Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - July 16, 2003
Chris Jones, Tribune arts reporter
"I told them I was HIV-positive at the very start of my four months of training in Montreal" said the Maryland-based Matthew Cusick, 31, in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Cusick also said that a Cirque doctor had declared him to be in good health at that time. Cusick's attorney, Hayley Gorenberg, said her client has been HIV-positive for 10 years.
Shortly after being offered a job as a "catcher" of aerialists in "Mystere," Cusick said, he was told by a Cirque representative that he was being fired as a result of being HIV-positive.
Cusick contacted the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed the complaint Tuesday in Los Angeles.
"This is a legal matter," said Cirque spokesman Renee-Claude Menard. "We will have no comment until it follows its due course."
The Cirque du Soleil's touring production of "Varekai" opens in Chicago on Thursday.
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