone’s feelings. We need to fix this because this is getting out of hand!”
The court heard Anderson Mill Elementary School principal Elizabeth Foster reviewed the essays submitted by the fourth grade class before they were compiled into an essay booklet. But she instructed RRS’ teacher to inform the child that her essay would not be included in the booklet because, in her view, the topic was “not appropriate”.
RRS then revised her essay, which addressed bullying instead of LGBT+ rights.
US circuit judge Stephanie Thacker, a Barack Obama-appointee, wrote in her judgment: “Principal Foster’s initial refusal to include [the student’s] essay in the fourth grade class’ essay booklet was actuated at least in part by her concern that the essay’s topic was ‘not age appropriate’ for fourth graders.”
Mother filed complaint against school after ‘abusive’ messages from principal
Hannah Robertson, the mother of RRS, filed a complaint against the South Carolina school on 6 March, 2019.
Shortly before she filed the complaint, Robertson said Foster had “defended her decision” to not include RRS’ LGBTQ-themed essay in the essay booklet through “a series of increasingly abusive, harassing, emotionally distressful and/or clearly unwarranted communications with” her.
During these conversations, Robertson said Foster provided the following justifications for her decision including: “the original paper would make other parents upset”; it “would create a [sic] undesirable situation at the school”; “was not acceptable”; “it was not age-appropriate to discuss transgenders, lesbians, and drag queens outside of the home”; and “due to the type of school this is, the people that work here and the students and families of the students that go here, the topic would be disagreeable”.
In a letter dated 15 March, 2019, Foster informed Robertson that she had decided that both of the child’s papers would be published in the essay booklet. In turn, Robertson cited concerns about the child’s privacy and said she no longer wanted the original essay to be in the booklet.
Robertson argued the South Carolina principal’s removal of the trans essay as part of the classroom assignment amounted to a violation of her child’s First Amendment rights, arguing Foster deprived RRS of her “right to engage in protected speech”.
But a lower court dismissed the student’s claim.
The family appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
However, on Tuesday (3 March), a three-judge panel for the appeals court upheld the original ruling. The judgement cited the 1998 Supreme Court decision in Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier, which declared that schools could censor students as long as it was “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns”.
The court held that the principal’s decision to ban RRS’ essay fell within the Supreme Court judgment because Foster was motivated, at least in part, by a concern that the topic was not “age appropriate”. As such, the court found the South Carolina school’s decision not to publish the trans essay did not infringe on RRS’ First Amendment rights.
Jasmine Rogers Drain, partner at Halligan Mahoney and Williams and who represented the school, did not wish to comment on the ruling.
Eric Poston, managing partner at Chalmers Poston LLC, represented the family in this case. He told PinkNews: “It’s well known in the legal field that, with very few exceptions, appellate judges have already made their decision by the time the attorneys are able to argue their case in front of the judges themselves in what is known as ‘oral argument’.”
Poston explained this case’s oral argument “served only to perpetuate the stereotype” as it appeared the judges were unaware of basic facts about the case.
“When I asked if they had read the essay, I heard crickets – same result when I asked if they were aware that this girl’s mother and grandfather are active members of the LGBTQ community,” Poston said. “They also didn’t appear fully aware of the actual quotes from the principal as to why she banned the essay.”
He added the “most disappointing, preposterous question” he received was whether or not “I agreed that a teacher should be able to decide what they do and do not teach/allow in their classroom”. Poston told PinkNews: “What made this question so mind boggling is that it revealed how absolutely unaware the judges were of even the most basic facts of the case – that the teacher found the essay acceptable and planned to publish it until the principal single-handedly prevented her from doing so.”
This article was edited to include comment from Jasmine Rogers Drain, the attorney representing the school in this case, and Eric Poston, the attorney representing the family.
Forward Together – 1988: Magi Fedorka will be talking to us about getting the Pride Resolution passed in 1992 as well as other accomplishments and struggles faced by this unwavering force for LGBTQI rights and recognition.
To register for the LGBTQI Timeline class please click on the appropriate link below. If you have not taken any classes through SRJC in the past year, you are considered a New Student.
Mississippi’s Republican governor has signed a discriminatory bill to ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender.
“I will sign our bill to protect young girls from being forced to compete with biological males for athletic opportunities,” he tweeted last week.
“It’s crazy we have to address it, but the Biden EO [executive order] forced the issue. Adults? That’s on them. But the push for kids to adopt transgenderism is just wrong.”
