Good Morning, C2EA and friends

As some of you know over the weekend the leadership of C2EA were given an opportunity to go over the first draft of a statement to be issued to the press and public in response to the incident that happened to little Caleb Glover and his parents at the Wales West RV park in Silver Hill Alabama. I assume everyone was well pleased with the work by Michael Kink or they didn’t have a chance to get to it. You will all get a chance to make more suggestions and comments before we release to the general public and press as that will be one of the topics for our informal agenda for this our first planning session.

I remind you all that the meeting is Monday (today), July 23rd at 2:00PM Eastern Time and the number is 1 877 221-1877 and access code is: 8732170#. I am counting on everyone who receives this to try and get anyone you know from Alabama who is active in HIV advocacy or is HIV positive themselves to attend this phone conference. It is hoped that we can have participation and leadership from Alabama citizens in this matter.

Another topic for the tentative agenda is that we contact the Glovers themselves at some point in the process to include them in our protest effort. So far the action seems to be a statement to the press and public and then (sometime in August as I understand) a ‘Swim In’ to be staged by members of C2EA and others concerned at the RV Park itself. While not everyone can participate in such an action for various reasons, you all (organizations) can underwrite the statement in solidarity with those who oppose this kind of treatment of HIV positive people. All your work to help HIV positive citizens is worth nothing if you allow this kind of treatment of an HIV positive child to be 'OK' in as far as your organizations feel there is no need to do anything whatsoever. Right now the plan is to be accomplished by the dispersal of RV vehicles around the country which would then transport team members (picking up others along the way) and converging on the RV park to stage our action. The logistics of acquiring the RV vehicles and where they will depart and the routes they will take in order to get C2EA teamates and friends and representatives of ASO's along the way is another item for discussion. We also need to discuss how best to approach the press and gain media coverage for this action. We already have contact with the filmmaker Matthew Kulvicki (Filmworks Brooklyn) who helped create a documentary of the Waves Across the Nation Caravan from the 2005 action by C2EA and they have been sent this message as well. Other than that this announcement has been sent this afternoon to the entire Steering, Outreach, and Issues and Actions lists. I also sent it to my full Texas list, ABC news (who first ran the story), and AIDS Service Organizations, and hope that you state leaders of C2EA will have already informed your state members of the pending meeting. Also it is hoped that you will contact ASO participants that I did not. It is my feeling that the full body of HIV advocates, workers, and HIV positive citizens should be part of this protest. I have emailed this notice to as broad a range of HIV service providers, Civic organizations, HIV advocates etc, as possible.

As long as one HIV positive child can be mistreated – we all can be mistreated. Here is the draft from Michael Kink as is. This is our starting point so I am hoping we have a very productive hour (or more) to discuss what is important and to begin planning the logistics of organizing this effort. Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including Karen Bates who found the news story and alerted C2EA, Michael Rajner who suggested that Texas make a motion to take national action and edited the motion, Larry Bryant who I spoke to after the meeting (which I did not attend) to help me solidify my thoughts as to the next step to be taking, and Michael Kink who volunteered to do the writing of our documents and who drafted the statement after we sent him some material about the event and the emotions we were feeling on the matter. Also I thank all of you in advance for just participating in the meetings that will be forthcoming and taking a hand in responding to this horror.

To those of you to whom this is news and you have not even heard about the incident in question, here is the ABC/AOL news story. For non-profits and civic authorities please note this is a non-political non-partisan HIV advocacy issue.

Last week, Dick and Silvia Glover went to the Wales West RV Park in Silver Hill, Ala., with their foster son Caleb. When the boy was banned from using the pool and showers, the Glovers said they were offered an uncomfortable and painful choice: They could either keep Caleb out of the water or leave.

"We weren't sure if somebody could get the virus if the child upchucked on them or from blood or what," said Ken Zadnichek, the park's owner. "We didn't know what the risk was. That's why we asked for something from their doctor or the county health department."

Dick Glover said the request for a doctor's note made it clear Caleb was unwelcome.

