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PageOneQ Huckabee, in a 1992 AP questionnaire, advocated the isolation of people living with HIV from the general public, considering HIV a "public health issue" instead of a "civil rights issue." The attorneys, Charles R. Vaughn and Charles V. Vaughn, especially note that children living with HIV had long since been "mainstreamed" in classrooms by the time Huckabee had submitted his statement to the Associated Press. Ryan White's mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, sought a face-to-face discussion with Mike Huckabee after learning of the statement in question, but Huckabee has yet to commit. The entire text of the letter, as published by the Journal & Courier of Lafayette, Indiana, is available for viewing at this link, and has also been provided below.
Huckabee's AIDS statements astound We were astounded to hear Mike Huckabee reaffirming his statement in 1992 that people with AIDS should be isolated from the general population. He said of AIDS that a "deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents." Evidently he did not read any newspapers in 1985, when Ryan White battled to educate the country that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact and that Ryan should be placed in school with the general population. Ryan White's story was the No. 1 news story, and exercising his civil right to be in the classroom with his fellow students and the education of the public on how AIDS was transmitted were the other issues. Ryan's story was also the No. 2 most-covered news story in 1986. Evidently Mr. Huckabee did not read a newspaper in 1985 or 1986. It seems to us Mr. Huckabee reaffirmation of the statement he made in 1992, that AIDS patients should be isolated, is incomprehensible. That this man, who is so cout (sic) of touch with reality, could run for president of the United States is more than disturbing. Isn't it astounding that someone running for president of the United States could take a position that is so wrong in light of the medical evidence available in 1992? In 1992, children with AIDS had already been mainstreamed in the classroom for at least five years. Charles R. Vaughan and Charles V. Vaughan, Ryan White's attorneys, Lafayette
Attorneys for Ryan White, the teenager who made headlines after being infected with HIV through a blood transfusion in the mid-1980's, have harsh words for former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.#
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Originally published on Wednesday December 19, 2007.