New Zealand court
rules condom users don’t have to disclose HIV status

A New Zealand court this week ruled that an HIV-positive man does not have to disclose his HIV status to his sex partners as long as he uses condoms during intercourse, the New Zealand Press Association reports. Justin Dalley, who had sex with a woman he met over the Internet in April 2004, was charged with violating New Zealand's law that requires HIV-positive people to disclose that they are infected.

But Judge Susan Thomas, who acquitted Dalley, said he had taken reasonable precautions to prevent exposing his sex partners to the virus and as such he did not put them at danger of becoming infected with HIV. "The evidence of health experts in the area is that the use of a condom for vaginal intercourse is sufficient for the prevention of the transmission of HIV and that this can be met without the requirement for discourse," Thomas said. Although Thomas said people might have a moral duty to inform their sex partners of their HIV infections, as long as they engage in protected sex they do not have a legal obligation to do so.

Dalley's attorney, Donald Stevens, said he expects the ruling to set a legal precedent in New Zealand and throughout the world in protecting the privacy of HIV patients. If HIV-positive people who practiced safer sex were legally required to disclose their infections, many people would avoid taking HIV antibody tests in order to avoid knowing whether or not they were infected with the virus, Stevens said. (Advocate.com)