“The county is taking steps that if he gets out, we will file a civil matter to make sure he takes his medications,” Ghosh told The American Independent.

Ghosh was speaking of the Comstock Park man who turned himself in to Grand Rapids police Dec. 22, alleging he attempted to infect hundreds of people with HIV through unprotected sex and sharing needles. He was placed in a psychiatric hold for two days, and on Dec. 24, he was arraigned on the first of two charges of failing to disclose his status to a sex partner. Several days later, prosecutors added a second charge of failing to disclose. He is currently in Ypsilanti undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he can stand trial. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.

TAI does not identify the names of those charged with HIV disclosure laws unless both the accused and the accuser are named in court documents, or one or both provide TAI permission to publish their names.

The case, media releases and subsequent reporting have resulted in what experts have told TAI were “sensationalist” reports in the wider media.

But this is the first time county officials have indicated plans on how to deal with the man if he is released on bond.

The announcement, however, has HIV advocates worried.

“Forcing anyone to take treatment is a slippery slope,” said Sean Strub, co-chair of the Global Network of People with AIDS, North America (GNP+), in an email. “This person’s most important health issue seems to be his mental health, not his viral status. Forcing anti-retroviral treatment on anyone is a slippery slope. Once the camel’s nose gets inside that tent, even in such a rare and bizarre circumstance as this peculiar case, it is not such a huge step to mandatory testing and treatment for an ever-expanding number of people with HIV.”

While the advent of antiretroviral medications in the mid-1990s resulted in a staggering revival of persons living with AIDS and s sharp decrease in AIDS-related deaths, the drugs themselves are quite toxic and cause a host of side effects. In addition, scientists are not in agreement as to when is the appropriate point in clinical progression to begin treatment, resulting in many mixed messages to patients.

Michigan does have a part of the state health code that allows health officials to declare a person a health threat to others (HTTO). HTTOs are a civil action and can amount to anything from counseling to forced civil confinement for as long as six months. TAI reported in December that many people thought the law was being abused when it was revealed that any HIV-positive person who was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection was immediately issued an HTTO. In other instances, women who became pregnant were issued HTTO orders and HIV-positive people who were named in partner services programs were also targeted for HTTO orders. The state, which oversees the HTTO list, denies pregnant women were targeted but said the STI and partner services programs were appropriate uses of the state’s name-based HIV list.

“[The suspect] does not have an airborne disease spread through casual contact; he has a disease that, regardless of treatment, is not easily transmitted. Even without treatment, the primary routes of infection — unprotected anal or vaginal sex — result in HIV transmission roughly one percent or less of the time,” said Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the Center for HIV Law and Policy. “So the threat of mandatory treatment is not a reflection of any danger [the suspect] poses, but of Ms.Ghosh’s dangerous misapprehension of both HIV transmission and the law governing the very limited circumstances under which treatment of an individual can be mandated.”

Photo: Kent County, Mich. logo (www.accesskent.com)

Hoogendyk unsuccessfully challenged Upton for the seat two years ago, when he was able to garner only 43 percent of the vote, in spite of significant support from the tea party movement. Upton out-raised and outspent Hoogendyk — with Upton reporting $2 million in fundraising and spending to Hoogendyk’s $62,000.

The über-conservative former lawmaker is expected to announce his decision Jan. 17 at a noon press event in Kalamazoo, according to an email sent by Steven Mobley, Calhoun County Republican Party chair.

If Hoogendyk tosses his hat in the ring again, he is likely to come to the fight with a much larger war chest. He has been openly courted by the conservative political action committee Club for Growth, which has recently launched a two-week television commercial campaign accusing Upton of being “liberal.” The group met with Hoogendyk in November, reports MLive.com, and while it did not issue an endorsement, the PAC did say that it was “impressed” with him.

While he has been out of the state legislature for four years, Hoogendyk has been anything but invisible. He spoke at a tea party rally protesting Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s final state of the state speech; has been actively engaged in pushing right-to-work legislation; and in November took heat for funding robocalls, which were said to have killed a local school millage election, reported Joyce Pines of the Kalamazoo Gazette. Those same robocalls may also have violated federal regulations.

Hoogendyk is anti-gay, anti-union, and anti-abortion-rights. He staunchly supports limited government and home schooling. His wife, Erin, home-schooled all of their children — in the Mattawan school district, where he reportedly helped kill the millage election.

Mobley’s email follows:

Two years ago, after much urging by friends and a lot of time in contemplation, Jack Hoogendyk made the decision to run for the 6th District Congressional seat. He did so because he felt that it was time for someone to stand on the principles of Freedom and Liberty that are a part of the foundation of our country. He also believed that it was vital to return the government “To the People” and that our nation was in need of strong leadership that would fight for those principles.

Now, two years later, we find ourselves facing much of the same. Leadership that is backing down and giving in to policies that will drive us further away from our independence. Leadership that is accepting status quo as good enough. Leadership that is not willing to fight with every fiber of their being to turn this nation around and Jack is once again listening to the urging of those asking him if he will fight for us.

Jack and Erin have spent countless hours in thought, evaluation, and prayer, as well as, seeking the advice of trusted friends. And now it is decision time. I would like to invite you to come out and join us as Jack makes an important announcement regarding the 6th Congressional seat.

Progressive groups were quick to condemn a possible Hoogendyk candidacy.

