NOTE: See the updated story as published in Q-Notes‘ Nov. 1 print edition: House arrest for gay DJ’s second HIV violation.
Gay DJ Joshua Waldon Weaver, 23, has been sentenced to six months of electronically-monitored house arrest after violating probation orders stemming from an August conviction for violating state HIV transmission regulations. |
RALEIGH — A gay disc jockey in Raleigh originally convicted of violating HIV infection regulations in August has been placed on house arrest after admitting he broke probation orders in early October.
On Sept. 6, Q-Notes reported that Joshua Waldon Weaver, 23, who works in clubs in Raleigh and Wilmington, pleaded guilty to charges that he failed to disclose his HIV-positive status and engaged in unprotected sex with three people. Weaver was given a suspended jail sentence and placed on probation. The terms of his probation ordered Weaver to use protection when engaging in sexual activity.
About two weeks ago Weaver was arrested after Wake County Public Health officials contacted his probation officer with information that he had possibly violated court orders by having sex without a condom. Assistant District attorney Boz Zellinger told The News & Observer that health officials became aware of the DJ’s violation after he contracted another sexually transmitted disease that could have been prevented by the use of a condom.
Weaver could have faced 40 days in jail for his most recent violation, but District Court Judge Jacqueline Brewer instead sentenced him to six months of electronically-monitored house arrest. He will not be allowed to leave his father’s house except for probation-approved employment. Brewer also ordered Weaver to undergo a psychological evaluation.
If Weaver breaks his probation again, he will face up to 25 days in jail and prosecutors will ask for a two-year quarantine in a state prison hospital.
“His behavior hasn’t changed,” Zellinger told the Raleigh newspaper after the hearing. “We’re trying to address the callousness his actions have demonstrated.”
Zellinger added, “It’s not a witch hunt. It’s a desire to change his behavior to benefit the community.”
Weaver’s attorney, Evonne Hopkins, who declined to speak with Q-Notes for our original Sept. 6 story, told The News & Observer she’s “confident we will not be back here.”
“Josh is very sorry we’re back in court,” she said.
North Carolina Administrative Code 10-41 and North Carolina General Statute 130A-144(f) address control measures regarding the spread of HIV and require those with communicable diseases — including other sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis and tuberculosis — to comply with measures intended to curb their proliferation.
Weaver is only the second Wake County resident in 15 years to be sentenced for failing to follow laws governing the transmission of communicable diseases, according to The News & Observer. In 2007, only 16 people statewide were convicted of violating the communicable disease law. Rather than HIV, many of the instances were related to diseases such as tuberculosis or hepatitis.
NOTE: See the updated story as published in Q-Notes‘ Nov. 1 print edition: House arrest for gay DJ’s second HIV violation.
This story has me outraged — but not in the way that you might think. I’m disgusted that Q-Notes — my hometown newspaper — would publish Josh’s photo. That is wholly unnecessary and stigmatizing to a degree that is shocking for a gay newspaper. Why do we think he didn’t disclose? Talking to Poz guys in North Carolina, you’d quickly realize that disclosing an HIV-positive status is something like disclosing leprosy. The stigma and outright ignorance that exists about HIV in North Carolina is the real crime here — fueled by a homophobic abstinence-only sex ed regime that does nothing to educate and everything to promote ignorance and hate.
I feel bad for this young man, especially having his face splashed across the front of this website like it is… BUT, I have to agree with Q-Notes’ handling of the situation. The paper’s job is to inform — and where needed PROTECT — its readers. After TWO arrests for this same situation, Josh has shown a propensity for having unprotected sex without disclosing his status to his partners. What can the paper do but its job…and that’s looking out for its readers.
With regard to Trevor’s point about HIV stigma, I definitely agree that this is still an issue. The problem is that positive men who have unprotected sex and spread the virus do nothing but add to the hysteria that surrounds AIDS, which in turn deepens the stigma. So on this point too, I think Q-Notes is in the right here.
Well Trevor,the truth is that he needs to be plastered on billboards across the nation. Don’t you want your friends and family members to know who he is when they see him? Well, I do. Maybe one of your close loved ones will bring him home for dinner after dating him a significant amount of time before meeting the family. LOL. GET REAL AND FACE REALITY!!!!He’s sick and he wants to take all of us with him. Maybe you want to join him or are you already in the group. Where’s your picture?
Oh man, he’s so cute! Too bad, I sense its anger why he did it. I feel sorry for him and the victims. Its moments like this I really, really wish there could be a cure. Wouldn’t want to see such a young person get lost to the disease. At the same time, the persons who too the risk of unprotected sex should know better.
