April I 986 - pttge 9

from page 2
become the issue which precipitates its
defeat

It may be argued that the ERA
should apply to discrimination based
upon sexual orientation as well as
gender. l would not disagree with the
merits of that argument. It would
certainly be preferable if that were
true. The fact is, however, that there
is little or no evidence that those
people who proposed the ERA or who
have worked so hard for its passage
intended that it should have that

What ERA means for Vermont’s lesbians, gays

effect. Furthermore, the legislative
history relative to the amendment in
Vermont does not reflect any intent
that it should have such an effect. It
would be preferable if adoption of the
ERA meant that gay or lesbian teachers
could not be fired because of their
sexual orientation. Or that gay men
and lesbians would be able to adopt
children on the same basis as other
people. However, although these are

issues that should be addressed, there is

no indication that the ERA is intended

to do so. Indeed, the evidence is to
the contrary.

rapidly approaching. Equal rights for

women, however, is an issue whose time

should work for its adoption. l.esl»inn
and gay
especially hard to insure that the ERA
is not defeated by those opponents of
ERA who equate it with gay rights.

Gay rights is an issue whose time

not yet come in Vermont, but is

long since come. All Vermonters

Vermonters must work

Dir.

from page 5
t-DA. ‘I hat language states:

- the primary purpose of the
HTLV-lll test is for blood
screening

- it is inappropriate to use the
HTLV-lll test as a screen for
AIDS or as a screen for members
of groups at increased risk for
AIDS in the general population

- the test is not a diagnostic tool
to determine whether an
individual has or will develop
AIDS ,

Despite this legally required restrictive
labelling, employers, both public and
private, the U.S. military, medical
facilities, and other entities have begun
requiring persons to be tested before
being hired, granted housing and so on.
The insurance industry is considering
use of the test as part of application
procedures for health and life
insurance, and several people have been
threatened with denial of medical
coverage when their positive HTLV-lll
tests became known to carriers. Recent
management conferences for the
business community have stressed to
employers the desirability of requiring
Cmbloyees to submit to HTLV-lll
testing as well. All this misuse of the
test is occurring despite the fact that
the Center for Disease Control has
Y€Deatedly issued statements and
guidelines based on the latest medical
research stating that there is no basis
for routinely screening workers with
the antibody test or for excluding
infected \vorkers_

_ Litigation on behalf of persons
discriminated against in housing, public
accommodations, education, employment,
insurance, and access to medical care
based “Don positive antibody tests is in
Drogress in many parts of the country.
In addition, many jurisdictions have
legislation under consideration that
would bar some or all types of

discrimination based upon HTLV-lll
testing. Wisconsin and California have
passed restrictive legislation regarding
insurance uses of HTLV-lll tests, the
District of Columbia has legislation
under discussion, and several cities do
also.

It is important to understand that
discrimination based upon HTLV-lll
testing is an issue that differs from
discrimination based upon a person's
actually having Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome. The issue of
discrimination based upon having AIDS
is one that properly gets dealt with
under laws concerning prohibition of
discrimination based upon handicap.
However, persons with positive
HTLV-lll antibody tests don't have a
disease or handicap. They may not
have any HTLV-lll virus in their
systems and the evidence of antibodies
to the virus may be a false positive.
All such persons have is an often
erroneous blood-test-for-antibodics
result. While these tests may be useful
in screening the nation's blood supply,
they do not provide an appropriate
basis for denying people employment,
housing, access to public
accommodations, or insurance.

The Governor's Commission on the
Status of Women has passed the
following policy statement with regard
to this issue:

Whereas.‘ The HTLV-lll antibody
test (ELISA) is only licensed to be used
for blood screening and is. according to
the FDA, falsely positive 70% or more
of the time: and

Whereas: use of the HTLV-lll test
to discriminate against people is
inappropriate since testing positive for
these antibodies does not mean a person
has AIDS or pose: any health risk to
others: and

Whereas: the Governor’: Commission
on the Status of Women opposes

Wishik testifies

discrimination based on handicaps.
suspected handicaps and handicapping
conditions:
Therefore, The Governor's Commission
on the Status of Women supports
Legislation designed to prohibit
discrimination against persons with
positive tests for HTLV-lll (AIDS
virus) antibodies. ‘

House Bill 622 accomplishes part
of the task of moving to be certain
that Vermont citizens are not subjected
to discrimination based upon HTLV-lll
test results. It would bar such
discrimination in employment and
housing. However, discrimination in
public accommodations and insurance
are also important. THE GCSW
supports H. 622, both in its bar of
employment and housing discrimination
and in its support of the rights of
students to have access to education
without suffering HTLV-lll testing
discrimination according to the
guidelines developed by the
commissioners of health and education.
The Commission would also support
legislation that would go further to
prohibit HTLV-lll discrimination in
public accommodations, and supports
state regulatory efforts, or legislation if
necessary, to prevent abuses of the
antibody test by the insurance industry.

As a discrimination law scholar. I
would urge you to move quickly to
enact this legislation, and not wait
until we have hundreds of Vermont
citizens being required to take
HTLV-lll blood tests by prospective
employers and others. Prevention is
the best medicine in this area; this
legislation would prevent needless
suffering by clearly stating to all
Vermonters that HTLV-lll tests are for
blood bank use, not as a means to
restrict access to employment, housing,
education or needed accommodations
and services