February 28, 2024 — Today marks the third annual HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day. The Sero Project, in collaboration with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, first observed this day in 2022 to spread awareness about outdated HIV-related laws and invite communities to unite against HIV criminalization. This year’s HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day theme is “You care about ending HIV criminalization. You just don’t know it yet.”
In honor of HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day, we are highlighting a valuable discussion between CHIPTS Policy Core Co-Director Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, JD, and Nathan Cisneros, HIV Criminalization Analyst at the UCLA Williams Institute. As part of this discussion, Nathan shared his reflections on the awareness day and insights from his work analyzing HIV criminalization trends across the U.S. Read here.
To learn more about HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day and how to get involved, check out the important information and resources below, provided by HIV.gov:
- Sero Project’s Toolkit in English (PDF, 7.80MB) and Spanish (PDF, 7.10MB).
- ETAF’s Social Media Toolkit.
- Learn more about the global launch of HINAC Day.
- HIV Justice Worldwide Toolkit.
- HIV Criminalization and Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. on CDC.gov.
- Learn more about HIV and STD Criminalization Laws at https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/policies/law/states/exposure.html.
- Find out about laws that address high-impact HIV prevention efforts in your state on CDC.gov.
- CDC’s HIV Criminalization Legal and Policy Assessment Tool (PDF, 1.45MB). Stay tuned for a blog post to learn more about the tool.
- HIV.gov’s HIV Is Not A Crime Awareness Day page features more information and materials from community partners.