The Virginia Senate on Feb. 5 passed a bill that would decriminalize HIV transmission in the state. Senate Bill 1138, sponsored by state Sen.
Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) and Mamie Locke (D-Hampton), passed by a 21-17 vote margin. It would amend much of the language in the “infected sexual battery” section that focuses on HIV — specifically naming oral and anal sex acts, and replace them with “a sexually transmitted infection” and “sexual behavior that poses a substantial risk of transmission to another person according to current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.” According to the CDC, laws that criminalize HIV exposure are relics from the early days of the epidemic and do not follow current medical