“A primary between Upton and Hoogendyk would be a rerun financed by Washington, DC corporate power brokers,” David Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan, told The American Independent by email. “Upton’s Wall Street and Big Oil backers versus an extremist anti-government group that, more than any other, is responsible for driving this Republican Congress off the cliff into historic depths of low public opinion. Expect low ratings from middle class Michigan voters who may just decide to tune both of them out.”

Amy Hunter, president of the Equality Michigan Pride PAC, was also scathing in her assessment of a Hoogendyk candidacy.

“Given Rep. Upton’s extraordinary shift to the far-right, it seems unlikely that the GOP could hope for someone less interested in equality for women, families and gay and transgender Michiganders,” she said in an email to TAI. “Jack Hoogenbyk [sic] unfortunately, fits that description. The people of the Michigan 6th Congressional District deserve a representative who cares about all of his or her constituents. Someone who cares about fundemental [sic] fairness and equality for all Michiganders, not someone whose far-right agenda harms or excludes thousands of Michigan families and children – gay or straight.”

Photo: Former Michigan state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk appears at a tea party event at the state Capitol (AMERICAN INDEPENDENT/Todd Heywood).

In spite of the national condemnation, local media and the Kent County Health Department are standing by their reporting.

“In this extreme case, the challenge becomes to look beyond the sensational and focus on information that would be helpful to the public,” said Colette Seguin Beighley, a Grand Rapids resident and board member of the LGBT-advocacy group Equality Michigan, in an email to The American Independent. ”What may be most helpful would be to use this as an opportunity to provide information about the different ways HIV is transmitted along with accompanying infection rates. … It would also resist feeding into hysteria which vilifies and victimizes HIV+ people.”

While nearly every media outlet that has written or reported about this case has identified the Comstock Park man by name, it is TAI’s policy not to identify those alleged to be living with HIV in criminal matters such as disclosure cases, unless they are convicted or the individuals pursuing charges are identified by name either in interviews, court documents, or other publications or reports.

The background

Grand Rapids Police allege the man walked into their station on Dec. 22, 2011, and told detectives he was turning himself in for attempting to infect hundreds of people with HIV by sharing needles and having unprotected sex with them. Police claim he admitted to wanting to kill people with the virus.

The man was placed in psychiatric observation while police investigated his claims. On Dec. 24, he was arraigned on one felony count of the state’s HIV disclosure law. That 1988 law makes it a crime for a person with HIV to engage in sexual penetration, “however slight,” without first disclosing his or her HIV-positive status. On Dec. 28, police and prosecutors added a second disclosure-law felony. Officials say they expect to file more criminal charges as their investigation continues.

This was not the man’s first trip to psychiatric observation and care, nor would it be his last. Earlier in 2011, he was ordered by a court to a 90-day commitment to facility. On Tuesday, the court sent him to a state-run criminal psychiatric hospital in Ypsilanti, Mich., for evaluation on his mental fitness to stand trial.

Why the man was ordered to be hospitalized in 2011 is unclear, and health officials refuse to say, claiming they do not want to violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The press release

Following word of the arraignment on the first charge, the Kent County Health Department issued a press release (PDF), which was presented as a ‘Health Alert’ without noting that the health department has no actual legal authority to make such a declaration.

That release, experts interviewed by The American Independent say, was the source of the sensationalism in reporting.

“My concern with the press release distributed by the Kent County Health Department is its use of the term ‘victim,’ said Michigan Positive Action Coalition (MI-POZ) director Mark Peterson in an email. “This assumes the continuing criminalization of an individual who has HIV. Neither the press release or anything else I’ve read in the media about this case so far has asked if [the suspect's] partners asked him about his HIV status or knew or disclosed their own HIV or STI status.”

Peterson also expressed concerns that the press release failed to address transmission probabilities in a clear and concise way. While the press release noted that transmission rates vary based on which activity is involved, it failed to note exactly how low those probabilities are.

A 2011 Journal of AIDS study by Julie Fox et al. found that the highest probability of infection in a one-time sexual encounter with an HIV-positive person was 1.4 percent for receptive anal intercourse. The Center for HIV Law & Policy has created a comparative chart of infection probabilities comparing HIV, herpes, human papillomavirus (HVP), and gonorrhea. HPV and gonorrhea have staggeringly high transmission rates. HPV — which has been linked to several forms of cancer, including cervical, penile, throat, mouth and anal cancer — has a risk between 43 percent and 93 percent, while gonorrhea has a 25 percent to 50 percent transmission rate. Herpes’ transmission rates, however, are below a 10th of 1 percent, similar to most exposures to HIV.

Ignoring these realities about AIDS and HIV, Peterson said, feeds common misinformation about the disease.

“I think there are two important issues at play here in the media coverage thus far: the lack of concrete information about exactly how infectious HIV is, resulting in wild speculation and implication by media that everyone he contacted got infected, and this case highlights the lack of knowledge in the general public and from the media concerning HIV transmission, as well as feed the assumption that people living with HIV in general, are negligently transmitting HIV to others,” Peterson said.

He also told TAI that several studies have found that those living with HIV who know of their status are unlikely to be the source of new infections. Those studies, Peterson said, were written by Dr. David R. Holtgrave of Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). In those reports, Holtgrave said infections caused by those who know they are living with the virus represent only 2 percent of the total new infections. Meanwhile, the 20 to 25 percent of Americans living with the virus and unaware of their infection are responsible for the remaining 98 percent of new infections.

