The AIDS Foundation is concerned about nasty and ignorant rhetoric circulating about HIV+ people in Canterbury, as the residents of a Selwyn suburb attempt to have an HIV+ man removed from their neighbourhood because of a perceived danger to the community. Christopher Truscott, intellectually disabled and terminally ill with HIV-related conditions, is currently receiving around-the-clock care at a home in the area. One resident said there was a health danger if Truscott was "wandering round and depositing his bodily fluids". The AIDS Foundation echoed comments from Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Alistair Humphrey that the only danger residents faced would be if they chose to have unprotected sex with Truscott. "We are concerned at the negative comments re having HIV positive people in the community as they appear to reflect that there is still ignorance, misunderstanding and prejudice in the community around HIV," says communications co-ordinator Steve Attwood. As the Truscott case hinges on legally defining whether he is being detained in the home, and therefore falling outside the remit of the Selwyn district plan, the Foundation is unconcerned that other HIV+ people going about their lives in the community at large could be under threat from residents ordering their removal. "There is no evidence that a general complaint about a neighbour being HIV+ would succeed, indeed it would almost certainly be against the provisions of anti-discrimination laws," says Attwood.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 5th January 2005 - 12:00pm