CNP applauds the passage of SB 164—the bill that modernizes Georgia’s decades-old statute criminalizing people living with HIV. The updated legislation introduced by State Senator Chuck Hufsteler (R-52) received bipartisan support and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 9, 2022.

Before the passage of SB 164, a person living with HIV (PLHIV) could face a felony and up to 10 years in prison for not disclosing their HIV status prior to any sexual activity. The degree of risk of HIV transmission was not a factor in the statute—including circumstances where there was no HIV transmission, nor even any risk of HIV transmission.

September 19, 2018 – Atlanta, GA – The iconographic images of long-time Atlanta-based photographer and Counter Narrative Project (CNP) Director of Networking and Community Mobilization, Johnnie Ray Kornegay III, are gracing the September/October pages of Positively Aware Magazine’s landmark HIV Criminalization issue. The editor of the publication’s special edition commissioned Mr. Kornegay as the volume’s cover photographer to visually capture the stories of those impacted by HIV criminalization laws as well as those who have spent the better part of their lives advocating for the modernization, if not the eradication of these draconian laws. The issue features such prominent activists as Georgia HIV Justice Coalition’s Nina Martinez and survivors such as The Sero Project’s Robert Suttle, a Black gay man who was imprisoned under Louisiana law. Symbolically shot at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, the critical edition extends Mr. Kornegay’s reputation as one who continues to mix his art and activism with a unique and personal flair.