Although you are not obliged to tell anyone your status, the law may require you to tell people under certain circumstances. In some states, you are legally required to tell any sexual partner, even if you intend to have safe sex.

These laws vary from state to state so it's best to check with your local Legal Aid Centre or AIDS Council to see how the laws in your particular state might impact on your decision, especially given that some cases of non-disclosure have ended up in court.

The law also states HIV positive people cannot donate blood, semen, ova or any other body tissues. The Department of Immigration requires anyone applying for permanent residency to provide the results of an HIV test. You may be asked about your HIV status if applying for life insurance or by your superannuation fund. Some companies may refuse to insure you if you are HIV positive or if you refuse to tell them your status. 

Tips for disclosing your HIV status

• You can never take back disclosure, or control how people will react. If you think the person will have a bad reaction, leave it until you feel more confident that you can handle it, or don’t tell them.
• Be careful about disclosing to people who might gossip.
• It might be helpful to rehearse what you want to tell people beforehand.
• Remind the person to keep it confidential, but accept that they will need to talk to others about it.
• Ask them to be careful who they tell or suggest other people who they could talk to for support.
• Positive people are often put in the position of being an educator. This can be onerous, but people who do not know much about HIV will expect you to inform them.

It can be hard to tell the children in our lives that we have HIV. Explain things in simple ways so that it’s easy for them to understand.