Despite Reeves’ claims, legislators pushing the bill gave no evidence of any transgender athletes competing in Mississippi schools or universities.
Legal advocates have previously noted that such bills aren’t actually being requested by constituents, but are driven by national far-right organisations “attempting to sow fear and hate” against the transgender community.
Chase Strangio, ACLU deputy director for transgender justice, said the Mississippi bill “is very vague and seemingly unenforceable” and isn’t really about sport at all.
“Unfortunately, there is already rampant discrimination against trans youth in Mississippi, which means people are already driven out of sport,” he told AP.
“Governor Reeves’ statement makes clear that this isn’t about sports at all, this is about attacking trans youth and stopping kids from being trans — a dangerous project with deadly consequences.”
Commenting on Twitter, Strangio went on to question the governor’s priorities in signing the bill as the state’s capital city enters its fourth week of a water crisis.
The bill is set to become law on 1 July, making Mississippi the first state to enact such a ban this year.
Hygiene in the American Wild West was probably about what you’d expect – unhygienic.
Many others are expected to follow in its footsteps thanks to a Republican-led “legislative boom” that has seen at least 25 states introduce over 60 bills targeting trans children.
In total, more anti-trans bills were introduced in the first three months of 2021 than any other year so far.
Tatiana Williams said she “adopted” her daughter Alexus Braxton about 25 years ago in Miami after the two met while doing sex work to survive.
“It was her and a group of friends, they would come hang out,” she said. “And I think they were looking for a sense of family.”
The two became each other’s chosen family, and Williams said “Lexus” — as she calls her — “would be my ear to the streets” and her source for gossip.
“She has a lot of people that feed her information, you know, and she was a good source when it came to information,” she said.
On Feb. 4, Braxton was found dead in her apartment. Miami-Dade Police are investigating her death as a homicide, and Detective Juan Segovia said in a Feb. 15 statement that she was killed in a “violent and vicious attack.”
Williams said she’s devastated. She’s familiar with cases like Braxton’s, both personally and as an advocate — she’s also the executive director of Transinclusive Group, a nonprofit in South Florida. In 1999, her friend Pilar was murdered in front of her. Now, more than 20 years later, she’s lost her adopted daughter.
“For once in my lifetime, all of the advocacy work that I do, in this case, I find myself being involved,” she said. “I’m more emotional, as opposed to my advocacy hat where I get to move to the other side.”
Braxton is one of at least 10 transgender people murdered so far in 2021 — a 233 percent increase from this point last year, when three trans people had been murdered. Half of the victims so far in 2021, including Braxton, are Black trans women.
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, has called violence against transgender people “a national epidemic” and requested in a list of policy recommendations released in November that the Biden administration form an interagency working group to address anti-transgender violence.
Advocates say preventing anti-trans violence requires a comprehensive approach that spans many sectors, but it also requires governments and law enforcement to better understand the trans community.
‘The full scope of the problem’
It’s difficult to know with certainty how widespread violence against trans people is in part because the government doesn’t track it. That’s why the National Center for Transgender Equality would like the Department of Justice to do a comprehensive study of the violence, Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, the organization’s deputy executive director, said.
“We are left with a patchwork of state and local information that doesn’t really add up to giving us the complete picture,” he said. The center tracks the murders of transgender people largely through social media, local reporting, and by confirming information with other LGBTQ organizations.
But that method likely leaves people out. For example, advocates say that “at least” 10 trans people have been murdered in 2021 because police departments and local media often deadname and misgender trans people when reporting on their deaths.
“We are having to piece things together as best we can, but we don’t have the resources or the ability to cross-reference everything nationally that the federal government has,” Heng-Lehtinen said.
Another piece of the puzzle is sexual orientation and gender identity mortality data, said Sam Brinton, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization. Brinton said law enforcement should be taught how to ask friends and family members about the deceased’s identity during death investigations.
For example, in 2019, Los Angeles County became the first jurisdiction in the nation to pass a motion to train medical examiners and coroners to investigate the violent deaths of LGBTQ people and to collect mortality data on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Asking affirming questions to family and friends and community members when you are doing a death investigation will give us actual whole and complete data,” Brinton said.
