The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation is proud to expand on its HIV Is Not A Crime campaign with three new True (Not) Crime stories from HIV criminalization survivors. 

Join us in uplifting and recognizing firsthand stories from three women living with HIV, who have fought for their freedoms and helped others to create fulfilling lives free of stigma. 

Julie is an ETAF Council of Justice Leader and HIV Criminalization Survivor from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

Julie works as a Department of Veterans Affairs nurse in Behavioral Health Outpatient Services in Pennsylvania. She was HIV criminalized against in 2013. It almost cost her nursing license and career. Julie’s charges have been expunged but the mental and financial detriments have left a permanent scar. She speaks for the AIDS Law Project and is a Justice leader for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Subject matter expert in HIV since 2011. Member of Positive Women’s Network PA and founding member of PA HIV Justice Network. She is an advocate that is determined to change the HIV criminalization laws in PA and to dispel stigma.

Monique is an ETAF Council of Justice Leader and HIV Criminalization Survivor from Summerville, South Carolina.

Monique D. Howell was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She has traveled all over the world growing up because her Father was in the military, where she met all walks of life. After graduating from Summerville High School, she too enlisted in the US Army. Monique now is a veteran, and an Author of her first book entitled “Living Inside My Skin of Silence,” that was published in 2010. Her personal testimonial details many of the challenges she faced in her life. Monique’s story was well received nationally and opened the door to her career in advocacy. Monique is currently a motivational speaker and an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness. She has been a guest speaker for several universities, grade schools, churches, and has even testified on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. She also is the Executive Producer of “A Silver Lining,” a short film that vignettes her life and her victories while living with HIV. She hopes that her story serves as an inspiration and will encourage many broken people to keep pushing through the midst of their storms. Monique is a proud mother of 5 children – 3 sons and 2 daughters that she recently adopted. Her favorite saying is “You must first love yourself before you can love anyone else.”

Lashanda is an ETAF Council of Justice Leader and HIV Criminalization Survivor from Hartsville, Tennessee.

Lashanda Salinas, a native of Hartsville, Tennessee, has been living with HIV for over 25 years. She is an active member of the Tennessee HIV Modernization Coalition, a Health Not Prisons advocate, and a member of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Council of Justice Leaders. Her advocacy started after facing an unjust HIV prosecution under Tennessee’s criminal exposure to HIV statute, placing her on the sex offender registry. Lashanda has recently begun to share her experience with different audiences across the country, from small groups of individuals living with HIV in Tennessee to speaking with federal legislators at the 2022 “Day on the Hill” with Nashville CARES.

The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation continues its work to help end HIV criminalization in the U.S. with the new “Stuck in the 80s” campaign, placing dozens of eye-level “wild postings” and major billboards at high-traffic locations in states with outdated HIV laws.

The campaign aims to raise awareness about outdated HIV criminalization laws across the country. The “wild postings” and billboards compare the laws to the 1980s, when many of these laws were written – and the majority of these laws have not been revisited since then. For people living with HIV, these laws can mean criminal status and imprisonment.

ETAF calls on local communities to CONTACT YOUR LAWMAKERS, and let them know that now is the time to rewrite outdated HIV criminalization laws. ETAF has provided the script below for you to use when contacting lawmakers. Click the link below to find your local elected officials and let them know that HIV criminalization laws must change, and that HIV IS NOT A CRIME.

Hello, my name is [your name] and I’m your constituent from [insert city and state]. I’m calling to urge you to stand against HIV criminalization laws in [our state] and across the nation.

These laws were enacted decades ago and have not been updated to reflect medical advances in HIV treatment and prevention. We can end the HIV epidemic, but outdated HIV laws are holding us back. They perpetuate stigma and discourage testing and treatment.  

Ending the epidemic requires updating outdated HIV laws to reflect modern science for the health and safety of all people.  It’s time for reform! 

Can I count on you to support legislation reforming HIV criminal laws?

Sincerely, 
[your first and last name] 
Your constituent