Hershey Park, April 15—MCC Philadelphia, ACT UP Philadelphia & AHF to protest Hershey School’s AIDS discrimination

Sunday, April 15^th at 12:00 noon, AIDS and Community Advocates Will Stage a Protest Outside Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania Over “Unacceptable” Rejection of a 13-Year-Old Boy for Enrollment at Milton Hershey School Due to His HIV-Positive Status

Carrying Signs and Banners that Say “Hershey Ain’t Sweet,” Advocates Will Demand that the Hershey Company—which Funds the School—Denounce the Discrimination and Immediately Facilitate the Boy’s Enrollment

HERSHEY, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While Hershey Park hosts its Spring Break Weekend inside the Hershey Park this Sunday afternoon April 15^th at 12 noon, dozens of activists from Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia (MCC-Philadelphia), ACT UP Philadelphia, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), and others will descend on the park to draw attention to the plight of a 13-year-old boy who applied to Milton Hershey boarding school and was denied entry explicitly because he is HIV-positive. They will call for Hershey Company, which has three seats on the Board of the Milton Hershey School, to use their leverage to push for policy changes that will ensure no children are denied entry because they are HIV-positive.

Activists dressed as Hershey's candy, and others wearing red t-shirts symbolizing AIDS awareness, will gather outside the park. At 1:00 PM, a report card on Hershey will be unveiled. Hint: Not a good one! The colorful protest is planned to show that “Hershey Ain’t Sweet.”

WHAT:	Picket and protest outside Hershey Park, with giant candy bars and AIDS awareness
	t-shirts. AIDS Activists Plan to Disrupt Hershey Spring Break Weekend over Hershey
	School Decision to Deny Admission to HIV Positive Teen
WHEN:	Sunday, April 15^th at 12:00 noon (EASTERN)
WHERE:	Hershey Park
	300 Hershey Park Blvd., Hershey, PA 17033
WHO:	Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia, ACT UP Philadelphia, and AIDS
	Healthcare Foundation, Dozens of 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: [phone]

"It's appalling that Hershey Company would sit by and let AIDS stigma dictate school policy at the Milton Hershey School," said Rev. Jeffrey Jordan, pastor of MCC-Philadelphia. "We want to see the Hershey Company use their leverage as Board members to change the policy at the school for good."

The Milton Hershey School—a boarding school for low-income students funded by the Hershey Company—recently rejected the boy for admission citing his HIV-positive status as the reason, misguidedly calling him a “direct threat to the health and safety of others.” AHF has also launched a website www.EndHIVStigma.org where the public can learn more about the case, learn the facts about HIV/AIDS and send e-letters to three Hershey Company board members who also sit on the board of the Milton Hershey School Trust, urging them to denounce the discrimination and facilitate the boy’s admission into the school.

“The blatant discrimination and ignorance displayed by Hershey in this case is simply unacceptable. 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—a decision fueled by prejudice and fear,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “If Hershey is truly a company that believes in its social responsibility creed of ‘commitment to consumers, community and children,’ it will denounce this illegal and repugnant discrimination and immediately facilitate the enrollment of the boy at the school.”

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.”

“The ignorance displayed by the Hershey School’s leadership is 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,” said Jessica Reinhart, Grassroots Community Manager for AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

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.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 166,000 individuals in 25 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org