Tennessee agrees to remove sex workers convicted for living with HIV from its sex offender registry

The state of Tennessee agreed on Monday to scrub its sex offender registry of sex workers included on the list because they were living with HIV when arrested.

The ACLU, ACLU of Tennessee, and the Transgender Law Center joined OUTMemphis and four Jane Doe plaintiffs to file suit in the U.S. District Court in Memphis challenging Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law, which criminalized sex work while living with HIV.

The settlement announced on Monday sets specific time frames for removing the plaintiffs from the registry, identifying and removing from the list others convicted of aggravated prostitution, and establishing a procedure for notifying individuals on the list as well as a procedure for others to request their names be removed.

“We are pleased to share that today we entered into a partial settlement with the state of Tennessee on behalf of OUTMemphis and our individual plaintiffs,” the groups working on the case said in a statement. “Through this settlement, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations has agreed to promptly, fairly, and efficiently facilitate the process of removing people from the sex offender registry who were on it due to convictions for aggravated prostitution.”

The law forced sex workers living with HIV to register as “violent sex offenders” for the remainder of their lives. It is estimated at least 80 individuals convicted of aggravated prostitution appear on the list and are eligible to have their names removed.

“People convicted of Aggravated Prostitution must spend years in prison and then register as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives – meaning they cannot access the housing, employment, healthcare and community life that they need to get back on their feet,” Molly Quinn, executive director of OUTMemphis, said in a statement at the time the lawsuit was filed in 2023. “This statute solely targets people because of their HIV status and keeps them in cycles of poverty, while posing absolutely zero benefit to public health and safety.”

One sex worker who is a plaintiff to the suit said she was not advised she would have to register as a sex offender when she pled guilty in 2010.

“When I first pleaded guilty to my charges, I was not informed of any of the specifics about registration,” Michelle Anderson wrote earlier this year. “I was not informed my registration would be for the rest of my life – despite the fact that I haven’t hurt a living soul. Tennessee’s law is a relic from a time before treatments such as antiretroviral therapy (ART) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which can reduce viral loads to undetectable levels, blocking the possibility of transmission of HIV. I had no idea such a law was even still on the books.”

The settlement does not address the legality of the aggravated prostitution law, but instead only provides relief to the claims of the plaintiffs in the case.

“Tennessee’s discriminatory aggravated prostitution statute irrationally targets people living with HIV who engage in sex work, regardless of whether they take steps to ensure against HIV transmission,” the groups said. “This settlement is one step towards remedying those harms by addressing the sex offender registration. However, as aggravated prostitution remains a felony, our legal team will continue to fight to overturn this statute and ensure that no one in Tennessee is criminalized based on their health status."

Under the terms of the settlement, within 60 days the state agrees to complete all required efforts to identify potentially eligible individuals convicted of aggravated prostitution who wrongly appear on the sex offender registry, contact the individuals, and notify the registering agency of the potential removal from the registry.

The state also agreed to pay all legal fees for the plaintiffs.

Removal from the registry is not guaranteed despite the ruling. Those convicted of other qualifying crimes will not be removed.

“I joined this lawsuit because this law has had such a detrimental impact on me and my life,” Anderson added. “No one should be forced to endure what I have endured.”