Knowing the extent of the problem would allow advocates and lawmakers to come up with better prevention efforts, Brinton said, comparing the lack of mortality data in violent crimes to Covid-19 data. “We do not know how many trans people have died from Covid because we do not ask the questions,” Brinton said. “When you don’t ask the death questions, the life of the person and the life of the next generation is really at risk.”
Stigma leading to violence
Though a number of factors influence violence against transgender people, one of the most significant is stigma, according to Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
David said a number of Trump administration proposals contributed to stigma, such as proposals to allow homeless shelters to reject transgender people and allow health care providers to refuse to serve trans people. Those measures, as well as then-President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military, “trickle down to ordinary citizens who think that transgender people are not human,” he said.
Directors of TKO with Alabama state Rep. Laura Hall.TC Caldwell / Knights and Orchids Society
In addition, the more than 70 bills targeting transgender people being heard in state legislatures across the country “undermine trans identities,” he said.
Anti-trans stigma affects trans people from a young age. Quentin Bell, executive director of the Knights and Orchids Society, an Alabama-based trans-led nonprofit, said many of the organization’s clients don’t have a high school diploma because they dropped out of school due to stigma and violence.
“I literally have a 17-year-old who’s currently in our program, and she could not be happier when school ends in May,” Bell said. “She feels like her life can start when school finally ends, and that the pandemic has been a good thing because she hasn’t had to face the violence and the ridicule every day.”
On Feb. 24, a city work crew found the body of Jenna Franks, who friends and family have described as a transgender woman and genderfluid, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, according to WITN. On March 3, police said they were investigating her death as a homicide, making her the 10th known transgender person slain in 2021.
Dennis Biancuzzo, executive director for the Onslow County LGBTQ Center, said the center had helped Franks find housing after she completed treatment for substance misuse. But in January, she relapsed and became homeless again. Biancuzzo said he tried to contact her about 10 times since then, but he never heard from her.
Jenna Franks.Courtesy Jenna Franks
“She was a loving person,” he said. “She wanted to be able to do peer counseling and help people that have been through the situation she had been through.”
Biancuzzo said the community center started a program to support people experiencing homelessness, and through that program he helped Franks and others apply for health care. But, he said, someone at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services customer service center told him they would only be eligible for limited services.
“What each one of them was told, as an individual, they could receive North Carolina family planning health assistance, which consists of one physical a year, treatment for any sexually transmitted diseases and sterilization,” he said. “I blew a gasket with the woman I was speaking to from the state. When she said the word sterilization, my head exploded.”
When Franks completed her drug treatment program, Biancuzzo said she was put on the street. He said there’s no continuum of care, which would coordinate various services for people experiencing homelessness. “There’s no health care, there’s no food equity, there’s no housing, and those are things that have to be done if you take a person and put them in a treatment facility for 28 days. You cannot just put them out on the street when you’re done with them,” he said.
Bell said that many trans people who experience homelessness can’t go to shelters. He said he’s called every shelter in the Selma area, and even some in Montgomery, Alabama, to ask them if they provide services to trans people.
“They will tell you blatantly on the phone — they don’t care how discriminatory it is — they don’t house transgender people, or even worse, ‘We don’t have them, we don’t house those people,’” he said.
When trans people face job and housing discrimination, and then can’t even turn to shelters, they often engage in sex work to survive, Heng-Lehtinen said, which can put them in dangerous situations and lead to a criminal record.
The stigmitization surrounding sex work can also affect how the deaths of trans women — particularly Black trans women, who are more likely to engage in sex work — are investigated. For example, Williams said she was hesitant to share with Miami-Dade Police that Braxton was going to start an account on OnlyFans, a subscription platform that allows people to share adult content. “I was afraid if I gave too much information that he would get turned off from the case,” she said.
She said police departments need to have a better understanding of the trans community in order to adequately investigate murders of trans people. “I think that law enforcement doesn’t understand how often this is happening within the community, because they’re thinking like, ‘Oh, this is just a one-off,’” Williams said. “But if they were to do a little deeper research, they would see it’s not just a one-off, and what does that look like when you are working in regards to that community and solving these cases.”
She said she’d like to see policy reform at all levels of government that instills a “sense of urgency” in law enforcement when it comes to investigating and solving the murders of trans people.
In the meantime, though, she is trying to cope with Braxton’s death. She said she also jokes with people, saying “So where am I going to get all my gossip from?”
“She would call you 2 o’clock in the morning and have me laughing, and so she brought a lot of joy and laughter to people, just because of her being wise, you know, her knowing a lot of people,” Williams said. “She would bring me joy and laughter in the process.”
