Sword and Shield: Perceptions of law in empowering and protecting HIV-positive men who have sex with men in Manila, Philippines

ABSTRACT

Legal protections for people living with HIV (PLHIV) are important for protecting human rights and combatting stigma. While much focus has been on the pernicious impacts of criminalisation of HIV transmission or nondisclosure, little research has accounted for the ways in which perception of protective laws may affect the everyday lives of PLHIV. The Philippines has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the Asia & Pacific region, with HIV-positive men-who-have-sex-with-men (HIV+ MSM) bearing the majority of cases, and has recently revised their legal protections for PLHIV. We present findings from interviews with 21 HIV+ MSM in Manila, Philippines. Overall, participants viewed legal protections as both empowering and protective. Empowerment was achieved as protections helped participants manage internalised stigma, feel as if they had a weapon to fight discrimination, and perceive a more equitable climate around HIV within broader society. While participants felt as though the law sent positive signals that the government wanted to protect PLHIV, they doubted the actual legal process of bringing suits, leading to harms. Overall, this research presents ways in which legal protections can considered in interventions to empower PLHIV and also identifies opportunities to improve research and advocacy in settings with similarly protective laws.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• men who have sex with men
• law
• Philippines
• legal protections

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of participants who supported this research as well as the community-based organisations that helped facilitate the planning, organisation, and conduction of this study; none of this work would be possible without their essential role in enabling this research. We thank Valerie Santos and Bianca Obiakor for their assistance with this project. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of any study sponsors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Arjee J. Restar http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2992-8198

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NIH-Fogarty International Center [D43TW010565], Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research through the NIAID [P30AI042853], and the Brown University Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training Program through the NIH-NIMHD [5T37MD008655].