National Training Academy to Combat HIV Criminalization to Be Held at IUPUI

On June 3-6, 2018, advocates, activists, researchers, and community leaders will meet on the IUPUI campus in Tower/Hine Hall to participate in HIV is Not a Crime III, the third national training academy to mobilize state-level advocacy to end HIV-related criminalization.

Thirty-three states, including Indiana, and several jurisdictions globally, have outdated HIV-specific statutes that apply to people living with HIV. These laws unjustly penalize any alleged or perceived HIV exposure, regardless of intent to harm or risks therein.

The Sero Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA, the two largest national networks of people living with HIV (PLHIV) has organized the three-day educational training for 300 participants. A two-day, invitation only, Black United Leadership pre-institute will also take place on June 1-2 to train the next generation of Black advocates to address HIV criminalization reform.

Participants and presenters will include advocates, many living with HIV, from over 30 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Germany and England.

Long Term HIV Survivors and HIV Modernization Movement Advocates - Michelle Harris from Fort Wayne Indiana and IUPUI Professor Carrie Foote. Image courtesy of Prof. Foote.
Long Term HIV Survivors and HIV Modernization Movement Advocates - Michelle Harris from Fort Wayne Indiana and IUPUI Professor Carrie Foote. Image courtesy of Prof. Foote.

Carrie Foote, Sociology associate professor, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI and several of her students, are working closely with the training organizers to host the event.  Foote has been living with HIV for 30 years and chairs the HIV Modernization Movement-Indiana, which aims to modernize Indiana’s HIV criminal laws.

Foote explained, “Science has made extraordinary advances since the HIV epidemic began in the 1980s, but one area that hasn’t kept up are laws that criminalize HIV. Lacking in scientific merit, these harmful laws stigmatize PLHIV and are counterproductive to public health.”

Register to attend

Anyone living with HIV (PLHIV), stakeholders, policy leaders, and advocates are encouraged to attend the three-day training in Indianapolis, IN to learn about mobilizing state-level advocacy to end HIV-related criminalization. Online registration is open through May 18.

Group picture from the First National HIV is not a Crime Training Academy held at Grinnell College in 2014. Image courtesy of the SERO Project.
Group picture from the First National HIV is not a Crime Training Academy held at Grinnell College in 2014. Image courtesy of the SERO Project.

Sponsors and donations are welcome

Organizations are invited to sponsor the training to help support 150 attendee scholarships, as well as, encouraged to have their own staff and clients attend (discounts for groups of five or more).  Donate now.

To learn more, visit HIV is Not a Crime III National Training Academy.  

For questions, please contact Tami Haught, SERO Organizer and Training Coordinator, at:  tami.haught@seroproject.com.