Decades after Ryan White, Indiana still criminalizes HIV
Nearly 40 years ago, my son Ryan White became the face of HIV stigma in America. Diagnosed with AIDS at 13 after contracting HIV from a blood product used to treat his hemophilia, Ryan faced profound discrimination. He was banned from school, shunned by his community and even threatened because of widespread fear and misinformation about HIV. Despite this, Ryan used his short life to fight stigma and discrimination.
Today, that fight continues as Indiana confronts the urgent need to reform its HIV criminal laws and remove stigma from our statutes.
It’s heartbreaking to realize that even decades after Ryan’s death, stigmatizing HIV laws remain on the books. Indiana’s HIV criminal laws were enacted in the 1980s, when fear overshadowed science. At the time, people believed HIV could be spread through casual contact — beliefs we now know are false. Yet those assumptions continue to shape the law today.
Indiana’s laws punish people living with HIV for actions that do not transmit the virus, including attempting to donate blood, having sex while using proven prevention methods or even spitting. Saliva does not transmit HIV, and the blood supply is safe due to robust screening. These laws defy modern science and undermine public health by reinforcing stigma.
Stigma remains one of the greatest barriers to ending the HIV epidemic. It discourages people from getting tested, seeking treatment, and disclosing their status ― all critical steps to preventing transmission. When stigma drives people away from care, the virus continues to spread.
The good news is that we now have the tools to end HIV. Advances in treatment allow people living with HIV to live long, healthy lives. With proper care, the virus becomes undetectable — and undetectable means untransmittable (U=U). Medications like PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) can prevent HIV transmission altogether. Yet outdated HIV criminal laws ignore these advances and fuel the very stigma Ryan worked so hard to fight.
That’s why I’m calling on Indiana lawmakers to modernize the state’s HIV criminal laws and align them with current science. Reform is a necessary step toward reducing stigma, improving public health, and honoring the dignity of people living with HIV.
I can’t help but think about how these laws would have impacted Ryan if he were alive today. Knowing my son — who dedicated his life to education and understanding — could have been criminalized under Indiana law is deeply painful. We owe it to Ryan and to the thousands of Hoosiers living with HIV, to do better.
On Feb. 28, HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day, I urge all Hoosiers to contact their elected officials and demand meaningful reform of Indiana’s HIV criminal laws. Together, we can honor Ryan’s legacy by replacing fear with facts, stigma with science and misinformation with compassion. It’s time to end HIV stigma in Indiana once and for all.
Jeanne White-Ginder is an AIDS activist and mother of the Ryan White.
