In this issue:

  • Meet Our Shero of the Month: Kiara St. James
  • Organizing Spotlight: PWNers in Atlanta Ensure Voter Access, Despite Voter Suppression
  • Congressional Briefing on COVID-19 Criminalization
  • PWN Is Hiring an Administrative Assistant
  • Register for HIV2020 and Beyond Blame Now!
  • Congratulations Women With A Vision & In Our Own Voice on a Huge Victory
  • ICYMI: Recent Resources from PWN-USA


Meet Our June 2020 Shero of the Month: Kiara St. James

Our June 2020 Shero of the Month is Kiara St. James, who is from Beaumont, Texas, but is currently residing in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. Kiara is the co-founder and executive director of New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG), whose mission is to advocate for more inclusive gender-based policies that benefit transgender and gender non-conforming/non-binary (TGNCNB) individuals through building community leaders, educating practitioners, and influencing policymakers.

PWN Communications Assistant Tiommi Luckett said, “Kiara’s advocacy is one of ferocity, and she works to liberate Black trans folks. She is someone I hold close to my heart and take time to talk to at any time of the day. She fights to dismantle oppressive systems not only in New York state but nationally as well.”

When asked what accomplishment born out of NYTAG would she like to see happen in other states or the country, she responded, “GENDA! GENDA! I would love to see more states legislate the Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act (GENDA), or what I like to call the transgender civil rights bill, into state law.”

In order for this to catch on nationally, Kiara said, “I have always expounded upon the fact that we should have a national strategy to our collective liberation, and a manifesto that we live by so that our messaging can be clear. But I also recognize the nuances that exist in each state and that must always be acknowledged.”

Read more about Kiara here!

Organizing Spotlight: PWNers in Atlanta Ensure Voter Access for Georgians, Despite Voter Suppression

You stand in the rain. You stand in the heat. The line is long. You are hungry and thirsty. You are frustrated. You are standing too close for comfort to someone in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet you insist on casting your vote. You know there is a lot at stake, so you maintain your position in line to vote in the Georgia primary.

We interviewed Atlanta PWN member Joyce Hampton and ally LaTonya Roby about their role in helping out voters at the polls on the day of the Georgia primary.

Q. You all have been committed to ensuring that Georgians have access to voting, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. You shopped for snacks, water, masks, and other things for voters in line. Why did you decide to put your health at risk so others could vote?

A. We realize the importance of every election. There was no hesitation or question of what needed to be done and how. Both of us knew the importance of getting to the frontline to encourage and show support to the voters, and the importance of the 2020 elections. Yes, being safe and cautious during a pandemic is very important. We did the most valuable things: remained diligent, determined, masked up, put gloves on, said a prayer, and got it done.

Read the full article here!

Congressional Briefing for Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s Office on the Criminalization of COVID-19


On June 24, PWN’s policy director, Breanna Diaz, moderated a panel of experts for a briefing for Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s office on the criminalization of COVID-19.

In this briefing, experts framed the ways in which using a criminal legal approach to address a pandemic undermines public health. Panelists discussed the current state of COVID-19 criminalization, lessons learned from the HIV/AIDS movement, and discussed the disproportionate effects COVID-19 criminalization has on Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities (BIPOC), LGBTQ people, and immigrants.

Policy recommendations and perspectives were shared by the following panelists:

  • Michael Cox, He/Him, Director of Policy for Black and Pink, Boston
  • Naina Khanna, She/Her, Executive Director, Positive Women’s Network-USA
  • Andrea Ritchie, She/Her, Researcher in Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Criminalization at the Barnard Center for Research on Women
Watch the recorded briefing here!

PWN Is Hiring an Administrative Assistant

The Administrative Assistant for PWN-USA provides administrative support for a national advocacy organization to staff, the board of directors, and members. We strongly encourage people with personal experience with HIV, people of color, and queer, trans, and gender non-conforming folks to apply for this position. This is an hourly, part time position, at approximately 15-18 hours per week.

View the full job description and instructions to apply here

Register for HIV2020 and Beyond Blame Now!
Conference Begins Next Week

An alliance of global key population-led networks, networks of people living with HIV (including PWN), treatment activists, and our supporters, has formed to organize an alternative international community-led online event.