Virginia lawmakers have approved legislation modernizing laws around HIV exposure.
Passed after two versions of the bill were reconciled, the legislationwould repeal the felony criminal ban on blood, tissue or organ donation by people with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; make HIV-testing for people convicted of certain crimes, including prostitution and drug charges, optional rather than mandatory; and strike down a statute making failure to disclose HIV-positive status before sex a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months jail time.
Intentional transmission of HIV, or “infected sexual battery,” would remain a felony in Virginia, rather than a misdemeanor, as proponents had hoped, but the new legislation would require proof of actual infection, rather than just exposure.
The bill now heads to Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, who has until March 31 to sign the measure into law. While Northam has not specifically said he would sign the bill, he has previously signed pro-LGBTQ bills, including one requiring schools to create policies related to the treatment of trans students and a ban on so-called conversion therapy.
Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, a Democrat, who introduced the bill with fellow Democrat and state Sen. Mamie Locke, said HIV criminalization laws are an ineffective public health tool that disproportionately affect the LGBTQ community and people of color.
“They target and stigmatize people who are HIV positive, even though being HIV positive is itself not a threat to public safety.” McClellan told NBC News. “It makes people less likely to disclose or get tested.”
There’s also the question of determining someone’s intention to expose a partner.
“It’s so hard to prove,” McClellan said. “There have been instances where you’ve had a bad breakup and someone will swear out a warrant, saying ‘You tried to infect me,’ or use it as a threat.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37 states have laws criminalizing intentional transmission of HIV. Many were enacted after Congress approved the federal Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act in 1990. That landmark legislation provided millions of dollars in health care and support services for people with HIV. But to qualify, states had to enact laws allowing for the prosecution of anyone “who knowingly and intentionally exposes a nonconsenting individual to HIV.”
In the intervening decades, understanding and treatment of HIV have grown exponentially. But leading health organizations, including the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and the CDC itself, say the laws have not caught up with advances in science.
According to the CDC, many HIV laws criminalize behavior that cannot transmit the virus — including spitting or biting — and can be applied whether or not there is actual transmission. They also don’t account for advances in HIV medication, which can keep an individual’s viral load undetectable, presenting zero risk of transmission.
Before Saturday, only six states had modernized their criminalization laws since 2014: California, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Washington, according to the advocacy group Equality Virginia. Just one, Texas, has repealed its laws.
While Virginia’s law has rarely been enforced, between 2019 and 2020 three people in the state were convicted of felony infected sexual battery and misdemeanor sexual battery, according to the Roanoke Times.
McClellan’s bill, which made infected sexual battery a misdemeanor, passed the Senate 21-17 earlier this month. But a version keeping the felony charge intact cleared the House of Delegates 56-44 Friday. In negotiations to reconcile the two bills, the House version prevailed.
Some lawmakers were concerned the language in McClellan’s bill would allow someone to intentionally transmit HIV without fear of prosecution.
“I find it stunning that we would want to eliminate the felony for what is potentially fatal, deadly conduct,” state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, a Republican, told The Washington Post.
McClellan argues there are other laws about intentionally infecting someone with a disease, including those prohibiting “malicious wounding.” “There’s no reason to specifically single out people with HIV,” she said.
Cedric Pulliam, co-founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia, or ECHO VA, said the group will continue to work with advocates and legislators to change the law, “whether it’s this year or the next.”
“When you’re a felon, it messes up your career, your housing, your education — your entire mental state,” said Pulliam, a public health expert at the CDC. “We want to focus on the rehabilitative things we can do rather than punish people.”Last session ECHO VA didn’t back a less comprehensive version of the bill, because it “didn’t push the needle far enough,” co-founder Deidre Johnson told NBC News. She wasn’t sure McClellan’s bill, which included repeals of the donation ban and mandatory testing, would succeed. “We knew we wouldn’t get everything but we were shocked we got what we did,” she said.
But it wasn’t a bloodless battle, Johnson said.
“It did give us some heartache to hear the draconian and outdated rhetoric around HIV” during the debate,” she said. “It was a real gut-check. We realize we have a lot more education to do. But now Virginians are talking about HIV and we’re glad it’s in a public forum.” Since gaining control of both houses in 2019, Virginia Democrats have moved swiftly to advance LGBTQ legislation: In 2020, lawmakers banned so-called conversion therapy on minorsand became the first Southern state to pass anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community.
