HIV diagnosis still comes with stigma, legal complications
For most Ohioans, the HIV epidemic may feel like history, a problem that affected other people years ago and one that has pretty much gone away.
The reality is that about 25,000 Ohioans still live with HIV. In fact, I’m one.
My diagnosis came in 2002. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years. But thanks to modern treatment, HIV is a chronic condition for me and for most people living with it. One pill a day or injections we can take every two months bring the virus down to undetectable levels.
And when the virus is undetectable, it’s un-transmittable. In fact, if everyone living with HIV had the medical and mental health support they needed to take this medication regularly, we would end the epidemic.
People are still getting HIV, about 960 a year in Ohio. Why? And what can we do about it? The first thing we can do is fix six deeply flawed state laws that punish people living with HIV for crimes they literally cannot commit.
Six laws written in the 1990s and updated in
2000 make it a felony for a person living with HIV to spit on another person. We now know that HIV is not transmitted through saliva. We know that people with undetectable viral loads can’t transmit the virus.
People living with HIV can be charged with a felony when someone accuses them of having intimate relations without disclosing their status. Undetectable and un-transmittable viral loads are not a defense, and many safe, responsible interactions that will not transmit the virus regardless of levels are still subject to charges.
For me and everyone living with HIV, an angry ex-partner can accuse me of hiding my status, and the burden of proof is on me instead of the accuser. That’s un-american.
The accuser testing negative for HIV is not a defense. These laws have consequences that go further than prosecution. Misinformation sows fear and stigmatization.
When I was diagnosed, I realized how I was going to have to disclose my status to family, friends and health care workers. It gets scary because you don’t know how you’re going to be treated.
While close family has been supportive, my biggest problem is extended family. Our family on my mother’s side is very close. But ever since my diagnosis, I’m the black sheep, the last one to know about a picnic or a reunion.
A dentist refused to treat me for fear of HIV transmitting to him. We’ve known for decades how to make sure that doesn’t happen, but his fear trumped his training. Keep in mind that good medical care means that the virus is undetectable and un-transmissible by me.
I was a horse trainer. I gave up the job I loved to prevent transmitting the virus through an accident and bleeding.
If my diagnosis came today, I would have stuck with my job, knowing how to keep my coworkers safe while living my life.
I ask everyone reading to reach out to your state representative, state senator and Gov. Dewine. Check out the good work being done by the Ohio Medical Modernization Movement coalition. And be kind to one another.
Let’s end this epidemic together.