“Hysterical, inaccurate reporting feeds hysteria and stigma against people with HIV,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, an attorney with the Center for HIV Law & Policy. “The characterizations of HIV in the news articles and the press release encourage a view of individuals with HIV as toxic, irresponsible and predatory.”

The media frenzy

Activists told TAI that this poorly formed press release, which they say provided little factual information, resulted in a flurry of sensational reports. The Global Grind called the suspect “a total monster,” while in an interview with WOOD TV 8, NBC’s Grand Rapids affiliate, one anonymous woman who claimed the suspect infected her with HIV in 2008 called him a “sociopath” and “predator.” The headline from the Grand Rapids Press’ coverage of the man’s preliminary hearing is “Psychiatric exam slated for [name of suspect redacted] who is accused of intentionally spreading AIDS.” In a national blog written by an expert in criminal issues, the man is referred to as a “serial murder.”

In the interview with WOOD TV 8, the woman who alleged the suspect infected her in June 2008 was not challenged about her accusation, nor was she asked basic questions about the sexual encounter with the man (did she ask about his disease status? did she ask that he use a condom? had she previously engaged in risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex or sharing needles?). The WOOD interviewer noted — and did not challenge — the woman’s charge that the suspect told her he had attempted to infect as many as 3,000 people. The reporter did not question this allegation, in light of the suspect’s mental health issues, nor did he ask why the woman had not come forward in October 2008, when she was diagnosed, or later when he allegedly told her about his plan to infect people. The reporter also failed to note that determining direction of infection (who infected whom) is not scientifically possible.

The woman’s claims that the man attempted to infect 3,000 people were then used in subsequent reporting by the television station. But Grand Rapids Police and court documents say the suspect told police he tried to infect “hundreds” of people.

This kind of media coverage, activists say, increases stigma against those living with HIV.

“Is the coverage stigmatizing? Of course it is,” said Peter Kronenberg, communications director of the National Association of People With AIDS, in an email. “It doesn’t acknowledge that [suspect's name redacted] campaign to infect as many people as possible is way out in the ‘alpha tail’ of aberrant behavior, and that leaves readers (many of whom already have hang-ups about minority sexual orientation and HIV as a ‘gay’ disease) free to conclude that this is how all people with HIV behave. The only story we’ve seen so far that even mentions [suspect's name redacted] confinement for psychiatric evaluation is (here). The news coverage also fails to remind readers that it is the responsibility of both partners in a sexual act (or drug sharing) to protect themselves. With partners who know each other well, that means saying, I’m HIV-(positive/negative), what about you? With partners who don’t, it means assuming nothing, no matter what is asked or what is answered, and using condoms. Just because (s)he says (s)he’s negative doesn’t mean it’s true. Too many people don’t know their status, and some, regrettably, lie – out of fear of rejection.”

Sean Strub, co-chair of the Global Network of People with HIV/AIDS North America (GNP+), told TAI that this type of media coverage actually perpetuates the fear of HIV-positive people to disclose their status. A Kaiser Family Foundation report released in June of 2011 found that six in 10 Americans get their HIV information from news reports. That, activists say, is the reason the “sensationalist” reporting is particularly damning to HIV-prevention, -intervention and -care efforts.

“The media coverage makes those who truly fear they might have HIV more reluctant to find out, as it underscores the stigma, and it definitely makes it tougher for people who know they have HIV to disclose,” Strub said.

“Sensationalist reporting about HIV criminalization cases, including this one, are a serious hindrance to good HIV education,” said attorney Roose-Snyder. “It greatly skews the truth about how, how easily, and by whom most HIV is transmitted, since 1) most HIV transmission takes place during consensual sex between two adults who do not know their HIV status; 2) once most people know they are HIV positive they typically reduce their sexual risk-taking behaviors; and 3) most HIV-positive people who are aware of their status do not want to – and in fact do not – transmit HIV.”

Of concern for many of the activists TAI talked to was that the suspect’s mental health issues were barely, if ever, mentioned in the reporting. And the Kent County Health Department is holding the specifics of what illness the man is suffering from as a tightly guarded secret.

When asked why she failed to note the mental health issues in her press release or subsequent public comments, Kent County communications director Lisa LaPlante cited HIPAA concerns. When asked why revealing mental health information about the suspect was a violation of HIPAA but revealing his HIV status was not, LaPlante told TAI,”[His] HIV status was disclosed as two criminal charges, therefore a component of the press release.”

But the suspect’s two-day confinement in a psychiatric hospital following his alleged admissions was also part of the news, somewhat nullifying LaPlante’s HIPAA claims, activists say.

“The public fears people with HIV more than they fear people with mental health issues; in this circumstance it seems like the media and public health authorities are responding or playing to the public’s fear and biases rather than the real underlying issue with this individual,” Strub said. “Understanding mental health issues is more nuanced and complicated; it is far easier to play into the hysteria, ignorance and fear engendered by HIV.”

“While it’s hard to imagine what the motivation of any story is from a legal standpoint of the criminal case, it is common for one side to leak only that information which is beneficial to the case,” said Joshua Moore, an attorney who runs Detroit Legal Services, an HIV legal specialty clinic. “Here it would be beneficial for a prosecutor to have information leaked that did not include [the suspect's] mental illness so that the community would be biased towards his case.”

Sex vs. syringes

Also of concern with the reporting, from the standpoint of HIV/AIDS, is the focus on sexual exposure. The suspect allegedly told police he shared needles and had sex in an attempt to infect as many people as possible.

