Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

rocktivity

(44,573 posts)
Fri Apr 18, 2014, 02:58 PM Apr 2014

Thrown out of a basketball game for being HIV-positive!

A 21-year-old Florida man was tossed from a Kissimmee rec basketball game after a city employee learned the aspiring rapper is HIV-positive.

The game...was in the second half when a referee blew the whistle and called a timeout, Dakota Basinger told the Orlando Sentinel. A city employee pulled the man aside and asked Basinger, who had written about his diagnosis a week ago on Facebook, if he had HIV. Basinger said yes. The employee then threw the man out of the game and said he could no longer participate in the city-sponsored league, which was currently in the playoffs. "I feel humiliated and discriminated against," Basinger told the Sentinel. "I felt horrible walking out of that gym."

The city backtracked Tuesday, telling the Sentinel in a statement the part-time city employee, who remains an employee “as of now,” (had) “acted independently and without supervisor approval”...

The virus can be transmitted through blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk but not in saliva and sweat, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention...Lakers basketball forward Magic Johnson retired from the NBA in 1991 after learning he has HIV. Several players objected to playing against, or with, a player with HIV...
(link)


Yes, I remember Magic's diagnosis well -- nightmare visions of an epidemic of blood-exchanging collisions between the players...anyway, if his team is still in the playoffs, when does Basinger get reinstated?


rocktivity

1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Thrown out of a basketball game for being HIV-positive! (Original Post) rocktivity Apr 2014 OP
UPDATE: City Backtracks, Basinger Reinstated rocktivity Apr 2014 #1

rocktivity

(44,573 posts)
1. UPDATE: City Backtracks, Basinger Reinstated
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 12:36 PM
Apr 2014
"The city has taken corrective action to ensure this does not happen in the future," said Arin Thrower, spokeswoman for the city, adding that "as of right now," the employee still works for the city. Basinger will be allowed to play in the league again when it starts back up, Thrower said.

...(A)ccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..."Contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and HIV-infected blood" may also spread the virus, but such reports are "extremely rare..."

...Basinger said he contracted HIV, a viral infection that is the precursor to AIDS, by having unprotected sex with another man.



rocktivity

Latest Discussions»Support Forums»HIV/AIDS Support»Thrown out of a basketbal...