The Virginia Beach City Attorney’s office informed us at a meeting of 8 employees on June 3 (I went with interns Shannon Lesoken and Fatima Elamin) that they were going to immediately request an official opinion from Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli regarding our right to provide education and testing in city parks. We were warned there could be penalties up to $10,000 and civil sanctions if we persisted. We are persisting.  Frankly, I welcome the ruling as it might open the door to a court appeal to test the censorship of HIV prevention efforts in conservative-minded cities and towns that prefer censorship over free speech when dealing with AIDS, the sexual transmission of HIV and youth.

However, I am not holding my breath for a favorable ruling.

Case in point:

Cuccinelli has been a very polarizing figure in state politics and is running for Governor this November with vociferous Tea Party support. Known for his extreme positions on a number of social issues, he is a polarizing politician and has little incentive to take on his powerful allies months before the election.

Ironically, current state law mandates that any Virginia child of 14 can go and get tested for HIV without the parent’s knowledge or permission.Pretty progressive, huh? We are targeting youth 16 and older because that is the age when a majority of teens start sex. Schools are failing kids. As many adults remember, AIDS and HIV prevention was big news back in schools in the ’80s and ’90s before falling off the radar.

Cuccinelli has been in office for three plus years but he has not tried to challenge that law preferring not to stir up another hornet’s nest.  He has kept silent on it. I predict our fight to challenge VB city rules will backfire on the politicians and open a Pandora’s Box of unwelcome news. I understand that this fight can backfire on me and TA-PC as well but it is the right thing to do to save young lives.

So as the chief official entrusted with upholding state law, Cuccinelli shouldn’t be against the free speech rights of an HIV prevention expert like myself with a doctorate in AIDS prevention from Harvard University and nearly 20 years of dealing with youth and no complaints (except being arrested in communist Cuba) — but we will see.

Another point:

The U.S. FDA approved the OTC sale of the new oral swab test kits in every drugstore – including in Virginia. They must be prominently displayed along with home pregnancy tests and condoms and sold to any teen 17 and older without parents’ permission.  Yet Cuccinelli is being criticized for accepting favors (free vacations, etc.) from a company selling dietary supplements not approved by the FDA. He and the Governor are being drawn into legal investigations.