“Why does sex feature prominently in the story as reported and not the needle-sharing?” Kronenberg said. “HIV disease’s strange negative glamour comes directly from its having shown up first in gay men. The mixed fascination and repulsion some people feel about same-sex sexuality says a lot more about them than it does about gay people. Sex sells newspapers; if you haven’t seen it already, have a look at the coverage in the UK’s online tabloid Mail Online. This is the Mail Online’s kind of story.”

“My assumption here is that the issue of sex, especially anonymous sex via online interactions is more salacious then syringe-sharing,” said Peterson of MI-POZ. “It speaks more to our obsession with sex than it does our understanding of public health.”

Fittingly, Michigan’s HIV disclosure law does not require an HIV-positive person to disclose his or her status when sharing needles with someone. The focus on sexual transmission led then-state Sen. Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) to tell the Michigan Messenger the current law “hasn’t been able to protect the public.”

Standing by the reports

The American Independent sent requests for comment to WOOD TV 8, the Kent County Health Department, and the Grand Rapids Press.

WOOD TV 8 News Director Rebecca Sapakie issued the following statement about her station’s news coverage of the case:

WOOD TV is proud of its in-depth reporting on this issue. When we first heard about the case, we contacted police, prosecutors and the health department to expand our perspective on the story. We used comments from the suspect himself to police, investigators, official court documents, victims and the health department to frame our stories. As we uncovered new facts, we followed the story in the days beyond our initial reports. News stories frequently deal with the unusual or rare cases. We pride ourselves in giving perspective to these stories and offering our viewers important information. This was a case where public officials believed it was appropriate to alert the public given the known facts. We are confident with our reporting on this story and we’ll continue to follow it if new developments are discovered.

Grand Rapids Press Editor Paul Keep did not respond to several emails seeking comment.

Bonnie Bucqueroux, a journalism professor at Michigan State University and former director of the Victims and the Media Project there, said she thinks criticism of the reporting is unfounded.

“I am always willing to criticize the press when I think they deserve it,” she told TAI. “I think most did a pretty good job.”

Lisa LaPlante from the Kent County Health Department said she stands by her press release and sees no need to revise it. She also added that the press has had an impact on testing for HIV.

“I feel confident that the information provided in the news release has been helpful to the community, as we have seen an uptick in free, confidential, anonymous client testing for HIV since [the suspect's] arrest,” she said.

But activists say the uptick is unlikely to be helpful in actually addressing the HIV epidemic in Kent County and beyond.

“No, an increase in testing does nothing if the community as a whole is ignorant to the disease itself,” said attorney Moore. “There are many individuals out in the community that I work with every day who are scarred to death that a family member or church member finds out their infected with HIV. These types of reports only feed that fear and stigma. The fear and stigma often prevent people living with HIV from getting the proper education themselves. The media has a responsibility to cover these types of stories with balance and offer a means for individuals in the public to get educated.”

Photo: Kent County, Mich. logo (www.accesskent.com)

Kent County Press Release December 27, 2011

Fischer made the comments Wednesday on his syndicated radio show, Focal Point, during an interview with Peter H. Duesberg, a discredited scientist who also claims that the disease manifestation known as AIDS is not caused by HIV. The apparent cause, according to Fischer and Duesberg — who authored the AIDS denialist manifesto “Inventing the AIDS Virus” — is too much homosexual sex and recreational drug use.

And what evidence does Fisher have that HIV does not cause AIDS?

Fischer: I read a story about Earvin Johnson — Magic Johnson–

Duesberg: Ah, yes.

Fischer: A very prominent diagnosis of AIDS in 1991, I think it was.

Duesberg: That is correct.

Fischer: And everybody thought he’s going to die, he’s going to keel over, he’s going to wither away. And here he is 20 years later — and the article was celebrating the 20th anniversary of his diagnosis. You look at the guy and he is absolutely as healthy as a horse, but he’s been HIV-positive for 20 years and that would fit your theory that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS.

Duesberg: And so are 100 million Americans that been HIV-positive in ’85 — and even now in 2012, it’s still 1 million HIV-positive Americans. On average, they have the same life expectancy as the rest, else otherwise they would have disappeared by now.

What Fischer and Duesberg don’t note in this exchange is important. First, Johnson was never diagnosed with AIDS. He was diagnosed as HIV-positive. AIDS is a clinical manifestation of the disease process caused by the virus — HIV — which includes a significantly compromised immune system and one of several infections not found in people with healthy immune systems. Second, neither Duesberg nor Fischer note that as a very wealthy man, Johnson had access to the best medical care and best medications from the moment of his diagnosis. In fact, that flies in the face of a claim by Duesberg that antiretroviral drugs are toxic and kill more people than HIV itself does.

And finally, neither notes that Johnson himself, on Nov. 7, 1991, denied having AIDS. From CBS News:

“I just want to make it clear, first of all, that I do not have the AIDS disease.”

CBS News also reports that Johnson’s care was overseen in part by Dr. David Ho, the scientist who is credited with discovering protease inhibitors, a powerful drug which stops the virus’ replication process.

The folks at the National Association of People With AIDS are not keen on Fischer’s venture into AIDS denialism either.

“There’s no excuse for denying that the HIV virus causes AIDS,” said Peter Kronenberg, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. “It’s been accepted for years that HIV passes all the standard tests for identifying an infectious agent as the cause of a disease. With very rare exceptions (which can be traced to other health conditions), the virus is present in all patients who display the complete immune system breakdown that characterizes advanced AIDS. Transmission of the virus to uninfected persons causes steady progression towards AIDS as long as the virus is left untreated and unchecked. When the virus is finally treated, even very advanced AIDS patients come back from the brink of death as their immune systems begin to rebuild themselves. There’s nothing left to prove: HIV causes AIDS.”

