No. Living with HIV should not make you a criminal.
But failing to report HIV status before engaging in unprotected sex or any other activity that might risk transmission should and in many states is a crime. So, do that and you’ve committed a crime.
It *used* to be that HIV positive people or those who engage in risky sexual behaviors weren’t allowed to donate blood. That should always have been a crime, but wasn’t, and they relaxed it a lot but shouldn’t have.
Additionally, TV ads that say, “undetectable = untransmissible,” are at best hopeful lies and that should be criminal as well, but is not at the moment.
Any other questions?
Great points, Merrick.
And consider this. You are only as “HIV-negative” or “undetectable” as the days or hours after your last blood test, and even that is indeterminable due to the 2-week to 1-month window period of undetectability for new infections. You can show your “clean” certificate to all of your new Grindr “dates” and yet still be a walking plague of infection flying under the radar.
Undetectability is not a static status. I read that its not uncommon for HIV carriers to have unexplained spikes in their virus counts, whether due to not remaining perfect enough in their HIV med regimen; contracting a new, drug-resistant mutation from a new sexual partner, or the current drugs just becoming ineffective. And you won’t likely know this for months since your last HIV exam. In that time frame, you could have exposed dozens of people to an active virus, despite your impotent assurances of “U = U.”
Fixed it for you. "Protected" or not, still a risk of transmitting to another person. Basically, another form of murder.
my husband and I cannot donate blood cause we lived in Africa in the 80’s. Faggots can, however.