<p>The Biden administration&#8217;s Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee’s</a> aggravated prostitution law for people with HIV.</p>
<p>The law, which imposes tougher penalties for engaging in prostitution while knowingly infected with HIV, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-02/complaint-u.s._v._state_of_tennessee_and_tennessee_bureau_of_investigation.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claims</a> in its lawsuit.</p>
<p>The department said Tennessee’s law elevates the crime simply &#8220;because the individual has HIV, regardless of any actual risk of harm.&#8221;</p>
<p>“People living with HIV should not be subjected to a different system of justice based on outdated science and misguided assumptions,&#8221; Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s civil rights division <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-tennessee-enforcing-state-law-discriminates-against-people-hiv#:~:text=All%20News-,Justice%20Department%20Sues%20Tennessee%20for%20Enforcing%20State,Discriminates%20Against%20People%20with%20HIV&amp;text=The%20Justice%20Department%20filed%20a,with%20Disabilities%20Act%20(ADA)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.</p>
<p>Tennessee’s law, passed in 1991, raises prostitution from a misdemeanor to a felony “when, knowing that such person is infected with HIV, the person engages in sexual activity as a business or is an inmate in a house of prostitution or loiters in a public place for the purpose of being hired to engage in sexual activity.”</p>
<p>The law also requires people who are convicted of engaging in prostitution while HIV-positive to register for life as a “violent sex offender.” It is the only state with this requirement.</p>
<p>This means the convicted person faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 for the felony charge, rather than just six months a fine up to $500 fine for a misdemeanor charge.</p>
<p>Much of Tennessee&#8217;s prostitution occurs in the Memphis area.</p>
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<p>The Justice Department&#8217;s lawsuit includes details about an anonymous, black, trans-identifying man who found out he had HIV in 2008 and was arrested in 2010 for prostitution near a church or school, ultimately pleading guilty in 2012 to attempted aggravated prostitution. The man has been homeless at times, has had trouble finding a job, and is barred from seeing his nephew alone because of his conviction, the lawsuit says.</p>
<p>The department&#8217;s lawsuit demands Tennessee get rid of the law and also expunge the convictions of those convicted under the law and take them off the sex offender registry.</p>
<p>The state attorney general&#8217;s office has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-justice-department-sues-tennessee-law-targeting-hiv-107271090" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it is aware of the complaint and plans to review it.</p>
<p>In December, the Justice Department warned Tennessee about the law, saying the state could face a lawsuit if it does not stop enforcing it.</p>
<p>Since 1991, there has been “significant progress” in understanding and treating HIV, Rebecca Bond, chief of the DOJ’s Disability Rights Section, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-12/2023.11.30_tn_hiv_lof_final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in a letter to Tennessee officials.</p>
<p>“Beliefs and assumptions that individuals with HIV will spread it, or that having HIV is a death sentence, are now outdated and unfounded,” Bond wrote.</p>
<p>In recent weeks, Republican state lawmakers have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tennessees-outdated-law-targeting-hiv-positive-sex-workers-could-soon-revised" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> a change to the law that would remove the &#8220;violent sex offender&#8221; registration requirement for those who engage in prostitution with HIV.</p>
<p>Earlier in October, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Transgender Law Center also <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-hiv-lawsuit-sex-offender-34713572f57d02ab39751776dbf80710" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> a federal lawsuit over the law, saying they want it scrapped.</p>

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Biden’s Justice Department Sues Over Tennessee’s HIV Prostitution Law