Are AIDS Patients Victimized Twice? : Without an Anti-Discrimination Law, They Can Suffer From Prejudice as Well

Last year, when a divided Orange County Board of Supervisors backed away from passing a ban on discrimination against people with AIDS, the dread disease had already claimed more than 600 lives in the county.

Last Monday, relatives of AIDS patients held a candlelight vigil at the County Civic Center and set up tombstone-like markers to commemorate AIDS victims and note the death toll that passed the 1,000 mark in August. Last month alone, there were 41 new AIDS cases reported in the county, and in the last year there has been about a 50% increase overall, with nearly a 100% increase in cases among women.

Those are grim statistics, but equally disturbing is the probability that most people who have the human immunodeficiency virus have not yet been diagnosed and are not being treated, according to county health officials. One reason for that is their reluctance to be tested and then subjected to the prejudice that so often is directed at victims.

The Orange County Visibility League last Tuesday asked the supervisors to reconsider last year’s rejection and pass an AIDS anti-discrimination ordinance. The ordinance is needed not only because the county is the only urban area in the state without one, but because its passage will send a message that the community will not tolerate people being fired, evicted or denied services because of their illness. In addition to discouraging discrimination, the action could encourage those who might have AIDS-related illnesses to seek diagnosis.

AIDS, as one county health official once put it, may not be everyone’s problem, but it is everyone’s concern. Health officials recognize AIDS for what it really is--a critical public health problem--and they are doing all they can to help victims fight the deadly disease. The County Board of Supervisors should at least do all it can to help fight the discrimination that goes with it.