HIV2020: Community Reclaiming the Global Response is scheduled to take place on Zoom from July 6 through October of 2020. It is totally free.

The HIV2020 alliance has decided to organize the community-led event to provide an alternative for individuals who cannot or will participate in the AIDS2020 virtual conference. Its goal is to offer new opportunities to reaffirm the leading role communities play in the global HIV response.

Beyond Blame is a special session on HIV criminalization which will feature PWN’s executive director Naina Khanna. It’s happening from 9-11am ET/6-8am PT next Wednesday, July 8. Be sure to register for it when you submit your registration to HIV2020!

Registration is open now, but closes this Sunday, July 5, at 11:59pm ET/8:59pm PT. Register now!

Register for HIV2020, including Beyond Blame, here!

Congratulations to Women With a Vision and In Our Own Voice on Victory in June v. Russo!

The June 29 Supreme Court decision to strike down a Louisiana law that would have drastically restricted access to safe, legal, affordable abortion–and which would have hurt in particular low-income people of color–was a huge victory for bodily autonomy and human rights. This victory would never have happened without the dedicated advocacy of Black organizers in the South, such as Women With a Vision and In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude for their leadership on the issue of reproductive rights. Thank you!

“The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to remove this medically unnecessary, politically motivated barrier between Louisianans and essential health care is a victory for all women and birthing people in the state, but especially for Louisiana’s Black women and other marginalized communities. Today’s ruling results from the long history of Black women leadership in the fight against systemic racism and sexism as we work to ensure safe, affordable healthcare for Black women, femmes, queer, trans and gender nonconforming people and youth. This decision removes just one barrier of many that we continue to face. Clearly more work remains. “This victory is the result of Black women leaders’ unwavering strength throughout the long fight for Reproductive Justice in the South. We continue to be strong and resilient against these types of attacks on our most basic human right to reproductive autonomy. Reproductive Justice demands that we have the right to control our bodies, our sexuality, our gender, our work and our reproduction. Our fight requires not just overturning harmful reproductive health restrictions, but proactively demanding legal protections and societal change that address the health, safety and wellbeing of Black women and our families in all areas of our lives.”
– Deon Haywood, Women With a Vision, and Marcela Howard, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
Read their full statement here

PWNVotesByMail – New Resources!

No one should have to choose between putting their health at risk and exercising their right to vote. Yet some political leaders are taking advantage of COVID-19 to suppress the vote. We need to mobilize for new or expanded ways to vote, including voting by mail. Elections matter. Voting should not put our lives at risk. Universal vote by mail is rare, but every state has an absentee ballot option. Ensuring the safety of our communities as we get out the vote will be critical this year. Expanding the right to vote by mail is a safe and effective option for our upcoming elections. Current voter disenfranchisement efforts include decreasing the number of polling locations, restricting hours, and limiting access to public transportation, especially in lower income areas and communities of color.

On June 17, PWN hosted a webinar, #PWNVotesByMail: Mobilizing Our Communities to Vote by Mail in 2020, on how to expand vote by mail opportunities for our base. We discussed ways to advocate in states/cities that don’t currently have vote by mail as well as strategies to implement vote by mail (VBM) and convert folks to VBM in states that do have it.  

Watch the recording and access more resources here!

PWN members in Pennsylvania have been organizing hard to get their fellow Pennsylvanians registered to vote by mail! Check out their video here:

PWN Co-Founds the Health Not Prisons Collective


The Health Not Prisons Collective is a new, three year national initiative of longtime collaborators led by, and accountable to, communities most affected by HIV criminalization in the United States: Counter Narrative Project, Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN), Sero Project, Transgender Law Center, and the U.S. Caucus of People Living with HIV (The Caucus).

HIV criminalization is the wrongful use of a person’s HIV-positive status in a criminal prosecution, including charging people living with HIV (PLHIV) under HIV-specific criminal statutes, or under general criminal statutes, for behaviors which would not be crimes if the person did not have HIV. There is little legal or other support available for those charged with HIV crimes, yet the consequences of being charged under an HIV criminalization law are severe, even without conviction, and persist long after a person leaves the criminal justice system.

Learn more about HNP here!