On Thursday, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) sent a letter to President Obama calling for a renewed effort to reduce HIV transmission and expand access to care.

Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, a non-profit organization whose mission is to affirm sexual  freedom as a fundamental human right, released The State of Sexual Freedom in the United States, 2011 Report a few days ago.

New York, September 23, 2011 – Members of the Positive Justice Project, a national coalition dedicated to ending the targeting of people with HIV for unreasonable criminal prosecution, voiced their support for the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act that Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced today.

On Friday September 23rd, as part of the 41st Annual Legislative Conference, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) will hold a panel discussion on "HIV Criminalization- Why It Should Matter to You".

CHLP welcomes new volunteer attorneys, Jeffrey Sallot and Eva LaManna.

Two pieces of good news this week related to CHLP's hard work fighting HIV criminalization. PACHA's first annual letters to President Obama and to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on NHAS priorities now include vital language regarding HIV criminalization, and U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee released a draft of legislation planned for introduction later this year that would require a review of all federal and state laws, policies, and regulations regarding the criminal prosecution of individuals for HIV-related offenses. Read more in the Michigan Messenger.

New York, NY: The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) has released two new resources to support lawyers and advocates working on HIV legal policy.
 

On June 8, 2011, Lambda Legal, on behalf of a coalition including CHLP, submitted a letter in support of civil rights complaints filed by the National Immigrant Justice Center to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Center for HIV Law and Policy congratulates Advisory Board Member Hadiyah Charles for being named one of the White House Champions of Change this week.

On May 24, 2011, the Center for HIV Law and Policy and the Positive Justice Project joined the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance in a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requesting clear statements from the CDC on HIV criminalization laws and policies.

David W. Webber, editor of AIDS and the Law, has produced two new documents to help practitioners and advocates understand and apply the amendments to the ADA and recently released regulations.

The Positive Justice Project, CHLP's coalition of legal and public health experts that represent people living with HIV, is speaking out against sensationalist media coverage of criminal charges that have been brought against an HIV-positive African American man in Buffalo.

On April 4, 2011 the Center for HIV Law and Policy and several Teen SENSE coalition partners submitted comments on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) standards for the elimination of sexual assault in state and federal correctional facilities across the country.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released the final version of its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, which clarifies that HIV infection is a disability.  

This criminalization article in the Edge Provincetown features Positive Justice Project partners Alison Yager of the HIV Law Project and Terrance Moore of NASTAD.

In another federal step to end HIV-related discrimination at the state level, the Department of Justice issued a letter this week to state and territorial attorneys general requesting that they review the exclusion of HIV- positive persons from occupational training and state licensing. 

The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), an organization that represents public health officials and administers state and territorial HIV/AIDS programs, has released a statement supporting efforts to end HIV-specific criminal laws and polices that perpetuate stigma and discrimination against HIV positive persons.

Please join the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 2:00pm EST for an important tele-briefing on HIV criminalization in the U.S. with advocates from The Center for HIV Law & Policy (CHLP), The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) and Harlem United.

On February 23, President Obama announced that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 legislation that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional and directed the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court.  In response to this announcement, Social Security Admistration Commissioner Michael J. Astrue says that this move will have no immediate affect on payment of benefits to same-sex spouses.    

On February 16, 2011, René Bennett-Carlson and Catherine Hanssens were honored with the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) AIDSWatch Positive Leadership Awards for outstanding leadership in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Robert Greenwald, Director of the Treatment Access Expansion Project (TAEP) and NAPWA's partner in organizing AIDSWatch, presented the awards to Catherine Hanssens, who attended on behalf of CHLP.