We Have a Long Way to Go For Zero Discrimination
On the eve of this year's World AIDS Day, which had a theme of "Getting to Zero: Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Deaths," we were contacted about the latest sad story of what people with HIV still have to deal with. The Milton Hershey School, created to give education, support and hope to disadvantaged youths, refused admission to a totally qualified 13 year-old by because he happens to also be HIV positive. Fortunately, the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania have helped him and his family to fight back, and filed a lawsuit against the school on World AIDS Day.
And last week, a man in Oak Park Illinois was charged with "criminal transmission of HIV" (in addition to aggravated battery of a police officer) for biting a police officer during an altercation. He is facing charges that could result in a sentence of three to seven years in prison. More thoughts on that case can be found here.
Ironically, almost every major policy maker statement yesterday utterly ignored the "Zero Discrimination" part of the World AIDS Day demand, focusing instead almost exclusively on expanding drug access and starting treatment earlier for millions of people around the globe. Of course treatment access is a critical goal, but so is eliminating discrimination.
Institutions that should be educating instead continue to cultivate ignorance that disproportionately affects the individuals in their charge. Schools and the justice system should be beacons of non-discrimination and accurate information. All such institutions must prioritize ending HIV ignorance and making sure their policies are guided by science and common sense that reflect what we know for sure about actual routes and risks of transmission. They need to know that HIV is serious, but a chronic, manageable disease.
It is far too late for police officers to fear HIV transmission from spits or bites, or to rely on this fear to cover excessive force or get those living with HIV locked up (in some instances for decades.) There is no need, on this World AIDS Day, for a school to reject an HIV positive student because those who are responsible for knowing better reject the facts for the outdated fear that he will "pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others," despite 30 years of scientific evidence and court decisions supporting both a student's right to school and the non transmission of HIV through casual contact.
Of course greatly expanded access to treatment is critical and must be a national priority. But "getting to zero" on discrimination cannot be relegated to a throw-away line that few demand specific action to address. Being able to live free of discrimination, to be treated as talented rather than toxic, to move through and participate in all the aspects of society open to everyone else, is every bit as important to mental and emotional health, to quality of life, as medical treatment. Don't think so? Just ask the 13 year-old student in Hershey, PA.