Long before they received their acclaimed stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two well-respected and now household names, Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks, impressed Hollywood in the film Philadelphia. Released in 1993, the film centers around Attorney Andrew Beckett (Hanks), who was fired for being gay and living with HIV.
The potential for violence during police encounters with Black Americans is all too common, but when the person in custody is living with HIV, their health status in proximity to law enforcement can often result in prosecution.
A new report from The Williams Institute examining the beginning and ending stages of the HIV criminalization cycle in Louisiana paints an even clearer picture of the demographic most impacted by discriminatory and outdated laws criminalizing people with HIV in the state.
Black people—and especially Black men—were the majority of people identified as suspects and arrested for HIV-related crimes, according to research by The Williams Institute.
Louisiana enacted its law in 1987, becoming one of the first states to criminalize HIV—nine years before the release of lifesaving antiretroviral drugs that allowed people living with HIV to achieve viral suppression and before FDA approval of PrEP, a game-changer in HIV prevention.
Louisiana has one primary HIV criminal law, intentional exposure to HIV. Intentional exposure is a felony; the maximum sentence is ten years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. The law provides a heightened sentence for deliberate exposure to a first responder performing their official duties. In this case, the maximum penalty increases to 11 years and a fine of up to $6,000. Additionally, a conviction for intentional exposure to HIV requires the person convicted to register as a sex offender under Louisiana law for 15 years.
A conversation with the legendary actor Andre De Shields is a master class.
The Tony-award-winning actor is currently receiving rave reviews as Ben Loman in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman." De Shields plays the successful and wealthy older brother of Willy Loman (Wendell Pierce), a salesman grappling with a fruitless life in a burgeoning America. The latest production of "Salesman" makes history as the first Broadway revival of the dramatic masterpiece to feature African American actors in the leading roles.
A celebrated Black queer artist, De Shields began his professional career in a 1969 Chicago production of "Hair." His star turn in the title role of the 1978 Broadway hit, "The Wiz," opposite Stephanie Mills, has endeared him to audiences across the globe.
De Shields insists that his most challenging role is always the one directly in front of him. Whether performing for an entire house or in scenes with Neil Patrick Harris in the hit Netflix comedy “Uncoupled,” or standing before a classroom filled with fresh-faced students. Each time he steps on stage, he does so as an advocate. Over the last five decades, he's prioritized helping audiences understand and accept what it means to be human.
"As an actor-activist, I want to fill intimate spaces with enormous beauty," De Shields proclaimed.
HIV and sex work criminalization often intersect, which means a person suspected of “exposing” someone to a virus can be grouped with a person exchanging sex for money, housing, or food, as both are labeled “criminals.” Advocates from both decriminalization sectors have rallied for doing away with these long standing policies, which have public health and criminal justice implications.
Organizations ranging from the Positive Women’s Network and the Sero Project to Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (SWOP-USA) have concentrated forces most recently to tackle both HIV and sex work criminalization in a collective called Health Not Prisons. They’re organizing to remove criminal charges and shift policing away from sex workers and people living with HIV (PLWH).
Chauncey McGlathery, sexual justice coordinator at the Sero Project, supports breaking down the silos that have kept HIV activists and sex worker activists from joining forces.
New data from the Georgia Department of Corrections has found that more people between 1999-2020 have been impacted by Georgia’s HIV crime laws than previously reported, with the average cost to Georgia of incarceration alone adding up to over $9 million in the last two decades.
The new analysis appears in an updated report from The Williams Institute UCLA School of Law that finds between 122 and 133 people have been incarcerated for an HIV crime in Georgia since 1988. This is a 61% to 76% increase in the previously reported number of 74 convictions. Much of the difference (26 cases) is the result of new data from 2017 to the present.
