Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - Thursday December 24, 1998
Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press Writer
A chef who worked at some of the nation's finest restaurants, Biggers, 36, remains homeless, has not found work and underwent triple bypass surgery three months ago.
But he takes comfort in knowing that something good emerged this month from his ordeal: a policy to promote AIDS awareness that he hopes might become a model for shelters across the country.
The manager of the Emmaus Center in Ellsworth, 140 miles up the coast from Portland, ordered Biggers to leave on Dec. 23, 1997. Biggers says he was told that talking about his condition, setting the table and having sores on the back of his hands posed a risk to others.
The 22-bed shelter arranged to put him up in a hotel. But Biggers said the experience made him feel "like a leper, like a castaway."
AIDS activists directed him to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission. The ACLU asked H.O.M.E. Inc., the nonprofit operator of the Emmaus Center, to establish a non-discriminatory policy and pay Biggers $10,000 in damages.
H.O.M.E. did not dispute Biggers' assertions and had replaced the shelter manager even before the complaint was filed. Under a settlement, H.O.M.E. agreed to develop a five-session curriculum for the shelter's staff that seeks to dispel myths about AIDS and clarify legal issues and disclosure requirements.
"A lot of the discrimination is based on fear and misinformation surrounding these issues," said Mary Harney of the Down East AIDS Network, who helped develop the program. "There are still some people who think it can be passed by mosquitoes and that you can get it from a teacup if someone who has it has been drinking from that cup."
Biggers, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, was informed of the settlement while house-sitting for his sister in Charleston, S.C., where he will help prepare an annual Christmas dinner for the needy.
Biggers didn't get any money out of the settlement because, he said, his goal was to change policy.
The ACLU hopes the policy will be adopted by shelters nationwide.
"My guess is that the response will be good," said Matthew Coles, director of its AID/HIV Project in New York. "People who run homeless shelters are almost by definition good people who are trying to do something positive in the world and make it a better place. The problem is usually ignorance, not malice."
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