HIV Advocacy
We’re working to end HIV stigma, reduce transmission, modernize outdated laws, and ensure all Floridians have access to accurate information, prevention, and care.
What You Need To Know
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When Florida enacted HIV-specific criminalization laws, and haven't been updated to reflect advances in prevention and treatment
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Florida consistently ranks among the top states for new HIV transmissions
U=U / Undetectable = Untransmittable
The Florida Department of Health and CDC now recognize that if someone reaches undetectable status, they cannot transmit HIV to a sexual partner
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What's at Stake
Florida continues to have among the highest rates of new HIV transmissions in the country. Reducing those numbers requires a comprehensive approach—expanding access to prevention and care, modernizing outdated laws, and ending stigma.
Equality Florida is committed to advancing smart and proven strategies to reduce HIV transmissions in Florida. Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic in the early 1980s, we have witnessed how HIV has disproportionately impacted the LGBTQ community. HIV’s relative disappearance from the headlines does not mean the fight is over. Today we have more information, better tools, and trained advocates than ever to confront the enduring epidemic of HIV transmission and stigma.
In 2024, Equality Florida helped secure a major step forward with the passage of PEP Access legislation, which allows over-the-counter access to medication that can prevent HIV after potential exposure. This reflects the progress made in HIV treatment and prevention over the past several decades—progress that Florida’s outdated HIV criminalization laws have failed to keep up with. These laws disproportionately impact people of color, women, and transgender individuals, and can discourage people from getting tested or seeking care.
In 2026, the Florida Department of Health put thousands of Floridians living with HIV at risk when it announced cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which provides life-saving medication. Equality Florida worked alongside grassroots ADAP client advocates and partners to push back. On the final day of the legislative session, a unanimous, bipartisan vote secured emergency stopgap funding—protecting access to care for more than 10,000 people. Ultimately, the state budget continued this funding commitment, restored access to highly effective and widely used medication, and added more program oversight and transparency. Ensuring long-term stability for ADAP remains an urgent priority in our work.
At the same time, we launched a statewide public education campaign to update how people understand HIV today. By highlighting advances in treatment and prevention, challenging stigma, and elevating the voices of advocates living with HIV and healthcare providers, this effort helped reinforce the importance of access to care and the reality that people living with HIV can lead long, healthy lives.
Equality Florida is proud to be a beneficiary of the 2026 Florida AIDS Walk hosted by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
