Bay Windows correspondent, June 17, 1999
Peter Cassels, Bay Windows correspondent

When Paige, who's 42 and HIV positive, offered his services to the North Providence, R.I., School Department last September, Marie Hanley, superintendent at the time, flatly refused, telling him and the town's school committee that she was opposed because of his "personal lifestyle." Hanley added that there was no need for Paige to speak because teachers cover AIDS issues during health classes.

"I was appalled that the superintendent would even give that as a reason and that she had no problem saying that," Paige told Bay Windows during an interview. "I can offer something teachers cannot. I put a face on the disease. It's a stronger message to uninfected students."

Unlike most school districts which have allowed Paige to conduct in-hours programs under a 10-year-old compulsory AIDS education policy, North Providence remains adamant in denying him school-hours access. He has applied and been turned down three times. The school committee each time granted permission to speak to students after hours, most recently on June 10. However, he doesn't reach as many students because attendance is not required and his program competes with extracurricular activities and part-time jobs.

Paige appealed the school district's decision to Peter McWalters, Rhode Island commissioner of secondary education. McWalters in May wrote to Paul Vorro, the town's current school superintendent, warning him that the policy violates the state's nondiscrimination policy on classroom speakers.

"The regents' policy emphasizes the importance of sending a clear message to all students of the North Providence public schools that they will not be excluded from participation in any educational program or activity based on actual or perceived sexual orientation," McWalters said in the letter.

Stating that the North Providence High School principal also is supportive, Paige hopes that Vorro will be more understanding. He'll revisit the issue again before classes resume in the fall.

The town's school committee tends to be conservative and although many parents are supportive of Paige, they have not made their opinions known to school officials. "Many times the most vocal are the minority of people who don't want AIDS or sex education discussed in the classroom," he points out. Two years ago he gave his presentation to the high school's alumni, parents and students association. "While initially skeptical, the group seemed very supportive after the presentation, but I haven't heard from them since."

Ironically, the only other school department that has not put out the welcome mat for Paige is in his hometown. A 1976 graduate of Cranston High School West, he approached the city's school committee two years ago about conducting a presentation. The head of health and physical education was not receptive.

A freelance volunteer HIV educator who has worked with the AIDS Action Committee, AIDS Project Rhode Island and the state's education department, Paige targets students for HIV education because of their high risk in contracting the disease. Youth are sexually active, only about half use condoms during intercourse, and represent the fast-growing group of new cases. He tells students that abstinence is the best guarantee that they won't become infected, but that condoms are extremely effective.

His message appears to be getting through. Students tell Paige they are impressed by the up close and personal presentation. "I've had kids write me that they are going to postpone sex or will engage in intercourse only with condoms," he says.

One reason Paige is so effective may be that students relate to his own experience as a youth. He believes he contracted HIV as far back as 1977, when he was 18 and a freshman at Rutgers University. "I remember I was seriously ill that year, exhibiting flu-like symptoms that often accompany the initial infection, but go away later," he says. At the time, he was dating three men, all of whom are now dead.

After graduating in 1980, Paige moved to New York City where, after a brief stint in the city planning office, he became a salesman in the fashion industry. "I was living in Greenwich Village at the time the city was an epicenter for the epidemic," he explains. He remained sexually promiscuous until 1983, when he started a six-year monogamous relationship. He and his partner were tested in 1989. "He tested negative, I was positive."

The relationship deteriorated and by 1991 Paige was single again. "The feeling that I was damaged goods was painful," he explains. "So I decided to return to Rhode Island because I was worried about having someone to take care of me when I became sick."

In October 1993, Paige developed full-blown AIDS when his CD-4 count went below 200 for the first time. By 1995, his CD-4 count dropped to 30 and his viral load was 300,000. Today Paige appears healthy, thanks to protease inhibitor "cocktails" he began taking in January 1996. But he's quick to point out that the drugs prolong suppression of the virus and do not eliminate it. One by one, the cocktails stopped working. He is now on his fourth ù and perhaps last ù cocktail combination. "I've been on the new drug mix now for five months and I've run through the gamut of approved drugs."

Paige says he has survived with HIV so long because of his outlook on life. "I have a positive attitude, but also a realistic one in that I have accepted having this virus without blame and without anger. I've tried to live as healthily as possible. I get enough sleep and exercise and do not use alcohol or recreational drugs."

Besides his education work, Paige is a board member of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders and Youth Pride, Inc., an Ocean State group for gay and lesbian young people, and serves on the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island's AIDS Task Force. He's been in a relationship for five years with someone who is HIV negative and splits his time between his home in Cranston and his partner's place in Truro, Mass.
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