An Alabama newspaper quoted Zadnichek as saying, "I'm not responsible for their feelings. I'm responsible for the well-being of everybody in the park. If their feelings got hurt, I'm sorry. That's the way it's got to be."

Upset and dismayed, the couple left with their son.

"Here we are paying for the facilities, but there's certain ones our son can't use," Dick Glover said.

Glover said on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" that he could understand where Zadnichek was coming from, but added Zadnichek should have been more informed about HIV and AIDS.

"Little Caleb, he was innocent as can be," Glover said. "It was not he's fault he was born with AIDS."

Silvia Glover said it never occurred to her Caleb's HIV status would be an issue. In fact, the matter came up in a casual conversation with a desk clerk when she told the attendant of her plans to adopt the toddler.

The Glovers said they chose the location because of their son's love of trains. Wales West features steam and diesel locomotives -- similar to ones used by the mining industry in Wales -- on a railway that circles a small lake.

Complicating matters is the fact that 69-year-old Dick Glover suffers from advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He is expected to have 18 months to live.

Silvia Glover said some Americans are not educated enough about HIV.

"They don't know near enough, especially that children are totally innocent and represent no danger to the public," she said.

Medical experts said the HIV virus is unable to spread through casual contact.

"There's absolutely no way you can get HIV from a pool or a shower casual contact using the same facilities," said David Little, director of South Alabama CARES, an AIDS education and outreach organization that serves 12 counties in south Alabama. "It just doesn't happen."

The Glovers said Caleb is a happy child who they just wanted to please because his life expectancy is only seven years.

2007-07-08 15:29:46

Next, the members of C2EA with the help of Michael Kink drafted the following response:

JULY 23, 2007 STATEMENT FROM THE CAMPAIGN TO END AIDS

In the third decade of the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic, our collective efforts to treat, prevent, and deal with this human crisis remain slowed by fear, ignorance, stigma, discrimination and irrational hatred of people living with HIV.

Those of us working and struggling to respond positively to the HIV/AIDS epidemic – particularly people living with HIV and AIDS – have a responsibility to stand up and speak out against these evils when they become public.

Earlier this month in Silver Hill, Alabama, Caleb Glover was denied access to a recreational pool, showers, and sanitary facilities at the Wales West RV park because of his HIV status. Caleb is two years old.

Health officials and local AIDS service providers explained to the public, to the media, and to park owner Ken Zadnichek that Caleb’s use of these facilities posed no threat whatsoever to the health of those around him. But Zadnichek insisted that Caleb either stay out of the water or leave.

Well, Mr. Zadnichek, that’s not the way it’s got to be.

The Campaign to End AIDS calls on people living with HIV/AIDS, activists, family members and loved ones to join us in a collective, public response to this evil act of hatred and discrimination.

We will reach out to the Glover family, to local PLWHAs, activists and service providers in Mobile and across Alabama, and we will be respectful in our consideration of people who have struggled with stigma and discrimination in Alabama for years.

But we will be fierce in our public response, and unyielding in our demands:

· that people living with HIV/AIDS be treated with respect;

· that discriminatory behavior against people living with HIV/AIDS be appropriately investigated and prosecuted; and

· that all people in Alabama, across America, and around the world know that we will come to the defense of our brothers and sisters, no matter their age or race or social status, to insist on all of our basic human rights to fair and equal treatment regardless of disability.

To join us in this action, contact leaders and organizers of the Campaign to End AIDS at info@campaigntoendaids.org or at 877-END-AIDS.

OK, it will help me if you use my email below to contact us about this matter or just call me. But please, by all means, join us on the call this afternoon at 1PM eastern time - 2PM central time. If you miss this call after recieving this email so late - don't worry - we will host more planning meetings to discuss the best collaborative response from the entire HIV advocacy community - thank you all for caring about the lives of those living with HIV and not just your day to day duties in this regard.

Byron Montgomery

Acting organizer C2EA Caleb Glover Incident Response Team

Texas Chair C2EA

home 214 221-2466

cell 972 256-6252

preferred email mecat1_@hotmail.com

See what you’re getting into…before you go there. Check it out!

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