HIV Is Not a Crime, 2011 Film by Sean Strub, Edit by Leo Herrera/HomoChic

[Jan1960]

Someone who has the flu virus is also potentially deadly if he/she passes it on to another. How about that? The sweetest part is that you only have to SNEEZE to pass it on... so how do we prosecute THOSE offenders?

@JavierSoriano1: Damn right. The responsibility is yours. One has to protect oneself.

[milesway77]

HIV is not a health issue but has become a legal issue in some regions. it's extremely unfair for these people.RobertGallo's only destination might be hell for the genocide he caused. these poor people's lives are destroyed as the ultimate truth is HIV is falsely proved to exist.Don't take my words,follow real scientific facts & history.Law is not created by god,this type of unfair law is created by some bunch of idiots.I know people who have been told HIV+ for 27 years & still healthy.

[realityx2012]

@milesway77 right, watch HIV TEST? IT'S UP TO YOU.... on youtube...

[JavierSoriano1]

I am responsible for my body and the choices a make. You are responsible for your body and the choices you make.

Instead of criminalizing HIV+ people, the government should invest more money in finding a cure, a vaccine.

[realityx2012]

@JavierSoriano1 watch HIV TEST? IT'S UP TO YOU....

[dvgrieg]

Thanks Ronald Reagan for making this a money maker that now the attorneys can cash in on and add to the hate we go through. FIND A CURE.

[Janespoorbrain]

This is really shocking, I live in the UK and i'm sure the judicial attitude to HIV is nowhere near this here. why is this still going on???

[dayandight]

It is disgraceful in this day and age for this type of thing to happens. It is time for the law to be changed and new information about undetectable viral loads to be brought into the equation.

[msscott73]

These peoples mistreatment is totally unjustifiable. A positive HIV status isn't a good enough excuse to legally violate people's humanity. If you support this violation today, your humanity maybe legally violated tomorrow. Just think about it.

[kingrichardVIII]

fantastic work. I love this video. Brave and inspiring people. It is time to stop this insanity. Both here in Canada and in America. A nightmare for these folks. Let's wake up.

[TheJustinglen]

The people serving time in Iowa for a offense like that won't be able to get into treatment in prison till there half way done with their incarceration. Because of the excussive sentences these people received for criminal transmission of hiv, They will not be released till there much older. Iowa should not incarcerate people for criminal transmission. Criminal tranmission is the wrong label for the law. Hiv laws should really be done away with.

[TheJustinglen]

In iowa The criminal transmission of hiv law, I believe the 25 year sentence is excussive & cruel and unusual punishment. Other states carry lesser time for the crime. There's been a couple people in Iowa charged with way excussive amounts of time for their offense. One was 80 years and another was 50 years. The likely hood of them getting out of prison any time soon won't happen. Before state of Iowa lets them parole or anything they will be required to do treatment.

[TheJustinglen]

Some of people that have been charged with these discrimation criminal hiv laws did not do it on purpose. There's a misunderstanding that people intended to do this to other person. Sometimes a person makes a mistake. The laws should ask more questions 1) was it done on purpose 2) was it done maliciously or 3) was the person just reckless. These Hiv laws should be voided out. The language of the laws were not written well.

[TheJustinglen]

The responsiblility show also rest not just on the postive person but also the other person. They should also ask questions & use protection. There's a misunderstanding with hiv criminal law. some think people are getting charging with a crime for trying to give to someone. That is not it at all. In Iowa you can be charged for just exposing someone and not telling someone your positive status. People are being treated unfairly. IN regard these laws.

[onekinkstar]

Please edit this to block out any personal info on Robert's license! There are CRAZY people in this world!

[tracygood1]

I would say make their partner sign something saying they were told about it.

[sdkatsh]

People w/ HIV should disclose their status to their possible sex partner before sex occurs. It is the correct thing to do. I say this as a 52 year old man who has had HIV for 6 years, who works in HIV healthcare & as human being. Thirty years have passed since HIV has been a known disease & people are still ignorant when it comes to understanding it and how it can be transmitted.

I wonder how other developed countries deal with this same issue. I would suspect not as reactionary as the USA

[jasonsca]

This needs to go viral.. Pun not intended!

[Hammerton32]

This video is incredible! The misuse of the law is horrifying. Thanks for shedding light on the stories of these people. Great work.

[theorbitofme]

THIS IS THE MOST F#*KED UP THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. Yes, full disclosure is needed, but I have also had someone positive try to turn that against ME and have me arrested. You don't have to reveal your status to the police if you are the caller - regardless of your status. BE WARNED> This is an heinous crime.

[Alexrider02]

This is entirely sickening, and I don't understand the "no porn" thing at all. Why the hell are they allowed to control that, and who is he hurting by looking at porn?

[billbb46]

@Alexrider02 You can't rationalize hatred and fear. There's no sense to the prohibition to being with his nieces and nephews, either, or much of the rest of it. But the rightwing nutjobs don't arrive at their opinions thru rational processes, it's driven by emotion and ideology.

[TheTruthHurts9999]

25 years for protected sex that didnt transmit HIV? Complete lunacy - manslaughter doesn't get this kind of sentence. While actual intent to infect others should be illegal, what we're seeing is HIV status being used a as a tool of revenge by ex-lovers. And wildly discriminatory laws are now making negative people completely exempt from any responsibiltiy for their own health or safe sex practices, as well as feeding the vicious cycle of people not getting tested to avoid culpability and stigma.

