Advocates for AIDS health care want state Rep. D. Alan Hays censured or removed from office

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Christine Dellert Sentinel Staff Writer Posted June 15, 2007, 3:30 PM EDT Several advocates for AIDS health care called this afternoon for state Rep. D. Alan Hays to be censured or removed from office for remarks he allegedly made Wednesday about his gay cousin deserving to die from AIDS.At a press conference in Fort Lauderdale, advocates around the state and country condemned comments Hays is charged with saying to members of an AIDS health-care group who met with the Umatilla republican this week lobbying state lawmakers to prevent Florida Medicaid cuts. "Not only should this individual be censured but I think this person should be removed from office," said Michael Rajner, national secretary for The Campaign To End AIDS. "He also should not be allowed to serve on any committee with appropriations, as well." Within minutes of the 1 p.m. news conference ending, Hays sent out a typed statement that again denied the slur. "I am known for being plan spoken and for speaking my mind, but I am outraged that this group is making these claims against me," he wrote. "I have spent a lifetime as a health care professional and have compassionately cared for several patients afflicted with AIDS. My own cousin died of this disease, and it was a tragedy for him to die so young. To say that I said otherwise is absolutely not true." Two nurses and a regional manager from Positive Healthcare, an affiliate of the international nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation, say Hays leaned across his desk during the Wednesday meeting and said his cousin was "as queer as a three-dollar bill" and "had that homosexual lifestyle and deserved what he got." Hays, a retired dentist, first rejected their accusations Thursday. "That is totally incorrect," he said from Tallahassee." I did tell them that I had a cousin that died [of AIDS]. . . . To assert that I said they get what they deserve is just beyond comprehension," he said. Hays said his cousin died of AIDS about a decade ago. The group making the accusation plans to have a news conference today in Fort Lauderdale and is asking Gov. Charlie Crist to renounce Hays' "homophobic remarks," according to a news release sent late Thursday. Crist's office did not return requests for comment Thursday night. Lisa Apple, one of 70 nurses with Positive Healthcare, said she was in Hays' office when he made the comments." I thought: 'Oh, no. No, no, no. That's not the way we see things,' " she said. "I feel like I've gone back 20 years. . . . Are you saying to me that this is a population that may or may not deserve this care because of their sexuality?" Positive Healthcare provides disease-management care to about 8,100 HIV-positive Medicaid patients across the state, including 1,000 in Central Florida. The group offers in-home visits and assists people with medications and doctors' appointments. The nonprofit serves every Florida county except Broward and Miami-Dade. It works to make sure AIDS patients receive care outside hospital emergency rooms. After eight years of service under a contract with the state Agency for Health Care Administration, the group says it recently lost its bid to a private organization and is appealing the administration's decision. Bill Peebles, a Florida lobbyist for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said who gets the $4.5 million contract is now up to an administrative judge. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation also said it plans to file a lawsuit today in Duval County against the state health-care administration's Medicaid reforms there and in Broward County. But group officials said their concerns about the contract and Medicaid reform are separate from their condemnation of Hays." This is not about our contract dispute," said Michael Weinstein, president for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which had 120 patients and nurses in Tallahassee meeting with legislators Wednesday." This is about the attitude. . . . The fact that in 2007 people still think this is a gay disease is shameful." Positive Healthcare's Pat Gibbs, a registered nurse, attended Wednesday's meeting with Hays and said she was appalled by his comments." We went in there to voice our concerns about the recent Medicaid cuts," Gibbs said." I wanted to just stand up and grab him by his collar. . . . He just told us that he was a doctor, and dentists should have at least the basic knowledge of HIV 101." Hays said he has treated AIDS patients as a medical professional. He also said he was "very empathetic" with the group's "one-on-one" disease-management care. Ron Haberle, a Positive Healthcare regional manager in South Florida, also attended Wednesday's meeting with Hays and said the legislator's words were insensitive, not empathetic." It's a devaluating statement," he said. "Nobody deserves AIDS -- nobody." Christine Dellert can be reached at cdellert@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5917.