August 17, 2007

POOL PARTY!

Dive right into the Wales West pool!

Are you ready to get wet? More than 150 activists from the Campaign to End AIDS(C2EA) and their supporters can't wait to slip into swimsuits bearing the words "HIV positive" and frolic in the pool at the Wales West RV Resort in Silverhill, Alabama, on Labor Day. Wales West owner Ken Zadnichek outraged the country in July when he banned HIV-positive 2-year-old Caleb Glover from the pool, showers and other common areas of his resort until he could verify that Glover wasn't a transmission risk.

C2EA's innovative action was a secret until organizers decided they wanted to give Zadnichek the chance to show he had learned from his mistakes (which included publishing a fairly unrepentant op-ed in the Mobile Press-Register). HIV-Positive C2EA national field organizer Larry Bryant called Zadnichek on Tuesday to discuss C2EA's impending arrival. "I was very happy that Mr. Zadnichek told us we were welcome," Bryant said. "We've heard from local organizers that there's been progress since the incident happened and this shows it's true."

In an interview on National Public Radio's News & Notes program on Wednesday, Zadnichek said of the C2EA event, "We equally welcome everyone." When the host asked Zadnichek if the fact that Caleb is black had anything to do with the decision not to allow him in the pool, Zadnichek said adamantly, "I'm a businessman. The only color I see is green."

Caleb's foster mother Silvia Glover said on the same NPR show that she could not stand by idly after Zadnichek asked for a note from the health department. "That's breaking Caleb's civil rights and those of a lot of other HIV individuals," she said. "He has no right under the law of this land to ask anything of Caleb."

The ACLU would seem to agree with Glover. It sent this letter to Zadnichek, eloquently pointing out that, "the ADA prohibits public accommodations from imposing eligibility requirements that screen out or tend to screen out persons with disabilities. It was inappropriate for you to require that the Glovers provide a doctor’s note or letter from county health officials merely confirming what you should already know. As a provider of public accommodations subject to the ADA, it is your responsibility to be aware of your legal obligations as well as basic public health knowledge. It is further inappropriate to require your customers to provide sensitive and private medical information without a legitimate business purpose."

On Monday, NPR will follow up its interviews with Zadnichek and Glover with another show about transmission risk. We're confident the doctors will clear up the fact that HIV can't be transmitted by casual contact in the pool.

If Zadnicheck likes green, he should be happy to see car caravans of C2EA folks arriving from all over the country on Labor Day. Caravans will originate in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Little Rock, Arkansas, picking up more than 100 enthusiastic participants along the way. "I can't wait to hit the road," said C2EA Texas' Byron Montgomery.

The swim-in has now transformed into a "family reunion"—the original ruse activists had used when they secured RV sites at Wales West—at which attendees plan to have lunch, barbecue and enjoy the pool and showers, while, of course, wearing their "HIV positive" bathing suits. "What happened at Wales West proves that we still have to fight stigma and discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS," Bryant said. "We look forward to shining a spotlight on that stigma in hopes of educating people around the country about the disease."

Caleb's foster mother Silvia Glover, who was vacationing with Caleb and her husband Dick at Wales West when the incident took place, provided input into the planning of the family reunion and hopes to attend the event if possible. The Glover family's situation is complicated by the fact that Mr. Glover is battling advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"This family reunion gives me hope for Caleb's future. Most people don't understand that discrimination around AIDS hurts kids and grown-ups as much as the disease itself. I hope to be at Wales West to show my support. I won't get in the water though! I'm too old," Mrs. Glover said.

Want to join in the best family reunion ever? E-mail Larry Bryant at bryant2@housingworks.org.

The Housing Works AIDS Issues Update is reported, written and edited by Diana Scholl, David Thorpe, Phil Fox Rose, Christine Campbell, terri smith-caronia and Housing Works staff. Send your feedback, leads and story ideas to d.scholl@housingworks.org.

You can reach us by phone at 212-967-1500 x168, by fax at 212-868-4222, and by email at d.scholl@housingworks.org. Housing Works provides housing, advocacy and services to homeless people living with AIDS and HIV. Housing Works is the nation's largest community-based AIDS organization and the nation's largest minority-controlled AIDS organization.

Go to http://www.hwupdate.org/update/subscribe_update.html to subscribe.