Newspapers / Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.) / May 26, 2001, edition 1 / Page 12
Part of Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
PAGE 12 ▼ Q-Notes ▼ May 26, 2001 licensed ProfejPSnol Counselor (704^4*9470 b€abl^ce@aol.com Helping you wFith... accepting yourself • moving you forward conquering fears‘ breaking old patterns anxiety • breaking up • safe sex learning to love • illness/death family matters • couples skills individuals — Couples — i^elationship Seminars "Being gay and in an 12-year relationship helps me to understand the unique needs of LGBT individuals and couples. Fee is $80 per 60-minute session. • Evening appointments available. HACBOC CRUISE 346 Eina SU Ctiarlestcn, S.C. 843-322-4799 Celebating Oar First Year As The Hottest Gay S Lesbian FrUay Night In The Triangle This Friday, Come Out To Gotham Oghtctuh In Chapel Hill For The Best House/Trance music ^n By Hotwax Harley Boots Open nt 10 pm 8 The music Ooesn't Stcyi Til 3 Rm Gotham Inultes Vou To Come Out This Saturday Right For The Best Dancing 6 Drag In The Triangle. Drag Performances Start Rt midnight Court victory sets new precedent on health care workers discrimination by Eric Ferrero Special to Q-Notes EUGENE, OR — A federal court decision reinstating an Oregon ski patroller who was fired for refusing an HIV test will strengthen legal protections for health care workers and others whose employers overreact to remote risks of HIV infection, the Ametican Civil Lib erties Union said today. “This is a victory for science over fear,” said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU AIDS Project. “The court found that there was no real risk of transmission from emergency health wotkers — and that in the absence of real risk, there could be no discrimination.” A US District Court judge in Eugene ot- dered the man reinstated May 11, ruling that a ski resort violated the Americans with Disabili ties Act by removing the patroller from its slopes when he refused to take an HIV test once his supervisors learned that his wife has AIDS. The ACLU AIDS Project represented the ski patroller, who was identified in coutt pa pers as “John Doe.” In 1996, when he refused to be tested for HIV, he was taken off of his regular patrol duties and assigned to plow snow in the parking lot during the gtaveyard shift. Based on extensive medical evidence the ACLU presented duting a trial in the case eat- lier this year, US District Judge Michael Hogan found that workers who are the first to respond to the scene of a medical emergency pose no significant risk of infecting othets with HIV. “At best, [the ski resort] has proved only a remote risk to others,” Hogan wrote. “This does not demonstrate the significant tisk required” under the American with Disabilities Act. The decision will be one of the strongest tools yet in protecting a range of health care workers who often face discrimination from employers who fear that any risk of transmis sion - however small - forces them to temove employees from their medical duties. “We’ve been trying to get a decision like this for more than 15 years,” Coles said. “Emer gency medical care is one of the last bastions of blatant job discrimination based on HIV. This tuling tells every health care company and medical supervisor in America, that no signifi cant risk means just that. You can’t escape the law by saying you just want to play it safe. No real risk means no discrimination.” Jennifer Middleton, a Lambda Legal De fense & Education Fund attorney who argued the case while at the ACLU, said the decision is also important because it takes away employ ers’ ability to hide behind HIV tests. “The ski resott took the patrollet off the slopes because he wouldn’t provide an HIV test. That’s treating him as if he had HIV, the court decided, so the same ‘no risk, no dis crimination’ rule applies,” she said. Middleton added that the decision is important because it makes it clear that the Americans with Dis abilities Act protects you if you ate discrimi nated against because someone in your family has HIV. The ski resort has not indicated whether it will appeal the decision, which orders Doe re instated for the next ski season. The lawsuit did not seek monetary damages or any other pen alty from the tesort. ▼ Widow Continued from Page 4 Gatdiner’s prior sex change would not be tec- ognized, tuling that Gatdiner’s marriage with Marshall Gardiner was invalid because she was born a male and marriages between people of the same sex are not legal in Kansas. The Kansas appeals court reversed that de cision. Recognizing the “diverse composition of today’s families,” the court noted that biology is “no longer the sole otganizing principle” of American family life. The case now is remanded to the trial court with instructions to consider carefully the sci entific research and J Noel’s sexual identity to determine the validity of het marriage. ▼
Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 26, 2001, edition 1
12
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75