Off the Deep
End
by Lucile Scott
Banned from a resort swimming pool, an HIV-positive toddler makes a triumphant splash—with a little help from his new activist friends
Labor Day may have marked the end of the
summer pool season, but for HIV-positive Caleb Glover, age 3, it launched a
crusade to swim without stigma. That day, Glover entered the playground of
Wales West, a recreational-
| Housing Works' Charles King, in the pool
with 3-year-old Caleb |
promptly at noon. Wearing
bright blue sunglasses, and a swimming hat and shirt with a matching floral
print, he waved at several local TV crews. Lacking the vocabulary to issue a
formal statement, he graciously waddled over to give onlookers high fives.
Charles King, the founder of the New York-based AIDS organization Housing Works,
picked up Caleb and carried him to the on-site pool—from which the park's owner,
Ken Zadnichek, had banned him during the July 4th weekend. And then King, who is
also HIV positive, led Caleb into the water.
Over the July 4th holiday,
Caleb, who is African American, and his foster parents, Silvia and Dick Glover,
who are white, had traveled to Wales West, billed as a destination for Christian
families in a rural southern part of the state. They wanted Caleb to ride on a
small train encircling the park that Zadnichek, a train buff, had custom-built
for his guests. "Caleb loves trains and had been looking forward to it for so
long," says Silvia, 65. In casual conversation, Silvia told Zadnichek's wife,
Anna, who runs the park with him, that Caleb was HIV positive. The Zadnicheks
then told the Glovers they would like a statement from the local health
department stating that Caleb did not present a threat to other children
swimming in the pool.
| Wales West owner, Ken
Zadnichek |
The Glovers, furious,
packed up and left. "It is actually more risky for Caleb to be in the pool than
for other children because he has a compromised immune system," Glover notes.
Since the July 4th incident, the Zadnicheks have become educated about
HIV; on Labor Day weekend, Caleb, his parents and more than 50 other HIV
advocates from across the country convened at the vacation spot to support Caleb
as he returned to swim in the Zadnicheks' pool. Many of the activists wore
sporting white swim trunks emblazoned with the logo for the national Campaign to
End AIDS (C2EA), the Housing Works initiative that organized the event, which
was intended to raise awareness about HIV—in particular how it is and is not
spread (swimming in a pool with an HIV-positive person poses no health risk to
other swimmers). Several HIV-positive swimmers, including one young man who
performed an exuberant front flip, jumped in alongside Caleb and King, escaping
the humid 90-degree Alabama air.
The event was dubbed not a rally or
protest but rather a Labor Day weekend "family reunion" for AIDS advocates.
Caravans converged from Washington, DC, Dallas, Mississippi, Miami and even San
Diego.
| Activists traveled from all over the
country to show their support. |
Other activists took solo
journeys on buses, planes or trains. Some who could not make the journey paid to
sponsor those who could. They met up to barbeque, swim and down a few Bud
Lights, as well as to demand equal treatment for Caleb as mandated under the
Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits discriminating against people
because they are HIV positive.
"I think Zadnichek knows he made a
mistake," said Larry Bryant, National Field Organizer for Housing Works and
C2EA, who attended the event. "It's not our responsibility to throw rocks at him
but to demonstrate the need for change and to educate people." Anna Zadnichek
responded, "We do not discriminate. We have been burned by the media." On Labor
Day, she passed out statements to members of the press saying that the park does
comply with the ADA and that they welcome all HIV-positive visitors. Ken added,
"This kid is the best thing that ever happened to the Glovers. [The family] is
getting all kinds of gifts and [Caleb's foster mother] is getting her face all
over the media."
Dick Glover, who has advanced non-Hodgkin'
| Caleb's foster mother, Silvia
Glover |
along with her 3-year-old
son, Trey. Duesy, who was paralyzed in a car accident when she was 17, sat by
the side of the pool in a wheelchair. It was she, not Silvia, who informed
the media of the July 4th incident. "I was outraged. I had no idea [the media
attention] would get this big," she said, watching Trey splash in the water next
to King and Caleb. "Trey swims with Caleb all the time. There's no risk."
