Firing of HIV+ acrobat protested
By Joe Delaplaine
Orange County, Calif.
Dozens of people protested and passed out
leaflets in front of Cirque du Soleil's performance of
"Varekai" in Orange County, Calif., on Jan. 22. The protesters
included members of the Inter national Action Center from four
major cities.
Cirque employers had hired and trained acrobat Matthew
Cusick, but fired him after he voluntarily disclosed his HIV
status to his bosses last year. Cirque's decision violated the
Americans with Disabilities Act. With the help of Lambda Legal
Defense, Cusick has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit
against Cirque du Soleil. Lambda, along with an ad-hoc group of
lesbian, gay, bi, trans and straight, and HIV/AIDS activists,
organized this as well as other demonstrations across the
country.
There will be protests wherever Cirque performs, including
upcoming actions in Atlanta and New York.
There has never been a case of an athlete transmitting HIV
during performance or competition. Last month, three
high-profile Olympic athletes denounced Cirque's discriminatory
practices. One of them, figure skater Rudy Galindo, was one of
the first major U.S. athletes to continue competing on the
world stage after disclosing his HIV status.
As advancements in HIV/AIDS drugs and treatments make it
possible for increasing numbers of employees to return to
work--and the cost of these treatments makes employment a
necessity--it's important for all working people to defend
every employee's right to a job and protest discrimination
whether it's based on age, disability, sex, race, sexual
identity or any other status.
Reprinted from the Feb. 5, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page