4A
Thursday, October 20, 1994
OPINION
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
AIDS patients should have no need to hide
COLUMNIST
HEATHER KIRKWOOD
AIDS patients should not have to hide when we could all benefit from learning about their experiences.
Last week I was watching CNN Headline News when a story came on about an apartment complex the federal government had built for patients who are HIV-positive.
But that did not bother me.
The location of the apartment complex was not released in order to protect the privacy of the people living there.
What has been bothering me is the shroud of secrecy in which many people who are HIV-positive feel compelled to live. Why was it that the residents were so afraid the public might find out about the location of their homes?
Last semester, I desperately wanted to do my reporting project on someone who was HIV-positive. I had seen a support group advertised in the Kansan for people who were HIV positive, and I decided I needed to understand more about their lives.
College students today who have a pulse and a warm body know what HIV is and how they can get it. What they do not know is what it is like to live with HIV or how we, as the general public, could be more supportive.
Agencies working with people who are HIV-positive rightly will not disclose their names.
I had asked if they would pass my name and telephone number along to anyone who might be interested in talking to me, but I was told that this was not possible.
Undaunted, I called everyone in my address book to tell them about my reporting project. I hoped that the grapevine would prevail, and I would find someone.
It turned out that finding someone was the easy part. I found four people who were HIV-positive, but even after promising them I would protect their identity and not print their names, they were unwilling to let me interview them. It cannot be an easy thing to talk about. I certainly would have been satisfied with such an explanation, but that was not the answer I got.
Instead, these people were terrified that, even if their names were not used, someone would find out who they were. They were terrified that a
co-worker or friend would recognize something about them.
I evidently was out of touch with the realities these people faced.
Such a reaction only demonstrates why more openness is needed in this area.
The risk was so great in their minds that it outweighed any good that could have come from the article.
I thought that only a few radical, self-righteous types, such as Fred Phelps, were unaccepted of people who are HIV-positive. Surely, I thought, our society had progressed enough that we had worked past many of the stereotypes associated with the HIV virus.
I was wrong.
VIEWPOINT
Coalition leading the way in proper treatment of gays
Discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals is a major problem that will be difficult to eradicate. Their inclusion
in the city's basic human rights law will not be a complete cure, but it is an important and necessary step toward one.
chooses their sexual orientation.
Simply Equal, a coalition of more than 20 area agencies and organizations has collected more than
GAY RIGHTS The inclusion of gays lesbians and bisexuals in the city's basic human rights code is of importance to everyone's freedom.
Such a measure will be brought again soon to the City Commission. It must be passed.
Sexual orientation is not a choice. It has absolutely nothing to do with a person's character or behavior. The implication that someone would actually choose to become a member of the most disparaged and oppressed group in America is worse than silly — it is dangerous because it implies that there is some sort of rational decision behind homosexuality.
Anyone, gay or straight,
can behave in a depraved
manner, but no one
Opponents of the measure charge that it gives homosexuals "special rights." But it does not call for special treatment in any way. On the contrary, it merely ensures that homosexuals are treated exactly the same as everyone else — with fairness, openness and honesty.
1,200 signatures and plans to make the inclusion of gays in the city basic human rights ordinance a
This measure has been on the table far too long. It is an issue for everyone because our community is built on the concept of equality for everyone. Blood was shed in Lawrence for this concept. Our progressive history must not be forgotten amid a haze of misunderstanding and hatred.
We must work to make this proposal a reality.
The obligation to support this legislation goes far beyond the issue of straight or gay. It rests on the issue of being human and expecting the same rights for every other human. If one human can be trespassed against without any protection then so can all others.
You can sign a Simply Equal Statement of Purpose at Terra Nova Books, 920 Massachusetts St., or write to them at P.O. Box 1991, Lawrence, Kan.66044.
JACK LERNER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO Editor
CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor
JEN CARR Business manager
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator
JEN CARR
Educators
News ... Sara Bennett
Editorial ... Donella Heame
Campus ... Mark Martin
Sports ... Brian James
Photo ... Daron Bennett
Mellissa Lacey
Features ... Tracil Carl
Planning Editor ... Susan White
Design ... Noah Muser
Assistant to the editor ... Robbie Johnson
Sales and marketing adviser
CAMERON DEATH Retail sales manager
Editors
Business Staff
JEANNE HINES
Campus mgr    Todd Winters
Regional mgr    Laura Guth
National mgr    Mark Masto
Coop mgr    Emily Gibson
Special Sections mgr    Jen Perrier
Production mgr    Holly Boren
        Regan Overy
Marketing director  Alan Stigle
Creative director  John Carlton
Classified mgr    Heather Niahas
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Michigan are required to include their signature.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Jeff MacNelly/ Chicago Tribune
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Child molesters have rights also
Upon reading a newspaper article, I was enraged.