Watch the entire exchange between Duesberg and Fischer, courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

Photo: Bryan Fischer at the 2011 Values Voter Summit (AMERICAN INDEPENDENT/Sam Petulla)

The program has already come under fire for being booked and presented in probable violation of Michigan laws related to sex-education programming. A Michigan Messenger investigation found that two districts — Homer and Olivet — failed to get the program approved by the sex-education advisory board and the school board, while Marshall schools failed to get approval of the state board of education. All three district failed to provide parents the opportunity to opt their youth from the school assembly, as required by Michigan law.

Based on a review of the presentation, called Wise Choices and presented by Barb and Rick Wise, Michigan Messenger was able to identify a series of pieces of misinformation about HIV as well as a statement mis-characterizing a University of Chicago study on sex and relationships. A video of the presentation is available at Access Vision, the Battle Creek cable access station. It is listed as Wise Choices and was uploaded to the site on Oct. 17 at 4:47 p.m.

The program reported that all forms of sexual behavior transmit HIV, that only four body fluids transmit the virus, that HIV can survive in general human environments outside of the body and that saliva only can be infectious.

In addition, Barb told students that the University of Chicago study (PDF) found that married couples had more gratifying sex lives than couples in dating relationships or those co-habitating. But the study says the exact opposite:

“An unexpected finding, contrary to prior research, was that non-marital relationships, such as cohabitation and dating, were associated with higher levels of subjective sexual well-being than marriages, particularly for men.”

The Wises did not return an email seeking comment about the alleged misinformation.

The training of Barb Wise in abstinence-only education is also under scrutiny. She is certified by a program called W.A.I.T. Training in Colorado. That program was blasted by a 2004 report (PDF) from U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman of California for providing false information about HIV.

But experts who Michigan Messenger shared the video of the presentation with generally condemned the presentation.

“Distorting scientific data is, unfortunately, the way of all cynical politicians,” said Gloria Brame, a certified clinical sexologist who holds a doctorate in human sexuality. “However, in this case, it could simply be the blind leading the blind, as one must assume that the very people who are lobbying for abstinence ed are themselves ignorant on the science of sex, and thus the most likely people to misunderstand or misuse scientific data. I realize there may well be physicians and psychologists on board with the abstinence issue in Michigan but, again, I’ll say that this is about religious belief dictating opinion, and not the facts.

“Again, abstinence ed programs omit the scientific data and replace it with religion-based beliefs about how God expects people to behave. That should not be taught in public schools, but in churches.”

Jeff Montgomery, a spokesperson for the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, also condemned the presentation.

“I agree that if her audience are high school students, this is awful. Especially those who are coming to terms with their sexual identity. They are left feeling, perhaps, like freaks. Not to mention the misinterpretation of the HIV information,” the Detroit based activist said, noting that the program excluded messages for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, focusing only on no sex before marriage messaging. “The implied (if not overt) demonizing of unmarried sexual activity and the promotion of strict monogamy does nothing to promote healthy, informed sexual choices. This woman’s presentation is not helpful or healthy. Sexual discussion is far too important to be left to inexperienced, subjective hands. We know more today about sexual development and sexual diversity than at any time in history. We should encourage serious, comprehensive and intelligent sex education. The health and safety of generations are on the line.”

Marshall Public Schools issued a statement saying the concerns raised were something they would take into account in future considerations of the program.

But Olivet School officials did not take well to the concerns and criticisms raised. In a letter to Messenger, Olivet Interim Assistant Superintendent Brooke Judd wrote:

For the most part, everyone I spoke to felt as if the decision to bring in the Wise presentation was in line with our community values. I acknowledge that we did not follow proper procedures in bringing them to present to our students, and if the opportunity ever arises again, we will be sure to meet all legal obligations prior to their presentation.

Olivet High School Health Instructor Gabe Priddy went further. In an email to Michigan Messenger, he alleged the questions about the misinformation — which were documented with links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the University of Chicago study itself — were “loaded.”

“The questions you raise have more to do with your political agenda against Mr. and Mrs. Wise than they are based on facts,” Priddy said. “In my professional opinion the information given was accurate according the training I have received from the State of Michigan. It was also a very powerful and responsible message for teenagers to hear.”

Priddy also claimed the information presented by the Wises was in line with the health education text book used in Olivet Schools.

Michigan Department of Education officials did not return multiple emails seeking clarification of what information should be taught in Michigan schools.

“If he was educated in reproductive health, then he knows the number one method of prevention of HIV is condoms. If they don’t educate about condoms, they are not educating about how to prevent HIV. It’s that simple,” says sexologist Brame. “It has no basis in science or fact as an effective approach to adolescent sexuality. Of all the things that those speakers addressed, actually almost none of it addressed core issues in sexual health. Rather, it was a personal narrative, telling the stories of their lives as a way of proving to gullible teenagers that sex leads to disease and death. It is a negative and hateful message to send young people who are struggling to control and deal with new feelings and desires.”

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, HIV is not transmitted via biting; but Missouri’s decades old HIV-exposure law makes biting a felony nonetheless.

That law, as well as documents being used by the state for HIV-positives, are coming under scrutiny by national advocates who say the state’s legal assault on HIV-positive people is escalating.

