The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated legal action against the state of Tennessee concerning a law targeting individuals engaged in sex work and living with HIV. Filed on Thursday, the federal lawsuit asserts that Tennessee's legislation unlawfully imposes harsher criminal consequences on individuals diagnosed with HIV. Tennessee stands alone as the sole state enforcing a lifetime registration as a "violent sex offender" specifically for individuals with HIV convicted of involvement in sex work. According to reports from The Associated Press, the lawsuit stems from a DOJ investigation conducted in December, which concluded that the statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. In response, Tennessee lawmakers introduced measures the previous month aiming to amend the statute by eliminating the lifetime sex offender registration requirement. The DOJ's legal action aims to halt enforcement of the law, remove individuals convicted under it from the sex offender registry, and expunge their convictions.