The words "child molester info,
hot line" jumped out from the page at me. As I continued reading, my anger turned to fear. The idea that Californians will be able to discover if someone is a convicted child molester terrified me. I started to wonder what kind of society we have become.
Obviously, we are a violent society. We are almost immune to the violence because it surround us. Yet, are we a society which bends the Constitution to fit our own purposes? Do we deem ourselves the judge and jury of other human beings' fates? Are we humane only to those whom we believe deserve our compassion? Before we applaud a child molester information hot line, we must consider these vital questions.
First and foremost, this hot line is unconstitutional. The Constitution clearly provides for each citizen's right to privacy.
Can we really afford to overlook the basic rights we enjoy in this country? If we want to keep our freedom, we cannot.
We are experts at compassion when it is easy to be kind. When we believe the situation calls for it, we excel at being cruel.
When we take away a single person's rights, we all give up ourrights.
Although it may not seem so, this hot line is cruel. The child molester has already served his or her sentence. According to the penal system, he or she has paid for the crime. Yet, anyone can simply pick up the phone and start the punishment again.
Advocates of the hot line may like to think that only parents or employers dealing with children will utilize the service. In reality, this will not happen. No one would want to live near a child molester, even if the person is reformed. Finding a job would be nearly impossible. Employers guard the interests of their companies, which do not include giving someone a second chance.
With this hot line, reformed child molesters will not have a second chance. Can anyone say that they will not treat a person differently if they discover the person's criminal past?
Although they are not behind bars, their life will be a prison. To society, reformed child molesters will always be dangerous monsters. They are witches, and the hunt has begun.
Perhaps, we, as the hunters, find this acceptable because we feel that child molesters never fully can pay for their actions. Yet, do we have the right to inflict our own personal sense of justice on others? If we do, we are a
vigilante society.
Because the sexual assault of children seems all too prevalent, a child molester information hot line may appear to be the only recourse. However, there are far better solutions. Prevention is a key step in ending violence of any kind. We must attempt to find the reasons behind a child molester's actions. Understandably, prevention may not always work. If we believe a person is so dangerous to warrant invading their privacy, why do we let them out of prison?
As a human being, I am horrified by the molestation of children. I cannot honestly say that I do not harbor any hatred toward child molesters. As a parent, I would want to keep these people far away from my family. However, I would continue to fight against any hot line giving information about child molesters. I am not willing to live in a vigilant society, whomever its prey may be.
We may be willing to take away a child molester's rights. Yet, are we equally willing to take away our own? Can we justify a hot line by our feelings of rage and horror? A child molester information hot line is simply a witch hunt by telephone. Its weapons are fear and prejudice.
Pauline F. Martin Kansas City, Mo., freshman
As terrible as it is, it is possible to come to terms with dying. But how does one come to terms with dying in a society that rejects you because you have the wrong illness? If people are accepting of those who are HIV-positive, why are people afraid to talk?
I'm not judging people who are HIV-positive for the decisions they make about disclosing their disease. They have the right to make the decisions they are most comfortable with. I only wish the general public was better informed about their lives, which is something that will not happen in a shroud of secrecy.
COLUMNIST
Heather Kirkwood In a Wichita junior in magazine Journalism.
HIV-positive man left big impression
I met Keri at the office in Chicago where we were interns. We became friends rather quickly. Most of our days at the office were spent visiting each other, sending E-mail back and forth, and gossiping about hot guys.
Before I left for school, it was decided that we would do something fun and not work-related together. After work on Friday, we hiked to the Mercantile Exchange and went to Limit Up, a bar on the first floor. We had a few drinks, waited for some friends and then eventually took the bus back to Keri's apartment.
After some pizza, a trip to the liquor store and a few drinking games, the phone rang. Keri talked for awhile. When she got off the phone, she said that one of her friends, Dorian, was coming over.
When the doorbell rang, Keri popped up to answer it, but before she opened the door, she blurted out, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Dorian is gay and is HIV positive."
Needless to say, I was a bit startled and a little unnerved. In my entire life, I had never met anyone who was HIV positive, let alone anyone who was, to my knowledge, gay. I was unsure of how to act and what to say.
We all sat down and continued our game. I watched, listened, learned and chastised myself for thinking that Dorian deserved any different treatment. He was human and that was more important then being gay or HIV positive.
There was only one moment after that realization when the fact that Dorian was HIV positive crossed my mind.
We had decided to go to Hightops, another bar, and we had invited Dorian to come with us. He said, "Sure. A straight bar would be fun." Keri said, "You have to promise me, though you won't drink anything else, it's bad for you." He replied, "What does it matter, I'll be dead in three months." The silence in that room was tangible.
It's three months later now, and I often wonder about Dorian. He left Chicago, and when I last talked to Keri, she had no clue as to where he was. Sometimes I imagine he's living his life; sometimes I imagine he's in the hospital, and sometimes, well, sometimes the only thing I hear is, "I'll be dead in three months."
Katty Kippa is a Woodridge, Ill., sophomore in English.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin