Question
Can I get married if I am HIV positive?
14 January 2008. Related: All topics, Living with HIV long-term, Newly diagnosed.
Hi. Can I marry if I am HIV positive? I am only 28 male, and just diagnosed. How long I can live if I start HAART in future? Do you also think there will be more treatement options in future? Thank you
Answer
Yes, most countries have no legal obstacles against marriage, though many countries do have laws that saw you need to tell your partner about your HIV status. There are some countries where discrimination limits human rights, so it also depends where you live.
Many HIV positive men get married – to partners who are either HIV positive or HIV negative. If their partner is HIV-negative it is still possible to have children
I have a question. If a hiv neg woman were to consider marrying an hiv pos man, what would be your advice to her? what things does she need to consider?
Hi Kwame,
I’m sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Does anybody know that you have HIV? Do you have any support?
Telling somebody you love about your status can be very difficult. It can help to learn about HIV so that you can answer the questions your partner may have. Our faqs from couples where one person is positive may be a good place to start. This will show you that it is possible to have a healthy relationship where one of you is positive and the other negative.
THT has information on their website about telling people your status. You may also find it useful to talk to other HIV positive people about this. If you don’t know any positive people your clinic may have a support group. Or if you prefer you could use an online forum like poz.com to talk to other positive people.
Am a young man newly inlove and want to marry. But I diagnose hiv positive. Though have nt slept with her and sworn not to do so and we are realy in love.How do I propose to her and let her know my status.pls help me
Hi Olalekan,
We aren’t a dating service, but these do exist for HIV positive people in some countries. Try searching ‘HIV positive dating’ to find a site in your country. Best of luck!
Can you connect me to an hiv posive lady for marriage
Hi Wasim
I am sorry but i-Base can’t provide support for contacts/personal ads.
Try some of the online forums, ie at http://www.poz.com or in the publication Remaides.
salut
I’m not sure why anyone needs to ask their doctor about getting married?
Doctors are for medical advice.
Whether or not you get married is a personal choice for both people, and HIV status – positive or negative – is completely different to the question of whether you decide to spend you life with someone.
Thank you to allow for giving my view about this mater, hope we all have the right to live also to choose a partner of the same status and live together as wife and husband on agreement that there is protected sex, But all should be done after consulting your doctor.
To my knowledge there is no law in the UK that states that you cannot marry if you have HIV. English law only seems to be interested in your health if it affects your ability to make a valid decision.
The problem arises in criminal law under the Offences against the Person Act that require that you do not recklessly or intentionally cause bodily harm to others. Infecting people with HIV has been found to be such an act and people have gone to prison for it.
There is the idea that if you tell some you have HIV and they still have sex with you and they get it, then you are not to blame. The problem with this idea is the House of Lords case of R v Brown which states that you cannot consent to bodily harm.
So if consent is not a defence to bodily harm and HIV is know to cause bodily harm, what do you do if your conenting partner becomes infected and decides to have you prosecuted?