Calls have been made to amend the ACT Prostitution Act (1992) in the wake of a male sex worker being charged with having ‘knowingly infected’ clients with HIV.
Hector Scott, 41, from Kingston appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court in January charged with knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and failing to register as a sex worker.
It is believed that Scott, who reportedly contracted HIV in 1999, may have had a list of over 250 clients, some of which may have come from interstate and New Zealand. While none of his clients have been shown to have contracted HIV from Scott, he faces charges because of the way in which the law is worded. Under the current ACT law, an individual can be charged with having ‘knowingly infected’ another person without anyone actually having been infected.
Section 25 of the Prostitution Act states that ‘(a) person shall not…provide or receive commercial sexual services if the person knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that he or she is infected with a sexually transmitted disease.’
Health organisations have expressed concern over the way in which the case has been reported.
‘The discrepancy between the charges and the way they have been reported is not due to bad reporting, but to a misleading subtitle in the legislation’ Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), Don Baxter said.
‘This charge has been misunderstood and misrepresented as though the person is charged with the transmission of an STI,’ explained Janelle Fawkes, CEO of national sex worker organisation Scarlet Alliance.
Furthermore, concerns have been raised over the manner in which the ACT’s Chief Health Officer, Charles Guest, has identified and released Scott’s information to the public.
‘The decision…to publicly identify the man, his home suburb, his occupation as a sex worker and his health condition is a violation of public health protocols as well as a violation of an individual’s right to privacy,’ said Victorian Sex Industry Network (VIXEN) spokesperson, Tamsin Baker.
Scott is due back in court this month.
