AIDS activists plan protest of Maryland comptroller

AIDS activists in Maryland are planning a protest on Friday, October 22, of state comptroller and former governor William Donald Schaefer, who has called for a public registry of the names of HIV-positive people in the state and has labeled people with AIDS "a danger." Schaefer last week defended his call for the creation of the public registry by telling reporters that people with AIDS "brought it on themselves." "As far as I'm concerned, people who have AIDS are a danger," the 82-year-old former governor told The Washington Post. "They're a danger to spread AIDS. People should be able to know who has AIDS. It costs an awful lot of money to treat them. They bring it on themselves. They don't get it by sitting on the toilet seat. A person who gives AIDS, who spreads AIDS, they're bad people. Everybody wants to be on the good side of everything. Well, I'm taking a stand." AIDS activists are organizing a gathering on the steps of the state treasury building in Annapolis, Md., where the comptroller works, to protest Schaefer's comments and to call for a nationwide boycott of Maryland businesses and tourism until Schaefer resigns.