What the people of NC have allowed the government to do to this poor man is SICK! This man committed no crime, he isn’t accused of raping anyone. His health and the health of his partners’ is their business and their business alone. It’s bad enough we put up with all of the other intrusions from big brother let alone in the bedroom! I think we should put a camera in District Court Judge Jacqueline Brewers’ bedroom for a week and see what “crimes” she commits!
Trevor & Chris: HIV is a communicable disease, correct? So is TB, correct?
What about all those folks quaranteened for TB? Does the government have the right to tell those people to stay in their homes?
Does the government have the right to prevent the spread of a communicable disease?
Churen: The last two sentences in your comment about Trevor are completly out of line.
imageofman – I have problems with quarantines but generally agree with them for airborne diseases. This is not the case with HIV. HIV can not be contracted accidentally(mother to child is an exception) . If you have sex, HIV and other std’s are part of the risk you take. If you’re worried about HIV decide for yourself how worried you are and then make your choices. To be PERFECTLY safe don’t have sex, to be safer sleep with one person you trust, to be even safer always use a condom. The cost/ benefit is up to you. I don’t care who this guy sleeps with and I don’t care if he lies to his partners – it’s not my business or yours!
The conduct of Qnotes in this situation is also disgusting. While I would never tell them what they can or can not print, I also don’t have to support it. Further, I can actively work against them by contacting every advertiser I see on this site – which is exactly what I intend to do. Yes, I’m that angry about this and yes, I have that much time on my hands!
We all don’t agree with everything We read. But that doesn’t mean that this is not news. This issue was in a much more negative context on the nightly WRAL News. I think Q-Notes reported the news as it was and in an objective light.
Thank You to Q-Notes and Matt Comer for “responsibly” reporting this story. It is sad that the young man in question is himself not acting responsibly by disclosing his condition to prospective partners. I say to this young man, please seek help in the form of counseling or support groups and please take responsibility for your actions. I am sure you will find many gay men accepting and understanding of your condition and I am sure many will be more than willing to help you on your quest. Please act in a more responsible manner. Be up front and honest. The gay community as I know it are full of loving and kind people who are willing to assist you in what ever ways are possible.
Too the individuals who accuse Q-Notes and Matt Comer for acting irresponsibly in reporting this story and posting a picture, SHAME ON YOU! I think that you have not thought this through or you, YOURSELVES’ act irresponsible in such matters. As a gay man, I want to know who is in our communities acting irresponsible and if posting a story about them and their picture is what it takes to make us aware, then so be it. Those people wanting to contact advertisers who support Q-Notes to complain about the story will find that those advertisers are grateful as I am for disclosing and reporting such an important story.
Again…thank you to Q-Notes and to Matt Comer for exposing this so that readers can be made aware of dangers in our community.
just a few words for CHUREN711:
perhaps your friends and family should take care of their own health and better think to always have safe sex? Josh is guilty but not more than those who had unsafe sex with him. It’s their fault *as well*.
I just want to point something out here. This is NOT two arrests for the SAME situation. His first arrest was obviously for breaking a very important law. The second, however has me very worried.
There is no accusation or statement that his probation was violated by exposing anyone to HIV, knowingly or undisclosed. He simply tested positive for an STD.
And STD which COULD have been avoided with use of a condom (because condoms are 100% effective?). Or could have been transmitted via low-risk means (oral, non-penetrative body contact). Or could have been present but latent before this second arrest (the particular STD is not mentioned). Or, God-forbid, he acquired it from another HIV+, fully informed, fully consentual partner.
If his first arrest was for not disclosing his health status, WHY is the court placing restrictions on his sex practices? Full and honest disclosure is a much different ballgame than safe sex preference (I’m pretty sure he is, by far, not the only person who prefers to engage in unprotected sex).
That’s like being arrested for shooting a gun, then violating probation because you still have a trigger finger.
Clearly HIV-Positive men are put in limbo by the law in North Carolina. There’s no question that this law is stigmatizing and wholly problematic from an ethical standpoint.
But I want to question here Q-Notes’ handling of this situation. First: Posting Josh’s photo is akin to the publication of gay men’s photos in newspapers across the country in the 1950s after police raids. It’s despicable and the kind of behavior I’d expect from conservative scumbags.
Second: Q-Notes’ coverage of this story is wholly without any context that is CRUCIAL to understanding this story. What kind of sex did he have? What did his partners know? Were they poz too? Where did they meet? What was the context for the sex? And for God’s sake, what is this alleged STD that you can only contract from not using a condom? I presume they’re talking about rectal chlamydia or gonorrhea, which would indicate he was engaging in receptive anal intercourse. There’s a whole literature out there on: 1) the decidedly MUCH lower risk of poz guys engaging in receptive anal intercourse with neg men, rather than vice-versa; and 2) The decisions for many Poz men to only engage in this kind of sex with Neg guys to reduce the risk of their partners (its called strategic positioning — this isn’t anything new).
