Boebert falsely claims liberals have 'legalized' knowingly spreading HIV

Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, known for her outspoken right-wing views, tweeted last week: "The same liberals that legalized knowingly spreading HIV are now pushing Americans to take COVID tests or show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants. No. We're not playing your games."

Facts First: Boebert's claim about liberals legalizing knowingly spreading HIV is false. No state has "legalized" the knowing spread of HIV. Some states, including Iowa under a Republican governor in 2014, have reduced some criminal penalties for people who expose or potentially expose another person to HIV -- so that people with HIV are no longer treated far more punitively than people with other viruses. One Democratic-run state, Illinois, is in the process of eliminating a law that, among other things, makes it a felony for a person with HIV to have sex without a condom without first disclosing their HIV status. But even after the repeal of that HIV-specific law, anyone who intentionally tries to infect someone with the virus could still be prosecuted under the state's general criminal laws.

States' changes to their HIV laws have come in response to criticism from activists, doctors and public health experts who have argued that laws criminalizing sexual activities and other behavior by people with HIV are a discriminatory and harmful relic of the homophobic AIDS panic of the 1980s. Far less was known about HIV back then, and today's highly effective HIV medications, which can sharply reduce or even eliminate the risk of sexual transmission, were not yet available.