AHF's Hershey Easter Boycott Goes Global over School's AIDS Discrimination: Protests Set for India, NYC, SF and Hershey, PA

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

As Easter approaches, advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) are spearheading a series of protests across the country and the globe during the second largest holiday for candy sales worldwide to encourage the public to join a global boycott of the Hershey Company after the multi-national candy company's Milton Hershey School rejected a 13-year-old boy due to his HIV-positive status. Protests and actions are set for Thursday, April 5^th (New Delhi, India) and Friday, April 6^th (NYC, Hershey, PA and San Francisco). Last week, scores also protested the Hershey School's actions in front of the landmark statue, El Ángel de la Independencia, in Mexico City. The AIDS advocates are calling on Hershey, which funds the prestigious Pennsylvania boarding school for low-income scholarship students in the United States, to denounce the illegal discrimination and enroll the boy.

NEW YORK CITY

WHAT:				Hershey Store BOYCOTT, AIDS PROTEST & PRESS CONFERENCE—
				‘No Kisses for Hershey' boycott targets AIDS discrimination at Milton Hershey School
WHEN:				Friday, April 6th
				10:00 am to 11:00 am (Eastern)
WHERE:				PROTEST In front of the
				Hershey Store, Times Square, 48th and Broadway (1593 B'way) New York NY 10019
WHO:				AIDS advocates with banners & signs, “No Kisses for Hershey: www.EndHIVStigma.org”
				PRESS CONFERENCE & TELECONFERENCE— Friday, April 6th 11:00 am
				Crown Plaza Hotel, Times Square, Room: Times Square A, Lobby Level, NYC 10019
HOW:				TELECONFERENCE 11:00am—Dial in +1.877.411.9748 participant code #7134323
WHO:				Lori Yeghiayan, AHF Associate Director of Communications
				Michael Weinstein, AHF President (via teleconference)
				Tom Myers, AHF General Counsel (via teleconference), others TBA
CONTACTS:				Lori Yeghiayan, AHF Communications, Cell: (323) 377-4312
				Michael Camacho, AHF NYC Regional Director, Cell: (646) 265-7460

HERSHEY, PA

WHAT:				PROTEST at Hershey Corporation over School AIDS Discrimination
WHEN:				Friday, April 6th at 10:30 AM (Eastern)
WHERE:				The Hershey Corporation headquarters
				Hershey Park Drive and Academy Drive, Hershey, PA 17033
WHO:				AIDS advocates, some dressed in giant “Hershey's Kisses” costumes, carrying banners and hand-made signs that say “No Kisses for Hershey: www.EndHIVStigma.org”
CONTACT:				Jessica Reinhart, Grassroots Community Manager, Cell: (323) 203-6146

SAN FRANCISCO

WHAT:				PROTEST at Scharffen Berger Chocolates (owned by Hershey Company)
WHEN:				Friday, April 6th at 8:45 AM (Pacific) to 10:00am
WHERE:				The Ferry Building
				One Ferry Building, Embarcadero & Market Sts. 17033
WHO:				AIDS advocates carrying banners and hand-made signs that say “No Kisses for Hershey: www.EndHIVStigma.org”
CONTACT:				Dale Gluth, AHF Associate Regional Director, Bay Area, Cell: (415) 218-9587

NEW DELHI, INDIA

WHAT:				India PROTEST & RALLY over Hershey School AIDS Discrimination in the U.S.
WHEN:				Thursday, April 5th at 11:00 AM
WHERE:				Jantar Mandar, in the heart of New Delhi to Parliament Street, very close to Parliament of India
WHO:				Six partner organizations, including children from one Delhi-based NGO
				Dr. Shibu Cheruvelil, Country Program Manager/AHF India Cares
				Dr. Abdul Azad, Director of Strategic Planning/AHF India Cares
				Dr. Das Devashis, Project Director, Lott Carey Baptist Mission, Delhi
				Mr. Amitabh Awasti, National HIV/AIDS Activist / President, Lucknow Positive Network
CONTACT:				Mr. Francisco De Morela, Coordinator, Asst. Prevention Program, AHF/India Cares +91 9891943796 / francisco.demelo@aidshealth.org

From the U.S.

“We are asking the public to send a clear message to Hershey that there are ‘No Kisses for Hershey' as Hershey continues its path of discrimination and ignorance as displayed by the Hershey School's rejection of an otherwise qualified 13 year-old student due solely to his HIV-positive status,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation in a statement from Los Angeles. “Ultimately, it is the Hershey Company itself, as the main funder of the school, that must answer for the decision not to admit the boy. If Hershey is truly a company that believes in its social responsibility, it will denounce this illegal and repugnant discrimination and enroll the boy at the school. In the meanwhile, we plan to use the power of pocketbook to shame Hershey by asking the chocolate-buying public to forgo buying Hershey candy this Easter.”

“This April 8^th—Easter Sunday—will mark twenty-two years since my son Ryan passed away after his truly courageous battle with AIDS—and our family's battle with the discrimination, fear-mongering and misinformation it fostered in Indiana and across America back in the earliest days of the epidemic,” said Jeanne White Ginder, the mother of the late Ryan White, the American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who, in the mid-1980s, was expelled from his Indiana middle school because he was HIV-positive, speaking out about the present day case of HIV/AIDS discrimination by school administrators at Pennsylvania's prestigious Milton Hershey School—discrimination that bears a striking resemblance to the ordeal that her own son and family had to endure 27 years ago.

“The news that in this day and age, the Hershey School rejected a 13-year-old boy due to his HIV-positive status brings back horrible memories of what Ryan had to go through twenty-seven years ago when all he wanted to do was simply to go back to school,” added White Ginder in a statement from Florida, where she now lives. “I am truly saddened by the discrimination and ignorance shown today by administrators at the Hershey School and the three Board Members who sit on both the school and the chocolate company's Board of Directors; however, in honor of Ryan's indomitable spirit, I have to look at this situation as an opportunity to educate Hershey to do the right thing and lead by example. Hershey—both the school and the chocolate company—should apologize and denounce its rejection of the boy as unfounded and discriminatory and really step up to the plate to educate both their staffs and the public-at-large about the realities of HIV/AIDS.”

Today—almost 22 years after her own son died of AIDS-related complications—White Ginder believes the Hershey School situation offers an important opportunity to speak out against such discrimination and to educate Hershey and the community-at-large about the wrongheadedness of such prejudice.

From INDIA

“The blatant discrimination and ignorance displayed by the Hershey Corporation's Milton Hershey School in the U.S. and the same discrimination and ignorance found in some Indian schools are simply unacceptable,” said Dr. Shibu Cheruvelil, AHF/India Country Program Manager, from New Delhi. “This Hershey decision was one fueled by prejudice and fear. We denounce this illegal and repugnant discrimination and encourage the public to be more vigilant by boycotting such corporate companies over their actions and lack of knowledge.”

In February of this year, Indian newspapers brought to the fore a similar case of abject discrimination by reporting the case of a Madurai school boy discriminated against because of his HIV-positive status.

“We are committed to fight against stigma and discrimination in society,” said Dr. Abdul Azad, Director of Strategic Planning/AHF India Cares. He added that very recently at Madurai district, a bright student was discriminated among other students in the classroom. “The teacher started discriminating against the boy after going through a notebook of his that spelled out the boy's HIV/AIDS medical treatment details. AHF India strongly condemns such bigotry and ignorance.”

“We believe that this is an excellent opportunity to educate the public about HIV including the fact that people who are living with HIV/AIDS do not pose a significant risk to others and generally do not require any special medical attention that cannot be obtained through normal medical visits,” said Dr. Das Devashish, Director, HIV/AIDS Unit, Lott Carey Baptist Mission. “In addition, people should know that recent studies have shown that people with HIV who are on treatment are up to 96% non-infectious. Because of this, those on treatment are not a threat to health and safety of others.”

“Still, people are facing stigma in every sphere of life in India—we are stigmatised in our society,” added Mr. Amithabh Awasti, President of Lucknow Network – Uttar Pradesh/ National HIV Activist.

AHF Launches TV, Print and Social Media Campaigns Targeting Hershey on AIDS Discrimination

As part of its ongoing advocacy efforts around Hershey, AHF has also rolled out a new national ad campaign on the Hershey School's illegal HIV/AIDS discrimination case. A 30 second television spot premiered on the CNN, MSNBC and MTV networks in several markets nationwide, starting Wednesday April 4^th running through April 15^th in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and South Florida (Miami-Dade market). In addition, a ‘Hershey Fails' report card-style print ad and a similar ‘Boycott Hershey' ad are running in a half a dozen gay/lesbian newspapers across the country over the next two weeks. These papers include” the Washington Blade (DC), South Florida Gay News (FL), Philadelphia Gay News (PA), Gay City News (NY), Bay Area Reporter (CA), Windy City Times (IL).

In addition to the in-person protests and television and print ads, AHF has been spearheading a global online and social media campaign—including a “Week of Action” this week. The campaign is driving traffic to www.endhivstigma.org, as well as a change.org petition. AHF is mobilizing its active Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr communities, asking them to spread the word about the boycott with actions such as replacing their Facebook profile pictures with a “Boycott Hershey's” graphic and tweeting using the hashtag #BoycottHersheys. The campaign also includes a :30 second awareness-raising video that can be viewed on AHF's Youtube page: www.youtube.com/aidshealth.

Background on Hershey School AIDS Discrimination Case

On December 1^st 2011 (the 24^th observation of World AIDS Day) the Hershey Trust's Milton Hershey School was sued in federal court for rejecting an otherwise qualified 13-year-old boy due to his HIV-positive status misguidedly calling him a “direct threat to the health and safety of others.”

Shortly after news broke just before World AIDS Day, December 1, 2011, about the school's rejection of the HIV-positive boy, AIDS Healthcare Foundation hosted a press conference in Washington D.C. to announce the launch of a campaign against HIV/AIDS discrimination at Hershey School in Pennsylvania and in support of the federal discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of a 13-year-old boy who was rejected for admission at Hershey explicitly due to his HIV-positive status. At the event, AHF announced its willingness to contribute up to $50,000 to support a lawsuit filed by AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania on behalf of the boy and expressed its moral outrage at the case.

According to the Associated Press (Claim: Hershey School Rejects HIV-Positive Pa. Boy, By Peter Jackson, 12/1/11): “A private boarding school connected with the Hershey chocolate company says it was trying to protect other students when it denied admission to a Philadelphia-area teenager because he is HIV-positive. The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on behalf of the unidentified boy in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on Wednesday, claiming the Milton Hershey School for disadvantaged students violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. School officials acknowledged that the 13-year-old boy was denied admission because of his medical condition. They said they believed it was necessary to protect the health and safety of the 1,850 others enrolled in the residential institution, which serves children in pre-kindergarten to 12th grade and where students live in homes with 10 to 12 others.

Ryan White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who, in the mid-1980s, was expelled from middle school because he was HIV-positive. A lengthy legal battle with the school ensued and White became a galvanizing force in educating the country about HIV & AIDS at a time when misinformation about the disease was widespread. After his death in 1990, the U.S. Congress passed a major piece of legislation named in his honor, the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides funding for HIV/AIDS programs for low-income American.

“It is unfortunate that Hershey continues to show such a shocking lack of knowledge of basic facts about HIV and how it is spread, and are instead reacting with fear and prejudice,” said Jessica Reinhart, Grassroots Community Manager for AIDS Healthcare Foundation and a key organizer of the Easter Hershey protests. “The ignorance displayed by the Hershey School's leadership is simply unacceptable and demonstrates just how much work there is still to be done to dismantle the fear and misinformation that still surrounds this disease more than 25 years after Ryan White.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 165,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org

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