Oakland Congressmember Barbara Lee took the occasion of World AIDS Day to introduce a bill that, if passed, would facilitate a review of federal and state laws to determine whether they add "unique or additional burdens upon people living with HIV." "This is an important bill to end the stigma and the terrible punitive consequences of people being penalized by having a virus," Lee said.
Lee, a Democrat, spoke to the Bay Area Reporter late November 30. She said that she has been introducing this legislation for a decade. "The first time was in 2011," Lee said. "I was appointed to the United Nations Commission on HIV and the law in 2008, maybe, and we went around the world to look at laws criminalizing HIV-positive people.