Maryland raises outdated HIV crash law

Finally, some good news about legislators this week. The governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, signed a legislative template in the law, which HIV decriminalizes. In particular, the legislation reveals an old law that has made it a crime to “knowingly transfer or try to transfer HIV”. According to outdated laws such as these, people with HIV can be convicted in cases where HIV was not transferred and their only crime was supposedly not revealed their status. Such unjust laws not only lead to stigma, but also to people who are not tested to learn their HIV status.

This does not mean that people cannot be held accountable for the intentional transfer of HIV. Other laws in the books, e.g. B. against ruthless danger, can be used to pursue such cases.

Good news: This week Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed a legislative template that decriminalizes those who live with HIV. The law also modernizes the State's approach to the HIV and eliminates the nursing care. Thank you very much, @govwesmoore.bsky.social, for your leadership and for the support of our community.

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– Human rights campaign (@hrc.org) May 22, 2025 at 5:12 p.m.

HIV criminalization refers to the use of unfair laws in order not to target people with HIV-people-not African-American, Latin American and LGBTQ people and women and to punish them because of their HIV status. Many HIV laws were adopted in the early days of the epidemic, as fear and lack of scientific knowledge about the virus. Four decades quickly forward. Today, for example, we know that people with HIV who take their medication and maintain a non -detectable virus burden, the virus sexually does not transmit a fact that is described as not detectable, incomparable or u = u.

The Maryland bill has been in the works for over a decade. It was recently led by Kris Fair, a state delegate. “I write to the HIV community for making myself taught on this topic that I didn't know about anything,” Fair told The Frederick News Post. “You have spent a lot of time to help me understand the unique challenges you experience every day because you never know what simple interaction could lead to criminal charges.”

The Bill, HB39, is appointed Carlton R. Smith Act after a Baltimore -HIV activist who died last year. The law applies on October 1st.

Maryland is today the fifth state that outdated HIV criminalization laws, according to the Center for HIV law and policy (CHLP).

“This victory reflects tireless advocacy for people who live with HIV, right -wing experts and leaders of the public healthcare system, who know that criminalization undermines the goals of public health,” said Jada Hicks, senior lawyer at CHLP, in a statement by the organization. “It is particularly monumental to win this victory at a time when the existence and rights of our communities are attacked. This is how the resistance to systemic injustice and discrimination is in action.”

In the CLP declaration, also notes that “black men in Maryland are 14% of the state's population, 44% of people with HIV and 68% of the accused in HIV-related criminal matters. As a result of the adoption of this law, there are 14,837 black men in Maryland, who are no longer criminalized because they live with HIV people due to their health.

32 countries still criminalize in the whole nation, and 28 countries have a strict criminal improvement based on the knowledge of a person about their HIV status. Further information on the HIV criminalization in the United States can be found under “Explore updated maps and data on HIV criminal law laws” and click #criminalization.