The second national HIV Is Not a Crime Training Academy is convening May 17 to 20 at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Advocates from 34 states and four countries are gathering to strategize ways to repeal discriminatory HIV laws.

Cosponsored by the Sero Project and Positive Women’s Network–USA, two networks of people living with HIV, the training academy unites advocates and gives them concrete tools they can take back to their states in efforts to update HIV laws so that they are in line with current scientific evidence.

For example, 11 states have laws that can send HIV-positive people to prison for activities that have virtually no risk of transmitting the virus (such as biting or spitting).

And most states allow for prosecution of HIV-positive people for perceived exposure, even when HIV is not transmitted.

Speakers at the training academy include Mary Fisher, who spoke at the 1992 Republican National Convention about living with HIV; Joel Goldman, managing director of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation; and Pat Steadman, the Colorado state senator who sponsored a bill in his state that repeals HIV criminalization (the bill was passed by both chambers of the legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature).

For more, visit HIVIsNotACrime.com and follow #HIVIsNotACrime on social media.

UPDATE — Watch Mark S. King interview Sean Strub: