Louisiana Coalition on Criminalization and Health

The Louisiana Coalition on Criminalization and Health works to inform our community about HIV criminalization and modernize Louisiana's HIV criminalization laws through advocacy and education.

Many states, including Louisiana, have laws that criminalize "exposure" to HIV that leave people living with HIV vulnerable to prosecution even when there is no possibility of transmission. These laws are not often aligned with the science, work against public health, and only exacerbate stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV. Laws that make it a crime to live with a chronic, treatable health condition do not protect anyone.

Values

Lived Experiences: While we understand the necessity and importance of science and data as we lead the movement to end HIV Criminalization in Louisiana, we also value and center the lived experience and subject matter expertise of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the communities they come from. We recognize that we are the experts of our own experience and that is what guides us.

Principled Struggle: We recognize that while we all have a commitment to ending HIV criminalization within our state, we may have differing strategies and tactics that we believe will achieve this. We also know that while conflict is unavoidable and often helps us grow, we are committed to principled struggle-meaning we engage difference with integrity, accountability and honesty-all with the purpose of moving through conflict instead of staying in it uplifting the following:

• power of people in the communities impacted by the laws and decisions we consider to change them
• power dynamics being balanced and equitable 
• alignment of principles and holding stakeholders accountable to them
• prioritizing intersectionalities of bodily autonomy, disability justice, racial justice, economic justice, sexual and reproductive justice, healing justice, and harm reduction
• amplifying movement work through civic engagement and narrative & media justice

Social Justice: Although our work is to end HIV Criminalization, we deeply understand that HIV criminalization sits in the broader context of criminalization of communities of color, low-income communities, and LGBTQ communities. We therefore understand that the impact of HIV criminalization will impact people of color, low-income and LGBTQ communities at disproportionate rates. We are grounded in this knowledge and legacy of systemic racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, as well as the tremendous work our communities have done and continue to do to end these interlocking systems, and it informs our work. 

HIV Is Not A Crime: We know that People living with HIV/AIDS should not be criminalized, stigmatized, or otherwise discriminated against because of their status. This includes in government policies, our non-profits and our communities.