Thank you to the Des Moines Register for its editorial leadership in advocating for modernization of Iowa’s HIV criminalization statute. In 2012, the Register was the first major mainstream media in the U.S. to recognize how criminalization imposes a horrific injustice on people with HIV and is terrible public health policy. 

The Iowa State Senate’s Judiciary Committee passed a criminalization reform measure last year, 11 to 2 (with three of the five Republican votes on the committee).  Tomorrow (February 11) is the "Day on the Hill“ for HIV advocates in Iowa and they will be swarming the Capitol, buttonholing legislators to educate them about the issue and why it is so urgent to modernize the statute.  I was present for the ”Day on the Hill" in Des Moines last year and am looking forward to meeting with advocates, legislators and people with HIV who are working for change next week when I am in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. 

Great job, Iowans!

Please click here to read the Des Moines Register’s editorial “Lawmakers should correct Iowa’s HIV mistake.”

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