Since January, the Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) in New York City has identified five criminal actions — including Bishop’s case — in Missouri. Jacqueline Lapine, communications director for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, says the department does track how many cases are filed each year.

“The Bishop case illustrates the extent to which continuing, unaddressed public ignorance about the routes and actual risks of HIV transmission informs policy making at every level and burdens the lives of people living with HIV,” says Rene Bennett-Carlson, managing attorney at CHLP. “This young man may lose 15 years of his life to a prison cell for being HIV positive. If he hadn’t gotten an HIV test he wouldn’t be facing these penalties.”

The Missouri Law

Like Michigan, Missouri passed its HIV-specific criminal law in 1988. But unlike Michigan’s law, which criminalizes only sexual behavior without disclosure of an HIV-positive status, Missouri’s law outlines a series of behaviors which the state identifies as reckless exposure:

(a) Through contact with blood, semen or vaginal secretions in the course of oral, anal or vaginal sexual intercourse; or
(b) By the sharing of needles; or
(c) By biting another person or purposely acting in any other manner which causes the HIV-infected person’s semen, vaginal secretions, or blood to come into contact with the mucous membranes or nonintact skin of another person.

Lawmakers felt that was not enough, and in 1997 amended the law to make it easier to prosecute HIV-positive persons without a victim. The amendment allowed evidence of other sexually transmitted infections to stand as proof of reckless exposure. The law specifies primary or secondary syphilis infections, gonorrhea or chlamydia as evidence that an HIV-positive person has broken the law.

“This Missouri statute legalizes a witch hunt,” says Bennett-Carlson. “This is a bit severe in terms of language but Missouri is incredibly zealous in their prosecutions of HIV-positive people and added a statute a few years back that one can be prosecuted under the HIV exposure statute if, after an HIV-positive test result, the defendant tests positive for syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia. These positive test results are used by officials to prove that HIV-positives are “recklessly” having unprotected sex and negate the need for witness testimony.”

Julie Scofield of National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors says, “NASTAD is extremely concerned about state laws related to the transmission of HIV that are not based on sound science and public health practice, such as the law in Missouri that suggests HIV can be transmitted by biting.

“Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS are fueled by policies, laws, and public health practice that are not solidly grounded science and must be changed if we are to make needed progress in fighting the epidemic in states across the nation,” noted Scofield.

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On top of this law, HIV-positive people are asked to sign a document (PDF) in which the patient is acknowledging his or her status and Missouri law. Signing those documents, Missouri DHSS’s Lapine says, is part of gaining access to medical case management and AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

“A signature is collected when one enrolls in Ryan White medical case management and/or the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program,” Lapine says.

Medical case management has been shown in studies to assist HIV-positive people maintain better health outcomes by assisting them in coordinating care with several doctors as well as nutritional care.

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP, provides access to life saving anti-retroviral medications. Those drugs are able to prevent the virus from replicating in the body, and prevent irreversible damage to the immune system. However, those medications are exceedingly expensive, costing as little as $15,000 a year to as much as $40,000 or more a year.

ADAP also provides medications as a prophylaxis drugs to prevent HIV-positive people from contracting opportunistic infections because of their weakened immune systems. Those medication interventions can reduce the long term costs associated with living with HIV by thousands of dollars annually and prevent having to hospitalize people.

“Prior to signing any such document acknowledging receipt of Missouri’s idiotic information about HIV transmission, a person with HIV should consult a lawyer,” says Sean Strub, founding publisher of the publication POZ Magazine and a senior fellow for the Center for HIV Law and Policy. “Too many people sign these things minutes after being told of their diagnosis and while in a state of semi-shock. In some cases they may also be unwittingly signing away important rights. It is abusive for the state to imply the person must sign them.”

Strub is not alone in challenging the documents.

“Thirty years into the epidemic it is maddening that health departments continue to put the seal of approval on this type of gross misinformation,” says Bennett-Carlson. “The development and use of this form by government health officials contributes to the perpetuation of stigma and the HIV epidemic as a whole.”

Similar documents in Michigan came under fire earlier this year when Michigan Messenger uncovered their use. Civil rights officials said they were prepared to investigate them, and the Michigan Department of Community Health issued a statement telling local health officials to cease using the documents, or at the very least, make sure they properly cited Michigan’s law.

Number of Criminal Cases Unknown

While the law has been in effect since 1988, Missouri health officials do not track the number of cases brought in state courts. Missouri’s DHSS says it is aware of fewer than 10 cases.

But the Center for HIV Law and Policy says it is aware of 19 such cases in the state, including five brought since January of 2011. Those records are based on media reports of the cases.

Perhaps the most publicized criminal prosecution involving HIV was brought in St. Charles County in 1998. There, prosecution officials charged Brian Stewart with first-degree assault for allegedly injecting his then 11-month-old son with HIV. Stewart was a phlebotomist at the time, and prosecutors said he injected the child with the virus in order to avoid paying child support.

The child was allegedly injected in 1992, and was diagnosed with AIDS in 1996. While he was expected to die at the time of Stewart’s trial, the child is alive today.

In 1999, Stewart was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Ironically, while the exposure law was an option in the case, authorities chose to use traditional criminal law to pursue justice.

The Bishop case

While media reports from Missouri indicate Bishop was identified as HIV-positive after further investigation, St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas tells Michigan Messenger that, in fact, the disclosure was made to officers in another way.

