With the global AIDS response becoming increasingly hampered by the criminalization of key populations, this study aims to encourage and assist parliamentary scrutiny of legislation that impedes effective HIV interventions. It highlights the various processes in selected parliaments that led to the adoption of laws with a positive impact on the AIDS response. Although such outcomes were not always easy to achieve, they were mainly the result of inspired leadership by parliamentarians able to overcome the moral obstacles that had stifled socially sensitive issues in political debate.