Intentionally harming someone, such as by shooting or stabbing them without cause, is illegal in every state.
This is the reason that purposeful disease transmission, particularly the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), has long been illegal in the majority of states. After all, an STD can have as lethal and protracted effects as a gunshot or stabbing to the sufferer.
The Biden White House, however, seems to differ. Tennessee is being sued by the JDOJ’s Civil Rights Division, which is led by radical Assistant AG Kristen Clarke, for trying to implement a law meant to shield the public from HIV-infected prostitutes.
Clarke and her allies claim that Tennessee’s efforts to defend its residents amount to discrimination that is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act since they are just covering it up.
The zealots who sued Tennessee in addition to Clarke are Trial Attorney Ali Szemanski, Deputy Chief Kevin Kijewski, Trial Attorney Stephanie Berger, and Chief of the Disability Rights Section Rebecca Bond. A cursory review of their resumes—including those of the trial attorneys with lesser positions—reveals that they have had positions with a number of organizations that fund the extreme left’s pet initiatives.
For instance, Berger had previously worked for the Empire State Pride Agenda for a number of years. However, the group collapsed following the signing of an executive order safeguarding transgender rights by then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Additionally, Szemanski has held positions with the MacArthur Justice Center, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of Boston.
It is hardly shocking that he has ties to the radical left. In the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, political and left-leaning recruiting practices have long been an issue. A complete adoption of the far-left’s ideology is the only explanation for the otherwise puzzling lawsuit’s filing.
A “person engages in prostitution when, knowing they are infected with HIV, the person engages in sexual activity for pay or is in a house of prostitution,” according to Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution statute, which was passed in 1991, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Put differently, there are more severe consequences for an individual who knows they have HIV and participates in prostitution, which is a crime in and of itself.
However, the Biden Justice Department claims that this is discriminatory since it “does not require prosecuting entities to make any individualized assessments in order to attain a conviction” and unfairly treats people differently based only on their HIV-positive status.
But consider this: charging an alcoholic for driving while intoxicated is not discriminatory. Furthermore, it is not discriminatory to bring charges against a drug addict for selling or obtaining narcotics. Instead of prosecuting and penalizing individuals based on their immigration status, Tennessee does so based on their behavior and the risk such behavior provides to the community. Legislators see armed robbery as more dangerous and damaging to the community, which is why they prosecute it more severely in most states than unarmed robbery. Here, too, the same holds true.
Naturally, the Justice Department lacks a strong legal defense for this. All they say is that “there has been substantial advancement in the knowledge and treatment of HIV since the enactment of Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution legislation.” “Beliefs and preconceptions that persons with HIV would transmit it or that having HIV is a death sentence are now outmoded and untrue,” they state.