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Loading ...Toronto man arrested for unprotected gay sex
05.08.2009 4:11pm EDT
(Toronto, Ontario) A Toronto man has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault to allegedly having unprotected sex with another man and for not disclosing that he is HIV-positive.
Sahand Mahmoodi, 28, appeared briefly in court Friday morning to hear the charges read. He was remanded in custody awaiting trial.He was arrested on Wednesday after the man with whom he had sex filed a complaint, police said. Det.-Const. Brad Stapleton declined to say if the complainant had become HIV-positive. The two men online in a gay chat site.
Mahmoodi has been positive since 2000, said Stapleton, adding that police believe he has been sexually active without telling partners he has the virus.
Stapleton said that Mahmoodi is a regular in Toronto’s gay village and urged others who may have come in contact with him to contact police and get tested for AIDS.
Under Canadian law it is a criminal offense for anyone with HIV not to disclose their status before engaging in unprotected sex. About 80 charges arrests have been made over the past decade.
But many people working with HIV/AIDS are critical of police pressing charges, fearing it will dissuade people from getting tested. They also raise concerns that the law is not well defined.
“Where is this law going? When are uncertainties in the law going to be addressed?” Alison Symington, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network told The Globe and Mail newspaper.
“This area of law has been escalating and developing over the past few years with no public policy debate, no research backing it up, nothing to show how it’s been effective,” Symington said.
But other AIDS specialists disagree.
Dr. Philip Berger, an associate professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto said people must be held accountable if they deliberately infect someone else.
“Being HIV positive cannot provide moral cover for unacceptable conduct,” he told The Globe.
Good for this law! The argument against it is that it will dissuade people from getting tested. But who cares? These murderers (the ones to whom the law applies) GET tested, and then go around infecting others because they don’t disclose their status. The ONLY benefit to them having gotten tested was so that THEY could get treatment. Let these killers die then. Who cares if they don’t get tested? Whether they know or not that they are HIV positive they are still not gonna tell others either way. If your mentality is “I’m not gonna get tested for HIV, because I may be positive and then I’ll be held responsible when I go around having unprotected sex without telling my partner about my high risk” then don’t expect any sympathy from anyone.
And what about the HIV- guy who decided to have unprotected sex ?? Should the guy HIV+ guy disclosed his status.. yes but unless this was rape, last time I checked it takes at least 2 to have sex. Don’t let the guy who was negative out of this as some sort of “victim”. He could and probably should have demanded they have safe sex. If the guy says no, then DON’T HAVE SEX !!!
It takes two to tango. To criminalize a person living with HIV for having unprotected sex is nonsense. HIV is not a death sentence, and as far as I’m concerned, there are various kinds of virus transmissions which are completely ignored. HIV is still an stigmatized condition, and gay people should know better. If you don’t want to catch diseases, protect yourself with condoms.
Don, it may take two to have sex, but if one knows that he is infected and doesn’t tell his partner, he is assaulting him and potentially murdering him. This law makes sense and it should be enforced, though of course everyone should also be practicing safe sex.
Good! The creep should be locked up for a very long time … in isolation where he can’t spread his killer disease to others. In this case reckless stupidity is a felony. There are still an unfortunate number of people who think it can’t touch them, so they engage in unprotected sex. One persons ‘rights’ end where they infringe on another’s ….. AIDS is still a killer, it just takes longer now. We need to do more within our community to educate, and ‘out’ these creeps who knowingly go around having deliberate unprotected sex, when they know they are poz.
oh PLEASE. god forbid that all of us, as ADULTS, should take responsibility for our own protection and stop blaming others for what happens to us. Yes, the man probably should have disclosed. BUT, if you’re going to be sexually active, you should assume EVERYONE you screw is positive, and take precautions accordingly. If you don’t, it’s your fault just as much as your partner’s. Maybe BOTH partners should be locked up for being stupid? You don’t see people being prosecuted for spreading Flu, or measles, etc.
Here is the one thing that everyone should think. EVERYBODY is infected with this disease. Protect yourself and others before having sex. If a person says “it doesn’t feel right” then you can walk out the door. It is wrong to go spreading this disease around, especially when doing it purposely. EVERYBODY is HIV+, so protect yourself, so you’re not the one screaming “VICTIM”
Another man is putting his trust in someone when the two are having sex and I would hope that people would do all they could to keep that in mind and let their partner know upfront if there is something like a health status that needs to be known long before sex begins.
The other man who doesn’t know has an absolute right to know if there is something viral or bacterial that could be transmitted like herpes, HIV, and anyother sexually transmitted disease and that the guy who has that has an absolute obligation to inform his partner to be.
There comes a point in time folks where an individual needs to assume responsibility for his own life and his own actions. If your out there playin’ the “dating game” and don’t have the slightest inkling about safe sex practices then YOU are partially at fault for contracting this disease as well. I’m not the biggest fan of sexual promiscuity myself but have NOTHING against guys that are. Ya just have to use a fair amount of common sense out there guys! I never knew this arrest the HIV+ person law existed in Canada. It’s a bit creepy and eerily tyrannical to me. I mean don’t they arrest Poz guys in Africa too? I mean, what’s next? Death camps?
Willfully spreading HIV, and doing so because you are unaware of your status are two separate situations. And the law needs to be conscious of that.
If it is not, HIV+ people facing enormous medical bills, will be facing law suit bills as well from angry partners who they unknowingly spread the disease. Finding out your HIV+ is devastating…but so is finding out you infected others. The law needs to recognize that.
Ditto for Shawn. Well said.
Once you get HIV, even in 2009 you are stuck with an incurable disease in need of treatment. And what if, as sometimes happens, all the drugs and treatment options eventually quit working? And even if they are working and your viral load is extremely low, you could still infect someone.
Know the current facts about HIV, and use condoms each and every time.
I saw a poster some years ago printed in English and Spanish that said, “Even if he is angel, still use a condom.”. You can still get something without knowing it from NSU nonspecific urinitis from maybe some stray bacteria to just about anything.
Both men have an equal responsibility to use common sense, be safe, play safe, know how to use condoms and practice adequate handwashing and hygiene after contact with semen etc.
Sahand Mahmoodi should be shot period.
The law should apply to all sex whether protected or not. Condoms break and the other person should know that they are dealing with the possibility of death and risking their lives.
HIV+…..is a gun!
HIV+…..is not to be shared
HIV+…. can be passed on thru safe sex if the condom fails.
HIV+…..must be disclosed before sex of any type…. this way the HIV- person can make an informed choice based on facts.
This is the way it should be!
this is the way it must be!
HIV is not a free ticket to infect and those who do are treacherous louses!
This is ridiculous. Was he coerced, drugged or blackmailed into having unprotected sex? Shouldn’t he be able to think for himself? Yes, it is horrible that men lie about their HIV status, but that doesn’t mean he should just take anyone’s word for it. For crying out loud, they were hooking up, not marrying each other. Men lie, period.
No one deserves to be infected, but treat everyone you hook up with as HIV+ no matter what they say.
Will this encourage men from getting tested regularly? I don’t think so. They’d rather not know, because if they realize they’re HIV+, they’ll think the only man they can date are HIV+, and no one else for the fear of being sued.
Everyone infected is a victim, including the “perpetrator.”