US DOJ sues over Tennessee law targeting HIV-positive people convicted of sex work

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Tennessee over a law that targets sex workers living with HIV. The federal lawsuit, filed yesterday (Thursday), argues that the Volunteer State’s law illegally imposes tougher criminal penalties on people who are HIV positive. Tennessee is the only state that imposes a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” for people with HIV convicted of engaging in sex work. The Associated Press reports that the lawsuit follows a DOJ investigation on the law in December that found the statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Tennessee state lawmakers proposed measures last month to amend the statute by removing the lifetime sex offender registration requirement. The DOJ lawsuit seeks to stop enforcing the law, remove those convicted under that law from the sex offender registry and expunge their convictions.