[Hammerton32]

@TheTruthHurts9999 Agreed. Complete lunacy. 

[GodHatesFAQS]

Horrific. This is just another religious biased attempt to imprison the gay man Nobody should be subjected to such blatant homophobic hatred.

[steerpike66]

Has anybody SEEN the levels of STD infection in the heterosexual community? Like, one in seven women in the US is carrying Chlamydia. One in five children may not be related to the man who thinks that he is their father. Adultery is RIFE. Divorce is at 50% and STILL you preen about your suppsoed superiority to the homos. The only difference is that Chlamydia DOESN'T KILL YOU. So ther gays are being prosecuted because their disease is more virulent?

[Obergine66]

Who knew these stories?! Horrifying mis-carriage of justice. Thanks for your work, and please keep it up.

[Hammerton32]

@Obergine66 Exactly. Who knew? I feel enlightened.  Keep it up!

[d2521915]

They need to stay behind bars and receive no medication.

[HIVVideos]

@d2521915 Jailed for Immunity? if you have Influenza should we sue you for non disclosure and if you sneeze on someone should we send you 100 years to prison? I think your answer is NO

[thrrobb]

@d2521915 you need to stay in a darkened room and receive no internet.

[rhb250]

This is a great video...and it needs to be seen by law makers and prosecutors all over the country.

[dmcavalier]

Singling out HIV Positive people is not right. Anyone with a transmittable virus or condition should also be included in this, if it is to be equal and fair. Having this kind of law only address HIV is purely discriminatory, and relieves the so-called victims of the responsibility of protecting themselves. If everyone protected themselves against ANY disease that is transmittable from one person to the next it would be a non-issue. People with active Tuberculosis, or even the Flu can kill.

[HIVVideos]

@dmcavalier someone with common sense. A+ comment!

[FF9MovieMaker]

I'm sorry, some people don't know they have it and thats fine, but if you KNOW you are HIV positive, you are putting someone else at risk by sleeping with them, even if using a condom, that first guy in your video used a condom, i have the greatest sympathy for HIV positive people, I really do, but do not put other people at risk. HIV, HPV, CMV whatever, you tell someone, you don't just say get a condom, you allow that person to take that risk, you don't take that risk on someone elses behalf

[HIVVideos]

@FF9MovieMaker We're talking Non Specifc "HIV" (antibody) tests here. People labeled "HIV Positive" have reacted with non specific antibodies to a flawed test kit but it doesn't matter what matters is how poorly these laws have been written, even in the courts if we challenged the "HIV tests" it may not matter because a law such as Iowa's and Ohio's law should be over thrown some how, perhaps by the supreme courts.

[kurtisFL]

The Intent to do harm must be narrow, there is a difference between being a idiot that turns a blind eye and someone that feels the need to share the virus because they are mad they are positive.

[RebelRampant]

are u fuckin kidding me? well if there ever was a reason to make sure u DONT know ur hiv status- here it is. hurry up & find out that ur hiv+ so u can be the target of a lynch mob. maybe Im just from a dif gen but when I was growing up in NYC I learned quick that I might as well consider any1 I was getting naked w/was + & if I decided not to use a condom it was my own damn decision n didnt have any1 else to thank but myself if I got it. no1 can 'give' u hiv unless ur raped or cheated on. wtf?

[MuskPumpkin]

Thank you, Sean. Best regards, Darren Allumier

[shafighshahidzadeh]

Persons with HIV positive should disclose their status to their partner. It is only fair.

[SeanStrub]

@shafighshahidzadeh

Everyone should disclose any factor that could potentially harm a partner with whom they intend to be intimate. But HIV should not be treated differently than any other potentially harmful pathogens (including some which left untreated can be deadly) like hepatitis, HPV, CMV, EBV, etc.

The risk and potential harm typically isn't a factor in the prosecutions; it is just about whether or not the person with HIV can prove they disclosed.

[lookingatcrap]

@SeanStrub agree 

[steveplittle]

@shafighshahidzadeh Seriously? No harm done and 25 years in prison? When safe sex was insisted on? And we have murderers with a smoking gun in their hands that get less time.

I always thought these were laws about passing on the virus. To make it a felony to not disclose is idiotic.

[SFGadFly]

@shafighshahidzadeh Then society should make it conducing for people with HIV to disclose their statuses. Until then, assume everyone is positive, play accordingly, and don't be a self-made victim.

[SFGadFly]

@shafighshahidzadeh wrote: conducing, meant: conducive.

[mykoolaidtastesfunny]

@shafighshahidzadeh Google....Court Trials Unnerve HIV Propagandists

" when asked to prove the reliability of HIV testing, prosecutors abruptly reduced their offer of 15 years in state prison to five days of unsupervised probation.

Several months later, Magdalena Mays was arrested on similar charges. But like the Torres case, prosecutors dropped their HIV-related complaint against her."

[davidmazochi]

horribly sad what happened to the people who have been convicted.

[scottatmursedotnet]

Acts of violence and hate are acceptable, even encouraged, when authorized by an uninformed government and carried out by its agents.

[JeenaParadies]

Facts and science do not matter in the USA because it is a religious country.

[hivquestions]

we never hear about these stories in the news - hivquestions