opinion
The Department of Justice has sued the state of Tennessee over its toughened prostitution law, claiming it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The law, passed in 1991, imposes harsher criminal penalties on prostitutes who engage in their profession while knowingly infected with HIV.
The Aggravated Prostitution Law raises the aforementioned act from a misdemeanor to a felony “when a person, knowing that he is infected with HIV, engages in sexual activity as a business, is a guest in a brothel, or loites in a public place.” For the purpose of recruiting them to engage in sexual activity.”
The law also requires the guilty party to register for life as a “violent sex offender,” and could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The Justice Department's lawsuit asserts that the law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Department of Justice sues over Tennessee's aggravated prostitution law
Prosecuting Tennessee's aggravated prostitution law from a disability angle is certainly interesting.
“Enforcing state criminal laws that treat people differently based solely on HIV status, which is not based on actual risk of harm, discriminates against people with HIV,” said Assistant Attorney General Christine Clark of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Human immunity.
“People living with HIV should not be subject to a different justice system that relies on outdated science and misguided assumptions,” Clark added. “This lawsuit reflects the Department of Justice’s commitment to ensuring that people living with HIV are not targeted because of their disability.”
They are not being targeted because of their disability: they are being targeted for an actual criminal act which happens to be heinous because it has the potential to change the life of the other party involved in such criminal acts.
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The difference with this “disability”
In the United States, HIV He is It is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, not all disabilities are the same. You cannot pass on being blind to your co-worker. You cannot pass on hearing loss or autism.
What you can transmit is HIV, which, despite the great advances that have been made in the medical field regarding this disease, is still a life-changing diagnosis.
The Justice Department's lawsuit against Tennessee's aggravated prostitution law comes after the department found the law was discriminatory in December, but the state refused to enter into negotiations.
This isn't the first time the law has been challenged, as multiple organizations filed a federal lawsuit in Memphis last year on behalf of four Jane Doe plaintiffs and OutMemphis, a local nonprofit serving the LGBT community.
The ACLU argued that the law disproportionately affects black and transgender prostitutes who knowingly engage in paid sex acts while infected with HIV.
The Justice Department's lawsuit cites one particular “victim” of Tennessee's prostitution law, a “Black transgender woman” who was engaging in prostitution in 2010 despite being infected with HIV in 2008.
The complainant was also arrested for “prostitution near a church or school,” the Daily Wire reported.
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