Lawmakers Push To Decriminalize HIV, Focus On Reducing Stigma And Increasing Testing

Senate Democrats are looking at alternatives for Oklahoma’s HIV criminalization laws.

Senators Julia Kirt and Carri Hicks held a public forum examining the best ways to improve Oklahoma’s health outcomes, without criminalizing citizens living with HIV.

During the forum, the lawmakers heard from individuals with expertise in HIV criminal law, public health, and other advocates.

“Oklahoma's rates of HIV infection are rising, and that's a huge concern, and we should approach it as a public health crisis,” said Sen. Julia Kirt, (D) OKC. “If we can actually reduce the stigma for having the status of HIV positive, we can encourage more people to get tested.”

Current Oklahoma law states that a person living with HIV can go to prison for five years for not disclosing their status even if their partner is not infected. Senator Julia Kirt wants to look at changing that. 

“Forty years ago is when we made those laws. We've changed a lot in terms of what we understand and what's possible for people living with HIV and living with AIDS,” said Sen. Kirt.

Vivian Topping is director of advocacy and civic engagement with Equality Federation and was one of the speakers at the forum. She said in a statement: “The current law in Oklahoma states that a person living with HIV can go to prison for five years for not disclosing their status before consensual sex, even when they did not intend to harm anyone…and no harm resulted,” Topping said. “This is a more severe punishment than for second degree manslaughter or domestic abuse by strangulation.”

Topping said that since 2024, 16 states have modernized or completely repealed HIV criminalization laws.

The lawmakers say this isn’t a partisan issue.

“Looking at the crime, it's not working. Having it as a crime is not working,” said Sen. Kirt.

“Many Oklahomans may not realize that there are now medications that make the virus completely undetectable, and at that point, there is no chance of transmission; yet we have outdated laws on the books that continue to stigmatize HIV and those living with it,” Hicks said. “We will have better health outcomes if we modernize our laws and promote health care policy that actually does reduce transmission.”

Sara Raines with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department also spoke at the forum, she said in a statement: “We know that trying to make public examples out of people doesn’t really deter other people’s behavior. That’s not a super-effective prevention tool…here we are in 2024, and Oklahoma very much still has an HIV epidemic.” 

The lawmakers say that instead of criminalization, there needs to be a focus on increased testing and working to reduce the stigma around sexually transmitted diseases. 

“People need to get tested and if we're encouraging people not to get tested because they might be criminals if they are tested, then how are we ever going to stop these viruses?” said Sen. Kirt.

Senators Kirt and Hicks say they’ll be working on legislation to file in the upcoming session which begins in February 2025.