'I was jailed for six months because I am HIV-positive'

Robert Suttle was imprisoned after an ex-partner accused him of not disclosing his HIV status before they had sex. He tells Ellie Muir the law in some US states needs to change

-  Ellie Muir

I was 24 when I found out I was HIV-positive in 2003. I immediately went into a state of shock, and then a period of depression. But I pushed through to live a healthy and stable life, and began building my career as a legal clerk at the Court of Appeal, where I'm from in Louisiana.

But my life was turned upside down again on New Year's Eve, 2007. That night, I met a man at a gay club, and we ended up dating for three months. I immediately disclosed my HIV status to him, and I was in treatment at the time, which made my viral load low enough that I could not transmit HIV to another person. When the relationship ended badly, and we didn't see eye to eye on some things, he pressed charges against me, accusing me of not disclosing my status.

I did not transmit the virus to my former partner, but in Louisiana – one of the 33 states across the USA that have outdated HIV legislation first established in the Eighties and Nineties - the legal focus is on exposure. It does not require actual transmission for a conviction to occur.

I was arrested at my place of work in front of my colleagues. Upon the advice of my lawyer, I took a plea deal and was sentenced to six months in prison for the felony of "intentional exposure to the Aids virus".