Unfortunately, in the American pozphobic / sexphobic context, we can’t have any of these discussions in a meaningful way. I had hoped that Q-Notes would have dealt with this issue in a more responsible manner. Instead, it handled this extremely sensitive manner in the same way that local newspapers and news stations have. What’s of course most problematic here is that Q-Notes set the “gay narrative” for the story. Other LGBT newsrags that pick the story up will undoubtedly look to Q-Notes’ coverage for a template and a story. So the impact of this coverage will surely extend beyond Charlotte and the Southeast.
Trevor, et al.,
Q-Notes will be publishing a staff editorial addressing this issue in the Nov. 1 print edition. The editorial will also appear online the same day.
In case there is some confusion, please note that this story, as noted in the text, is a follow-up to a Sept. 6 article:
Raleigh man pleads guilty to HIV health law violation.
We encourage concerned readers to guard against making conclusions that are not supported by the facts as reported in this story, in the Sept. 6 report or any other report by other news agencies. Further, we encourage readers to also guard against making personal and/or ad hominem attacks against the subject of the article or those participating in community discussion on this website.
Q-Notes reserves the right to remove or edit obscene, unsubstantiated or overly offensive remarks or comments. We remind our readers of our website’s terms and conditions.
I encourage those with concerns and questions to contact me directly via phone (office, 704-531-9988, ext. 208) and email (editor@q-notes.com).
Thank you,
Matt Comer
Editor, Q-Notes
It wasn’t necessary for Josh Weaver to disclose his HIV status. The requirement was only that he use a condom. Had he done so, none of this would have happened. At least now those that have sex with him know in advance to be safe.
just maybe his other partner knew that he was hiv+ and chose to have sex with him,, this is nothing more then a witch hunt, I bet if this was a str8 males we would have never heard anything about this law.
This is a response to Christopher
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:37 pm
“This man committed no crime, he isn’t accused of raping anyone.”
But this man did commit a crime he did not follow the control measures for HIV as instructed by the NC Department of Health and Human Services. The control measures are very explicit that someone who is HIV+ is required by law to inform all partners of their HIV+ status and REQUIRED TO USE A CONDOM EACH TIME even if that person is themselves HIV+.
By not doing this he is breaking NC G.S. 130A-144
(f) All persons shall comply with control measures, including submission to
examinations and tests, prescribed by the Commission subject to the limitations of G.S.
130A-148.
10A NCAC 41A .0202 CONTROL MEASURES – HIV
Infected persons shall:
(a) refrain from sexual intercourse unless condoms are used; exercise caution when using condoms due to possible condom failure;
(b) not share needles or syringes, or any other drug-related equipment, paraphernalia, or works that may be contaminated with blood through previous use;
(c) not donate or sell blood, plasma, platelets, other blood products, semen, ova, tissues, organs, or breast milk;
(d) have a skin test for tuberculosis;
(e) notify future sexual intercourse partners of the infection;
(f) if the time of initial infection is known, notify persons who have been sexual intercourse and needle partners since the date of infection; and,
(g) if the date of initial infection is unknown, notify persons who have been sexual intercourse and needle partners for the previous year.
This are just some of the control measures for a full list please refer to
http://reports.oah.state.nc.us/ncac/title%2010a%20-%20health%20and%20human%20services/chapter%2041%20-%20epidemiology%20health/subchapter%20a/10a%20ncac%2041a%20.0202.html
So, Travis, travel back with me to 2003, when it was illegal for gay men to have sex in North Carolina — where I was living at the time. Had I been arrested for having consensual sex, would you be defending my arrest?
This is all to say that we are obviously questioning and critiquing the ethics of the statute on the books. Blindly defending the decision of the NC Government to prosecute Mr. Weaver because “he broke the law” is of course submitting that the government will always know best, and always has our best interests in mind. As a queer person who enjoyed engaging in what was then illegal sex in my lifetime, I call bulls**t.
This is a response to Trevor Hoppe
October 28th, 2008 at 1:15 am
If I was defending you I would be challenging the constitutionality of the law. And if you were found guilty I would try to take the case to the State Supreme Court and if the law was upheld I would the try to US Supreme Court.
I do wish to remind you that this control measures were enacted to help prevent the spread of HIV. It was meant educate people to prevent people from knowingly spreading this virus and this is what Joshua Weaver has been found guilty of.
Does anyone feel that someone has the constitutional right to spread a virus?
We must stand up for the injustices that we see in the world because that makes us stronger individually and as a community.
NOTE: See the updated story as published in Q-Notes‘ Nov. 1 print edition: House arrest for gay DJ’s second HIV violation.