Last week Nick Rhoades, Robert Suttle and I attended a meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Nick and Robert both spoke eloquently about their criminalization experiences. Robert’s Louisiana driver’s license has the words “SEX OFFENDER” in red capital letters underneath his photograph. He wore it on his jacket, to prompt conversation and make the point about how people with HIV are being criminalized and stigmatized in the U.S. 

I wasn’t as eloquent as either Robert or Nick, but I was able to make the point about how criminalization statutes are creating a viral underclass in the law.