Tennessee to remove sex workers with HIV from sex offender registry

Aggravated prostitution laws make prostitution a misdemeanor
The ACLU, Department of Justice filed lawsuits to challenge the law
Tennessee agreed to begin removing people from the registry

Updated: Jul 22, 2024 / 11:05 AM CDT

FILE – Gov. Bill Lee responds questions during a news conference after a bill signing ceremony Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. Lee has approved legislation designed to block adults from helping minors get an abortion or receive gender-affirming care without parental consent. Both proposals both likely to face immediate legal challenges when they go into effect later this year. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

(NewsNation) — The Tennessee government has agreed to remove people who were convicted of prostitution while having HIV from its sex offender registry.

Tennessee’s “aggravated prostitution” laws have made prostitution a misdemeanor for most sex workers, but a felony for those who are HIV-positive. In 2010, the state toughened penalties by reclassifying prostitution with HIV as a “violent sexual offense” with a lifetime registration as a sex offender, even if protection is used.

A lawsuit filed last year by the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate suit filed earlier this year by the Department of Justice both argue that labeling a person a sex offender because of HIV limits their job and housing opportunities and prevents them from being alone with grandchildren or minor relatives.

According to the lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the statute was most often invoked in the Memphis area and commonly against Black and transgender women.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a settlement agreement on July 15 that said the Tenessee Bureau of Investigation would comb through the state’s sex offender registry to find those added because of aggravated prostitution convictions.