For Discussion: Lashanda Salinas Says Laws Condemning HIV Positive People To Sex Offender Lists For Transmission Only Feeds Testing Fears

We’ve got another exclusive clip from +Talk’s latest episode featuring the remarkable Lashanda Salinas.

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Lashanda has a powerful story about being arrested for being HIV+ and subsequently being put on the sex offender list in Tennessee that highlights the perpetuating injustices towards people living with HIV, especially as a black woman in the United States.

In the clip below Lashanda reveals why she believes her story and stories like hers only make people more afraid to get tested and find out their HIV status.

Do you agree with Salinas? Do you think the laws lead to more people disclosing their status to sexual partners or hiding their status?

The multi-platform brand +Life is inspired by ABC talent Karl Schmid’s own story of living with shame and fear of having HIV due to the amount of ignorance and stigma surrounding the virus. +Life appears across multiple social media platforms offering the flagship +Talk round-table talk show and content revolving around love and relationships, entertaining, medicine, nutrition and spirituality. +Life features a coterie of amazing stories told by an incredible and diverse group of people sharing their first hand experiences living with HIV, fighting for access to medications, facing down community stigma, and fighting their own internal stigmas.

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We’re always going to promote safe sex, but ESPECIALLY if you don’t know your status or your partner’s status we encourage you to use condoms! And if you don’t know — please go get tested! We’re living in an era when HIV is highly treatable.