Last October, Petty Officer 1st Class Steven R. Franklin stood before a special court martial in Virginia, accused of aggravated assault, disobeying an order, and adultery. After Franklin entered a guilty plea to the first two charges in the military trial, the judge in the case, Commander Tierney Carlos, sentenced the aviations electronics technician to three months’ confinement and a bad-conduct discharge. Franklin’s rank was reduced to seaman recruit.

Franklin, an HIV-positive individual, faced punishment because he ignored oral and written orders forbidding unprotected sexual activity. In spite of these warnings, Franklin engaged in unprotected sexual activity with two women. In both cases, he informed the women of his HIV status and they consented to a sexual relationship.

Neither woman in Franklin’s case tested positive for HIV, although this case brings to light one of the more controversial topics embroiling the HIV/AIDS community. When one is diagnosed with HIV, telling current or potential sexual partners one’s disease status might be an ethical obligation. But in many states and the military, disclosing your disease status to partners is the law.

To date there is no federal law regarding disclosure, although the majority of states have stepped into the breach, putting some law on the books to curb or stop potentially risky behavior by HIV-positive people that could risk public health.

In Louisiana, one law, a part of the rape statutes known as “Intentional Exposure to AIDS Virus,” criminalizes exposing someone else to HIV without his or her consent. If found guilty, offenders face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine (please see related legal guide).

Under California’s “Willful Disclosure” law, exposing another individual to HIV through unprotected sex carries a penalty of up to eight years in prison. This law only applies to anal or vaginal sex. Exposure to HIV through oral sex is not covered by the law (see related article on California’s law).

States joined the fray as a reaction both to the HIV public health crisis and the lack of care some HIV-positive individuals show towards their sexual partners.

In one study involving interviews with over 1,400 participants regarding the sexual practices of HIV-positive adults, researchers found non-disclosure a fairly common practice. However, among those surveyed, 19 percent of the heterosexual men, 17 percent of all women, and 42 percent of the bisexual or gay men reported some type of sexual activity without disclosure.

Some public health experts worry that laws criminalizing behavior may turn the clock back on public attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. If, they argue, individuals are stigmatized by disease status and behavior, then the painstaking efforts to build acceptance over the past three decades are at risk.

Researchers further argue that these measures do not take into account how effective safer sex has been in slowing the spread of disease (see related article).

For more information and advice about disclosing HIV status to a sexual partner, please see the following article from The Body, an HIV/AIDS resource.