ACLU wants to help prostitutes to spread HIV.

[Hammster]

This is just evil. Yet some will still defend it.

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
— Isaiah 5:20

 

[RileyG]

Awful.

 

[Hammster]

I’m surprised that there weren’t more responses in opposition to the ACLU.

 

[iluvatar5150]

If anybody is interested in what the ACLU is actually trying to do (i.e. as opposed to the claims in the inflammatory headline):

OUTMemphis v. Lee | American Civil Liberties Union

OUTMemphis v. Lee is a first-of-its-kind challenge to a state-level HIV criminalization law as a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Constitution. Plaintiffs OUTMemphis and Jane Does 1-4 seek to strike down Tennessee’s discriminatory, irrational and cruel enforcement...

www.aclu.org

Fact Sheet: Legal Challenge to Tennessee’s Discriminatory Aggravated Prostitution Law | American Civil Liberties Union

www.aclu.org

Regular prostitution in TN is a misdemeanor. Prostitution while knowing you have HIV upgrades that to a felony and requires a lifetime registration as a "violent sex offender." ACLU is fighting that severe enhancement.

This passage suggests that ACLU's goal is not what OP claims:

Over the last decade, many states have reformed their laws in recognition of the scientific consensus that such measures do not reduce the prevalence of HIV but rather risk doing the opposite: by criminalizing knowledge of one’s HIV status, states like Tennessee disincentivize at-risk individuals from seeking HIV testing and erode the trust in medical professionals that is needed to successfully access treatment and limit transmission. Despite clear evidence that HIV laws, and especially laws requiring sex offender registration, do not work, Tennessee stands alone in the harshness and arbitrariness of its statutory scheme.

 

[Hammster]

If anybody is interested in what the ACLU is actually trying to do (i.e. as opposed to the claims in the inflammatory headline):

OUTMemphis v. Lee | American Civil Liberties Union

OUTMemphis v. Lee is a first-of-its-kind challenge to a state-level HIV criminalization law as a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Constitution. Plaintiffs OUTMemphis and Jane Does 1-4 seek to strike down Tennessee’s discriminatory, irrational and cruel enforcement...

www.aclu.org

Fact Sheet: Legal Challenge to Tennessee’s Discriminatory Aggravated Prostitution Law | American Civil Liberties Union

www.aclu.org

Regular prostitution in TN is a misdemeanor. Prostitution while knowing you have HIV upgrades that to a felony and requires a lifetime registration as a "violent sex offender." ACLU is fighting that severe enhancement.

This passage suggests that ACLU's goal is not what OP claims:

Inflammatory headline? Nah. It’s what they are doing. But hey, glad to see someone on the left is brave enough to publicly stand up for them.

 

[public hermit]

If they know a positive HIV test is going to vastly increase the penalty if they get arrested, they are simply going to not get tested.

Right. The law ends up exacerbating the problem instead of preventing it, i.e., spread.

 

[dogs4thewin]

I have no problem with that law ( Tennessee's) provided two elements are met.

One that the defendant knew or should have known he or she had HIV and two that the defendant did NOT share that information with the other person (along of course with the elements to prove the standard charge which is usually that money (or something of value) was exchanged for the action of ( or the agreement to provide actual sex (that does not mean it must be traditional sex, but it cannot be just affection hugging, kissing ECT

 

[iluvatar5150]

Inflammatory headline? Nah. It’s what they are doing.

No it isn't. And if they're correct in stating that the law is counterproductive by incentivizing people to not get tested, then it would be the TN government (and, apparently, you as well) who are supporting the spread of HIV.

But hey, glad to see someone on the left is brave enough to publicly stand up for them.

I'm standing up for accuracy.

 

[Hammster]

No it isn't. And if they're correct in stating that the law is counterproductive by incentivizing people to not get tested, then it would be the TN government (and, apparently, you as well) who are supporting the spread of HIV.



I'm standing up for accuracy.

What happens if they win?

 

[iluvatar5150]

What happens if they win?

I assume that people wouldn’t be hit with felony assault records and, thus, wouldn’t be so scared away from testing.

 

[Hammster]

I assume that people wouldn’t be hit with felony assault records and, thus, wouldn’t be so scared away from testing.

So they can spread HIV with no consequence.

 

[iluvatar5150]

So they can spread HIV with no consequence.

Is your goal to be punitive or is it to reduce the spread of HIV?

If your goal is being punitive, then the TN law you favor would be the right way to go.

If your goal is to reduce the spread of HIV, then you have to factor in how all of the incentives add up. According to this law, it’s not a felony to engage in prostitution while HIV positive - it’s only a felony to do so knowingly, so what it’s really punishing is knowledge and the obvious workaround is to just not get tested. If punitive legal measures incentivize lower testing, which results in greater spread, then what’s the point of the law?

 

[iluvatar5150]

An example of how these sorts of incentives can backfire:

The FAA, understandably, doesn’t want people with serious mental illnesses flying planes, so they’ve instituted rather draconian policies grounding (for months, if not years) anybody on a variety of medications. Instead of keeping things safe, it’s incentivized pilots to forego treatment and self-medicate, which led to a recent incident where a deadheading pilot had a breakdown and tried to crash the plane.

‘Is This Hell?’ The Pilot Accused of Trying to Crash a Plane Tells His Story.

Joseph Emerson, charged with attempted murder, said he felt trapped in a dream after taking mushrooms. He had feared mental health treatments that could disrupt his career.

www.nytimes.com

 

[linux.poet]

But hey, glad to see someone on the left is brave enough to publicly stand up for them.

I'm a Republican, and I agree with @iluvatar5150. Sometimes punishments have unintended consequences. I can agree with that statement without advocating for HIV transmission.

These days, doctors have drugs that stop you from getting HIV within 24 hours of exposure to it, before it spreads into the bloodstream and becomes a permanent infection. The key is that you have to know that you were exposed. If your hooker doesn't tell you because she was willfully ignorant, that spreads more HIV, not less.

Not everything is political.

 

[ralliann]

So they can spread HIV with no consequence.

Yeah! Why would they fear a test, unless they had no intention of changing what they were doing? I mean really.

 

[ralliann]

An example of how these sorts of incentives can backfire:

The FAA, understandably, doesn’t want people with serious mental illnesses flying planes, so they’ve instituted rather draconian policies grounding (for months, if not years) anybody on a variety of medications. Instead of keeping things safe, it’s incentivized pilots to forego treatment and self-medicate, which led to a recent incident where a deadheading pilot had a breakdown and tried to crash the plane.

‘Is This Hell?’ The Pilot Accused of Trying to Crash a Plane Tells His Story.

Joseph Emerson, charged with attempted murder, said he felt trapped in a dream after taking mushrooms. He had feared mental health treatments that could disrupt his career.

www.nytimes.com

Not the same at all. A sex worker fearing getting tested has no intention of changing what they are doing, OBVIOUSLY!

 

[FireDragon76]

These misguided laws stigmatize women with HIV and actually makes it harder to help this population of women.

 

[Ragdoll]

View attachment 338503

This is just evil. Yet some will still defend it.

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
— Isaiah 5:20

Why am I not surprised