HIV activist Mark King writes a pointed post today in his blog “My Fabulous Disease” titled “HIV Positive Criminals: Have Sex, Go to Jail.” Please check out his blog and watch the compelling videos included.

The subject matter is exactly what it says it is — it's about people who are prosecuted in the U.S. for allegedly not disclosing their HIV status to sexual partners. People with HIV can be prosecuted for “assault with a deadly weapon” or even under a state's bio-terrorism statutes, King notes in his piece.

This blog reminded me of a story I covered at the old Southern Voice in 2005 when a former Emory Medical student, Wayne Carriker, 27 at the time, was prosecuted in Atlanta and Fayette County after three men accused him of not disclosing his HIV status to them. You can read a summary of what happened in the Carriker case on this blog that includes the coverage from Southern Voice  or here.

Basically, several men filed charges against Carriker and he was prosecuted for “felony reckless conduct” under a rarely used 1998 Georgia law that makes it a felony for an HIV person to have unprotected sex without disclosing their status. Eventually Carriker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison. He did not finish medical school at Emory. That 1998 law remains in effect.

I wondered what happened to Carriker and Googled him. I found the above blogs that helped me remember the case more clearly and then I found entries for a man named Wayne Carriker who worked as director of continuing care at Hope Quest Ministry Group in Woodstock, Ga.

I found the bio for Carriker on the staff website. And, well, he's that Wayne Carriker and is now an ex-gay working for a substance abuse and “sexual brokeness” agency. Learn more here about the Hope Quest Ministry Group, which was founded by First Baptist Church of Woodstock — the church of choice of Georgia Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers and former Gov. Sonny Perdue. Yes, the organization is considered a non-profit and is tax-exempt.

Here's Carriker's bio as listed on the Hope Quest Ministry website that includes this snippet:

As he eventually embraced homosexuality and a lifestyle of addiction that led him to prison, he eventually found hope for wholeness through relationships that led him to The HopeQuest Ministry Group.

Carriker also states in the bio that he received a "call to ministry at a Christian conference for those struggling with same-sex attractions." I'm curious to know if it was the Focus on the Family conference in 2006 at the Woodstock, Ga., church that Carriker attended.

I'm not sure this is how I expected this story to end, but I didn't expect this twist.