Just last week, a bill banning the use of the so-called panic defense, used to mitigate violent crimes against LGBTQ people, passed with clear majorities in both houses.
“We’ve made generational change in less than two years,” McClellan said. “I think the public was there, I think there were even Republicans that were there. But the GOP leadership wouldn’t let [LGBTQ rights legislation] out of committee.”
The bill’s passage helps to cement Virginia as a leader on LGBTQ rights. On Tuesday, the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus reintroduced the REPEAL Act, which provides incentives to states that reform their HIV exposure laws.
Sponsored by Reps Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jenniffer González Colón, R-Puerto Rico, the bill also directs the Health and Human Services and Justice departments to review policies that criminalize people living with HIV.
“We cannot achieve our shared goal of an AIDS-free generation while these laws are on the books,” Lee said in a statement. “It is past time that we repeal these harmful and discriminatory laws and instead focus our efforts on promoting public health equity and public awareness.”
President Joe Biden has indicated he supports the REPEAL Act on his policy site, saying HIV exposure laws have no basis in science and “perpetuate discrimination and stigma towards people with HIV/AIDS.”
The Jewish Community Center Sonoma County is proud to present the 6th Annual Israeli Film Festival, producedVIRTUALLY in 2021. Five new and highly acclaimed Israeli films will be available online on a dedicated, user-friendly platform. The films will be available on-demand for three weeks, March 12 – April 2. Live filmmaker talks will allow the community to interact with the creative minds behind the works. All-Access Season Passes on sale February 26.
TICKETS, TRAILERS, and FILM GUIDE: WWW.JCCSOCO.ORG. Season Passes: $60 single, $80 “mishpacha” family; Single Tickets on sale March 5: $14, $24.
ASIA (DRAMA) – Starring Shira Haas (Unorthodox, Shtisel) and Alena Yiv, ASIA is the story of a thirty-five-year-old Russian immigrant and single mother (named Asia). Free-spirited and non-judgmental, she is put to the test when her teenage daughter Vika, who is disabled, announces that she’s ready to lose her virginity. New director Ruthy Pribar created an emotionally intense, heartbreaking film. Premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival winning Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and the Nora Ephron Prize; the film won nine Israeli Academy Awards (Ophir) including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. The Israeli entry for the American Academy Awards. (85 Minutes; Hebrew, Russian).
FORGIVENESS (COMEDY) – Set in the south of Israel near the Gaza border where beleaguered citizens live withincoming rocket fire, longtime pals Shaul and Nissan attempt to rob a postal bank. They think they’ve got a great aplan, but they mangle the job royally, and Shaul is collared and sent to prison. Years later, upon his release, Shaul is less than pleased to be greeted by the newly religious Nissan who seeks his forgiveness in the week leading up to Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. This exuberant goofball buddy-film highlights the exceptional rapport between the film’s creators, directors, and stars, Hanan Savyon and Guy Amir, best known for their hit television series Asfur. (104 Minutes; Hebrew).
HERE WE ARE (DRAMA) – Aharon has devoted his life to raising his son Uri. They live in a gentle routine, away from the real world. But Uri is autistic, and now as a young adult it might be time for him to live in a specialized home. While on their way to the institution, Aharon decides to run away with his son and hits the road. Directed by Nir Bergman with powerful performances by Shai Avivi, Noam Imber, HERE WE ARE was an official selection of theCannes Film Festival and was nominated for nine Israeli Academy Awards. (92 Minutes; Hebrew).
KISS ME KOSHER (COMEDY) – When their lesbian daughter becomes engaged to a German woman, and grandma has a secret lover, this subversive love story exposes the clashing opinions, secrets, lies, and hypocrisy of a traditional Jewish Israeli family. KISS ME KOSHER is a charming romantic misadventure crossing all societal borders. Directed by Shirel Peleg (101 Minutes; Hebrew, English, German).
MRS. G (DOCUMENTARY) – Mrs. Lea Gottlieb, was the legendary designer, founder, and owner of the Gottex swimwear empire. Gottlieb was a woman full of contradictions, and she knew how to recover from periods of crisis. She survived the Holocaust, established a small factory in Israel, and achieved phenomenal success abroad. The filmfollows Mrs. G’s incredible creativity, dominant personality, complex relationships, and passion, for which she paid a heavy price. (56 Minutes; Hebrew).
