Iowans for AIDS Action Members Condemn Huckabee’s ’92 AIDS Comments

PRESS STATEMENT Monday, December 10, 2007 Contacts: Tami Haught, Nashua: (c) 641-220-2579 Scott Clair, Ames: (w) 515-2940682 or (h) 515-453-2999 Iowans for AIDS Action Members Condemn Huckabee’s ’92 AIDS Comments, Call for All Candidates to Support Smart Public Health Approaches to HIV Prevention and Treatment Des Moines, IA- Members of Iowans for AIDS Action today released the following statements regarding Governor Mike Huckabee’s 1992 comments about the AIDS epidemic. In his response to an AP questionnaire, Huckabee said, "If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.” He continued by saying “It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.” “Huckabee, a former pastor, should know well the words of Jesus – "In as much as you have done for the least of these, you have done for me” (Matthew 25:40) – but his 1992 comments show that he is more concerned with appealing to the most reactionary and narrow-minded among us, rather than reaching out to the sick and offering help. Huckabee needs to recant his statement to show that he can be compassionate towards all people, as Jesus called us to do,” said Iowans for AIDS Action member and United Methodist Church minister Pastor Robert Crandall, from Des Moines. “How can Governor Hucakbee claim that, in 1992, experts were still unsure about how HIV was transmitted? It is clear that the evidence was in long before this statement was made. By saying that we should quarantine people with HIV, 10 years after the epidemic began, Governor Huckabee only helped to feed into the stigma that I, and other people with HIV, face throughout our lives. If Governor Huckabee’s compassion didn’t extend to people like me who are living with HIV when the facts were already clear, then how can we know that he will make the right choices to promote health for everyone,” said Iowans for AIDS Action member Tami Haught, from Nashua. “Governor Huckabee’s statement promotes ideology over sound public health. We need a President who treats HIV as ‘the true health crisis it represents’, which means supporting HIV prevention programs which actually work, like comprehensive, abstinence-based education and needle exchange,” said Iowans for AIDS Action member and HIV researcher Dr. Scott Clair, of Ames. ### Iowans for AIDS Action is a state-wide network of people living with HIV, AIDS service providers, religious leaders, HIV researchers, medical and undergraduate students, and concerned community members who are advocating for all presidential candidates to adopt bold, comprehensive plans to fight AIDS in the US and around the world.