Silvia, her thick red hair swept up in a bun, says, "I've never started a fight
in my life. I just didn't think anyone would care but me." But to her
surprise—and the Zadnicheks' dismay—Good Morning America snapped up the story in
July and NPR offered listeners three separate interviews on the topic. Websites
and blogs across the country posted commentary, generating tens of thousands of
e-mails, some asserting Zadnichek had every right to protect his clientele,
others decrying his bigotry. "There was a lot of anger at first," says Bryant.
"But I think this event today demonstrates a lot of growth on both sides."
The Zadnicheks told the C2EAers they were welcome to come to the park
and swim with Caleb. And C2EA, meanwhile, reminded their group that they were
there to have fun, follow the rules and raise awareness, not cause trouble.
| The family reunion attendees make a
splash in the pool. |
"When met with anxiety
[about HIV], greet with smiles and kindness," said C2EA's Christine Campbell as
the group, carrying C2EA signs, assembled under an RV awning and held hands in
prayer.
Silvia Glover said that Caleb was infected perinatally (at
birth) but his HIV status was unknown when they brought the infant home from the
hospital. She added that she would have taken him in regardless. "I just fell in
love with him the first time I saw him," she said. "We just want him to be
happy." The Glovers have three biological children, and more than 60 foster
children have passed through their home in the last 25 years—some, like Penny,
have stayed for years. Caleb is the first they have tried to adopt; their
application is still under review. "Well," she says of the decision to
bring so many needy children into her home, "I can't spell, and I can't be a
doctor or a nurse. But I can give a child love." Silvia believes race may have
been a factor in the decision to keep Caleb away from the water. "[Anna
Zadnichek] didn't seem to have a problem with Caleb being HIV positive until she
walked out to the car and saw that he was black," she says. Ken Zadnichek, when
asked if the July 4th incident had anything to do with race, said, "That's
ludicrous."
C2EA'S Bryant said, "It's naive to think race didn't have
something to do with it," adding, "[This notion of the] family reunion goes back
to [the era of defending] civil rights with the idea of nonviolence. We came
here because one of the demands of C2EA is to end stigma. People are still
killing themselves [because of stigma] especially in the South where there is
more isolation. Stigma keeps people from getting tested, and the region has the
highest rates of people diagnosed with AIDS."
Glenn Boyer, diagnosed in
1998, drove down to the pool from Nashville. "Advocacy means standing up for
those that can't stand up for themselves, like Caleb," he said. "And I'm always
excited about barbequing and family reunions." Tracey Johnson, 19, diagnosed
2005, took a 19-hour Greyhound from Columbus, Ohio. Before the CPR-certified
teen could even cross the Alabama line, he had revived a young woman, a random
passenger (not an activist) on the bus, who had a seizure. "It was my first time
actually performing CPR on a person and I was nervous," Johnson said. "I had on
a necklace that said `HIV positive' so they knew my status," he says, adding
that unlike Caleb, he did not experience stigma.
| POZ cover girl Fortunata
Kasege |
"She just thanked me."
Fredia Webster, 21, from Miami, was infected perinatally, like Caleb. "People
are going to be ignorant and we just have to put our best foot forward," she
says. "Yvette Ogletree, diagnosed in 2003, joined the Washington, DC, caravan,
which drove through the night to get there. During a 5 a.m. stop at a Waffle
House in South Carolina, a man munching on a short stack inquired what the group
was doing. "I'm going to raise hell," replied Ogletree before relaying Caleb's
story. The man responded, "Well, I don't even know you but I am proud of
you."
Throughout the Labor Day swim-in, the C2EA crowd and the park's
patrons seemed to coexist peacefully. But when King and Caleb hit the water,
only other activists were in the pool with them. While not everyone who
witnessed the day's events may have been converted to the C2EA cause, King said
as the day wound down, "Now people in Alabama know if they discriminate against
HIV-positive people there will be a consequence.