San Francisco Chronicle - November 20, 2003
Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writer

But after Cirque du Soleil fired the gymnast in April because he has HIV, he says he was forced to take a stand.

"I didn't want everybody labeling me and not seeing past the label, but I could not sit idly by while this happened," Cusick said Wednesday in a phone interview.

Cusick's supporters say that Cirque's actions are an outrage -- and go against two decades of efforts to educate the public against unwarranted fear and misinformation about HIV.

Tonight, Cusick is expected to join representatives of the Stop AIDS Project, Horizons Foundation and other Bay Area groups that have pledged to protest his firing in front of Cirque's blue and yellow striped tents in the parking lot of Pac Bell Park.

Cirque contends its decision was made solely for safety reasons.

"We believed the risk of exposing fellow artists, technicians and/or spectators to HIV as a consequence of injurious physical contact was too great, " the company has written to members of the public who have inquired about the firing.

Spokeswoman Renee Claude Menard said Cirque could not say much more because of the pending investigation but promised further details later.

"Our name is being dragged through the mud. This is more hurtful than anything else," she said.

Menard said that Cusick is eligible for other jobs at Cirque. She said the company employs others with HIV, in positions the company deems as less risky. Cusick, however, says he was never offered any of these positions.

Cusick, 32, has been HIV-positive for the past decade. A gymnast since he was 5, Cusick became an upper-level girls coach in Maryland. At the end of 2000, he sent in an audition tape and was invited to audition in Orlando.

Cirque selected him to go through a four-month training in Quebec, from July to November 2002. He disclosed his HIV status, prior to training.

During training, the performer had coaches, and no spectators were present, which reduced the company's perceived risk, said Menard.

Cirque offered him a two-month contract, in which he would perform as a "catcher" in an aerial act. The casting department was not aware of his HIV status and thus assigned him to a risky role, Menard said. To protect his privacy, Cirque had not disclosed his status to other company members, she said. Cirque has 2,800 workers worldwide.

Cusick had been preparing to perform on the Russian High Bar, in which he hung upside down and caught aerialists, and the Chinese Poles, in which artists perform tricks on tall poles.

Cirque fired Cusick in April, just three days before he was to take the stage of "Mystere," a show playing at Treasure Island in Las Vegas.

Cusick sought help from Lambda Legal, a Washington, D.C., civil rights group for gays, lesbians, those with HIV and AIDS. Lambda contacted Cirque on Cusick's behalf, but the company did not budge.

On July 14, Lambda filed a complaint at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC typically completes its investigation within six months, at which point the commission could mediate a settlement or the plaintiff can sue.

Cusick is considering seeking reinstatement to his contract, possibly damages, and wants Cirque to educate the company and the public on discrimination against people with HIV.

For now, he works as a personal trainer in Maryland and is considering going back into coaching.

"I'm trying to get my life back together. I can't wait," he said. The Supreme Court has ruled that the American with Disabilities Act protects people with HIV. However, an employer's obligation to accommodate someone with a disability has an exception: When the worker poses a risk to himself or to co-workers, labor lawyers said.

The question is whether Cusick is such a threat.

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine said in a joint statement that that sports-related transmission of HIV is unlikely, although the theoretical chance is "not zero."

"Based on current medical and epidemiologic information, HIV infection alone is insufficient grounds to prohibit athletic competition," the statement reads.

Raymond Wheeler, head of the employment and labor practice at Morrison and Foerster, said Cirque must be able to show there is a real risk of transmission, not just hypothetical situations.

Protests are planned as the show moves on to Atlanta, New York and other cities.

E-mail Vanessa Hua at vahua@sfchronicle.com.
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