AIDS groups ask for investigation of Canadian seminary

Several Canadian AIDS service organizations and civil rights groups have asked the Quebec Human Rights Commission to investigate a new policy announced by a Montreal seminary to screen all applicants for HIV infection to help identify those who might be gay, The [Toronto] Globe and Mail reports. The policy, by the Roman Catholic Grand Seminaire de Montreal, may be in violation of the province's policy prohibiting discrimination against HIV-positive people and gays in the workplace, according to the groups. The Reverend Marcel Demers, in announcing the HIV-testing policy this week, said those who tested positive for HIV infection wouldn't be automatically barred from the seminary but that their admission chances would be "slim." He also said a positive test should "sound an alarm bell" that an applicant may be gay or bisexual. The new policy is a "public slap in the face for all Quebeckers living with HIV," the Quebec Coalition of Community-Based Organizations Fighting AIDS and the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network wrote in a letter to the human rights commission. "We are seriously concerned about a possible increase in discriminatory practices against people living with HIV should the commission decide not to investigate." The commission will decide next week whether to launch an investigation into the seminary's HIV-screening policy, said human rights commission spokeswoman Ginette L'Heureux.