“The officers were told by the defendant that he was HIV positive,” Banas said in an email. “They also confirmed that he was HIV positive with a caregiver that was assisting him and he had medications consistent with a person that is HIV positive.”

Some of those disclosures may have violated Missouri state law on the confidentiality of HIV records. Missouri law strictly limits the information and who can access it, and under which situations. In fact, in order for law enforcement to be informed of Bishop’s HIV-positive status by the caregiver, law enforcement was obligated under law to get a court order. Missouri law makes such judicial orders difficult to obtain and extremely limited.

While the law under which Bishop is being charged specifically identifies biting as reckless exposure, there are questions as to whether this is even accurate. The CDC in Atlanta has documented one case wherein HIV was allegedly transmitted via biting. That is one case in one million identified HIV infections. But that case is frowned upon by many experts because it was a case involving a sex worker and her client. The sex worker allegedly bit the client, and he claims that is how he was infected with HIV. But the sex worker in interviews said she bit the client because he declined to pay her for the sexual activity the two had just engaged in.

For its part, Missouri’s DHSS says it has no cases of documented transmission of HIV via biting, spokesperson Lapine says.

Regardless if that one case is accurate, the fact remains that it is one case out of one million in the U.S., meaning the risk of HIV transmission via biting is exceedingly rare. The CDC has opined that for there to be an actual risk, the biter’s mouth must be suffering extreme trauma, and thus bleeding, at the time of the bite. The bite has to break the skin, and have no barrier between the biter’s mouth and the victim’s skin.

But Banas, the prosecutor, dismisses those concerns in a statement.

“The statute prohibits a person knowingly infected with the HIV virus to recklessly expose an individual to the virus by biting them,” Banas said in an e-mail (emphasis in the original). “It is conduct specifically addressed by the statute.”

“How can we expect the public to understand the real risks and routes of HIV transmission when the state of Missouri itself is a leading purveyor of stigmatizing falsehoods?” asks Strub.

Banas declined to answer questions about the impact on public perception and public health impacts of prosecuting HIV-positive people for reckless exposure to HIV for allegedly biting another person.

“The Missouri statute is just wrong on multiple levels. It is not unusual in these types of cases that the first person to know his HIV status is the first person to face prosecution regardless of whether HIV is transmitted or who exposed or infected whom,” says Bennett-Carlson. “It is selective prosecution and persecution that is completely out of proportion to any risk of transmission or actual potential harm. And only HIV is singled out — not HPV, not other diseases that can be particularly risky for people living with HIV.”

Regardless, the Kalamazoo Gazette reports Upton intends to move pipeline legislation that will encompass many of the reforms called for by former Rep. Marc Schauer (D-Bedford Township).

“We are still in the midst of crafting legislation to adequately address and improve pipeline safety,” Upton’s office said later Monday. “Some changes to current law might include increased financial penalties for spills, new rules for incident reporting time frames and new requirements for pipeline control technologies that could help prevent accidents and ensure quicker recovery should a spill or explosion occur.”

Upton’s office said it would not create new restrictions on tar sands crude. New regulations on the thicker oil have called for increased regulations, noting the chemical composition of the crude — which is drawn from the ground by injecting steam into the thick, tar-like deposits then pumped out as a liquid — leads to heavier corrosion and an increased risk of pipeline failure.

The problems Upton’s office says new legislation would address fall in line with criticisms leveled at Enbridge Energy Partners in their response to the July 25 rupture of the Lakehead Pipeline B in Marshall. In July a six foot long hole blew open in the line, dumping an estimated one million gallons of Cold Lake Crude Oil — a tar sand oil — into a wetland then into Talmadge Creek, which then drained down into the Kalamazoo River.

The company has been criticized because complaints of a natural gas smell began flooding Calhoun County’s dispatch on Sunday night about 9 p.m. however, the rupture and oil spill were not discovered until 11 a.m. on Monday. Despite dispatching a company official to the site at 9 a.m., the rupture was ultimately discovered by a Consumer’s Energy employee.

Meanwhile, as Michigan Messenger reported Monday, Enbridge officials could face criminal charges for the spill.

Officials who have studied the program say it has been beneficial.

“It’s extremely beneficial. People have continued to show up to put their lives back together, to live without looking over their shoulders,” said Daniel Flannery, the former director of the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence at Kent State University and author of a coming book on the program.

The program set a new record in September when a Cleveland operation netted 7,400 surrenders in four days. That topped a 2008 record set in Detroit where 6,600 fugitives surrendered. Safe Surrender has run operations in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., the AP reports.

The benefit plan was approved by the Michigan Civil Service Commission in January.

Republicans, led by Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge), have criticized the plan as being too expensive at a time when the state is facing a nearly $2 billion budget deficit.

Grand Rapids Republican Mark Jansen chairs the committee and introduced the resolution, which was approved on a party line vote of 4 in favor and 2 against. Democratic Sens. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) and Coleman Young, Jr. (D-Detroit) opposed the measure.

Opponents argued the resolution to eliminate the benefit program was about financial management of the state, not about social issues.

“Some people will say this is a social issue,” said Jan Winters, who runs the Office of the State Employer. “This is about cost… We don’t have the funds to cover a benefit that could be in the tens of millions of dollars.”

The total projected cost of the unmarried partner benefit is approximately .003 percent (three one-thousandths of a percent) of this year’s estimated deficit.

Winters delivered a letter to the committee from Gov. Rick Snyder saying, “I urge the legislature…[to] reject the extension of health care benefits to the unrelated live-in companions of state employees and their dependents,” Snyder wrote in his letter.

