Ep. 5 ”Is It a Crime?”

No one wants to be surveilled. It’s the reason we put tape over our webcams and diligently monitor privacy settings on our phones. Being watched makes you feel like you’re already guilty, and someone is just waiting for you to slip up. For people living with HIV, being monitored—and being treated like criminals—isn’t some speculative, dystopian fear. It’s a constant reality. And as we’ll explore in this episode, it’s a reality that could see innocent people serving lifetime sentences simply for engaging in consensual sex.

Our guests are:

Alexander McClelland, an interdisciplinary socio-legal researcher working to reform HIV criminalization policies in Canada. He recounts his experiences with having his sex life policed and scrutinized since being diagnosed with HIV at age 18. McClelland also shares harrowing details about the lengths some people living with HIV must go to in order to prove they have disclosed their status with partners.

Robert Suttle, an HIV racial justice leader who serves on the HIV Justice Network’s Global Advisory Panel. He shares his story of losing his job, getting arrested, and being forced to register as a sex offender when a former partner accused him of failing to disclose his HIV status.

This podcast was created and fully funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILEAD, the GILEAD logo, and the & design are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. © 2023 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. IHQ-UNB-4185 Date of Preparation July 2023.

References:

Sullivan PS, Woodyatt C, Koski C, et al. A data visualization and dissemination resource to support HIV prevention and care at the local level: analysis and uses of the AIDSVu Public Data Resource. Journal of medical Internet research. 2020;22(10):e23173.

Calabrese SK, Mayer KH. Lancet: Providers Should Discuss U=U with All Patients Living with HIV. Lancet HIV. 2019;6(4):e211-e213. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(19)30030-X

US Department of Health and Human Services. Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Adults and Adolescents with HIV. March 2023. Accessed July 7, 2023. Available at: https://clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/sites/default/files/guidelines/documents/adult-adolescent-arv/guidelines-adult-adolescent-arv.pdf

Kavanagh MM, Agbla SC, Joy M, et al. Law, criminalisation and HIV in the world: have countries that criminalise achieved more or less successful pandemic response? BMJ Global Health. 2021;6:e006315. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006315

McClelland A. The Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure in Canada: Experiences of People Living with HIV. 2019

Ratevosian J. Legal and policy barriers for an effective HIV/AIDS response. Lancet. 2023;401(10386):1405-1407. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00729-8

Symington A, Bernard EJ, et al. Advancing HIV Justice 4: Understanding Commonalities, Seizing Opportunities. HIV Justice Network; Amsterdam. July 2022.

Fact sheet 2022. Global HIV statistics. Accessed July 7, 2023. https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/UNAIDS_FactSheet_en.pdf