Equality Michigan calls for investigation of HIV documents

An organization that lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights issues in Lansing has called for an investigation by civil rights authorities into the legality of controversial client acknowledgment forms being presented to HIV positive people in the state.

Equality Michigan issued a statement following Michigan Messenger’s report on Monday about the controversial document. In that report, attorneys and advocates questioned if the documents were legal.

“Equality Michigan calls on the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the United States Department of Justice to thoroughly investigate the legality of these documents and their use by local prosecutors to target people living with HIV,” says Emily Dievendorf, the group’s policy director. “These departments have a responsibility to uncover any possible injustices committed against citizens who place their trust in county health officials.”

Under both federal and state law a person who has tested positive for HIV is considered disabled, and protected from discrimination based on that disability.

The call for investigations was warmly greeted by Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the Center for HIV Law and Policy.

“Any state agency that asserts — let alone requires an individual’s written endorsement — that people who test positive forfeit all rights to procreative sex by virtue of testing HIV positive warrants investigation as a violation of protected civil rights,” says Hanssen.

The documents came under fire by advocates and attorneys for misrepresenting Michigan’s disclosure laws.

“We encourage our health officials to make suggestions with regard to the best and safest ways to prevent the spread of illness, but it is irresponsible to incorrectly and haphazardly present suggestions as punishable law. In this case, HIV-positive people are being singled out and given inaccurate legal information,” says Dievendorf. “A host of communicable diseases are considered a public health threat – other sexually transmitted diseases among them. Public health officials are not misleading people who test positive for other infections.”

The documents also inform newly diagnosed HIV-positive people that they are prohibited from engaging in unprotected sex, and imply violating that would result in criminal prosecution.

But Michigan’s HIV disclosure law only makes it a crime to engage in sexual penetration “however slight” without first disclosing an HIV-positive status. A legal opinion from a Michigan Department of Community Health attorney informed health officials the requirement of protected sex for those who had tested positive was supported by the Public Health Act’s Health Threat To Others provisions. However, that legal opinion is in opposition to the MDCH policy guidance on handling HTTO situations, which defines them in relation to HIV as a person continuing to engage in sex or needle sharing without disclosing his or her HIV-positive status.