Winters said in January the program was estimated to cost $6 million, but Wednesday, said because the program was so broadly written, the program was expected to cost the state $8 million in the first year. The program is slated to go into effect Oct. 1, the beginning of the state’s new fiscal year. It would be available to an estimated 22,000 members of the United Auto Workers Local 6000 and the Service Employees International Union Local 517M, as well as 13,700 non-union employees.

Benefits such as this are considered cash income by the IRS and the state treasury, and are taxed as such. Winters said she was unsure if the cost offsets from the increased tax revenues from the benefit extension was included in the estimates, but she said the increased tax liability for the state as an employer was factored into the cost. Employers pay a portion of employment taxes.

Under the state constitution, lawmakers can override a decision by the Michigan Civil Service Commission. The Commission determines the pay schedules and benefits for employees of the state. But in order for the legislature to overrule a decision by the commission, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to do so 60 calendar days after the recommendation is submitted as part of the budget proposal by the governor’s office.

The resolution is expected to have no issues passing in the Senate, where the GOP has a super majority. But it will face an uphill climb in the House, where the GOP is the majority but need to get 74 votes to pass the resolution. The GOP majority is 63 Republicans to 47 Democrats. That means the GOP will have to peel away 11 Democrats to garner the necessary two-thirds majority to overrule the MSCS decision.

If the legislature approves the resolution with the required two-thirds vote, it will be the first time such a move has occurred in the state.

Democrats challenged the resolution and the attacks on the plan during the hearing. Young challenged the constitutionality of the resolution, while Warren raised questions as to whether this was an appropriate business decision.

“If we’re going to run it like a business, why not run it like other businesses in the state?” Warren asked Winters in the hearing.

At least one union official has questioned the move. Ray Holman, legislative liaison for UAW 6000, says he is confused as to why the legislature is undertaking the action. He tells the Lansing State Journal that the issue should be dealt with at the bargaining table — not in the legislature.

Advocates in favor of the plan expressed concern about committee’s action and the resolution.

Emily Dievendorf, policy director for Equality Michigan, a statewide organization which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, issued the following statement following the hearing Wednesday morning:

Representative Warren raised valid concerns with today’s challenge to the Michigan Civil Service Commission decision. As she stated, Snyder’s foundation for his proposal to turn Michigan around is rooted in his claim that we need to run Michigan like a business. The fact is that more than half of Fortune 500 companies consider it a priority to offer Other Eligible Individual benefit programs to their employees. Successful, growing businesses consider their bottom line and in doing so don’t deny their employees the support they need to have a healthy stable household because social instability equates to economic liability.

Unfortunately, Jan Winters, Director of the Office of State Employer, could not address this contradiction in Michigan’s approach to our economic revival, nor could she explain where the new inflated cost estimate for the extension of benefits came from. It is a convenient oversight in her presentation that all figures being released to defend the reversal of the Civil Service Commission’s decision are worst case scenario estimates that assume everyone eligible for the benefits would take advantage of them. We know that the actual likely participation rate is below 2 percent. Furthermore, support for the MCSC’s decision reversal ignores the reality that not providing health benefits is always more expensive than providing benefits and would suck money out of the budget that Michigan doesn’t have.

The issue has drawn the attention of national LGBT groups.

“Providing employment benefits, including health insurance, to the adult partners of state employees is an issue of fundamental fairness,” said Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign which is a national group advocating for LGBT rights based in Washington D.C. “It is critical for employees to provide for the best possible future for their families, and if Michigan fails to provide equal benefits, the state risks losing a notable segment of its committed, talented workforce. The Legislature must make Michigan more competitive to retain and attract workers, and ultimately private industry as well.”

Chris Geidner of the Washington D.C. based Metro Weekly reports on the planned conference and the president’s participation:

Calling it an issue “very near and dear to the president and first lady’s heart,” [White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody] Barnes noted that the president had recorded an “It Gets Better” video and said that the conference would include “students and parents and teachers and others impacted by bullying” and address, among other topics, “ways to take action to address [bullying] in their communities.”

The announcement was good news to Kevin Epling, co-chair of Bully Police U.S.A. The East Lansing resident lost his teenage son, Matt, in a bullying related suicide in 2002. Since then, Epling and his wife Tammy have been actively engaged in pushing the state legislature to pass a comprehensive anti-bullying bill.

Michigan is one of only five states that does not have an anti-bullying law. Legislation has been stonewalled by Republican leadership for years.

“I am very happy that President Obama has called this conference so this invisible epidemic will get the attention it deserves. We have lost far too many children to one of the most preventable things in our schools: peer to peer abuse,” Epling tells Michigan Messenger. “My hope is that an important voice will be there at the table along with educators; Parents who have lost children to bullycide who can help guide the change by actually exploring past problems and not just ‘theorizing’ what could happen. Ask those who have lived and have already been working with schools. .

“Honestly it should have never taken so long for this to happen, but it has because adults are the ones who don’t want to change. If you ask the students they are tired of the bullying they want things to change but the biggest problem with anti-bullying is the adults,” he continued. “Adults who are afraid of change even when the prognosis is very good.”

The White House is responding to a string of highly publicized bullying related suicides across the country. Those suicides gave birth to the “It Gets Better” campaign — an internet driven program wherein adults video words of support for teenagers who are being targeted with bullying.

President Barack Obama is one of many politicians who released a video for the program. Vice President Joe Biden also released a video.