AEGiS-AP: HIV-Positive Scout Files Complaint

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

HIV-Positive Scout Files Complaint

The Associated Press - Thursday March 11, 1999

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (AP) - A human-rights complaint has been lodged against the Girl Scouts for initially denying membership to an HIV-positive 8-year-old. The Legal Action Center of New York City filed it Wednesday on behalf of Quashawn Donovan with the state Division of Human Rights. Quashawn was rejected from seven troops in the Queensbury area last year because she has the virus that causes AIDS, according to her mother, Dianne Donovan.

"We want the human rights division to require the Girl Scouts to educate all troop leaders, volunteers and staff that HIV cannot be transmitted through casual contact," said Legal Action Center lawyer Sally Friedman. "We also want them to order the Girl Scouts to adopt stricter anti-discrimination policies that would hold people who violate them accountable."

The complaint also seeks unspecified damages to compensate Quashawn for the emotional distress she suffered when she was rejected by troop leaders, Friedman said.

An administrative law judge will hear the complaint, which alleges violations of the state's human rights law. His decision would be put into effect by the state commissioner of human rights.

Kit Huggard, executive director of the Adirondack Girl Scout Council in this town about 45 miles north of Albany, declined to comment Wednesday on the complaint. She maintains, though, that the Girl Scouts do not discriminate against any child, including those with life-threatening illnesses.

According to the complaint, the local council gave Mrs. Donovan an enthusiastic response when she first approached them in October looking for a troop for her daughter. But she said she was later rebuffed by troop leader after troop leader, who individually hold the power to decide who joins their troops.

Mrs. Donovan said she believes leaders, who are volunteers, were afraid parents would pull their children from troops if Quashawn joined.

The Legal Action Center accused the local council with discrimination, and the national organization, Girl Scouts USA, with "aiding and abetting" that discrimination.

Friedman said troop leaders don't face any consequences if they violate the organization's anti-discrimination policy.
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