Popular campaign on Change.org calls on Pennsylvania school that denied HIV-positive student to reverse their decision and admit child to class; in 24 hours, thousands have signed.
HERSHEY, PA. – In less than 24 hours, thousands of people have joined a popular campaign on Change.org calling on Milton Hershey School officials to reverse their decision and admit an HIV-Positive student to the school.
Lawrence Stallworth II, a 20-year-old who learned he was HIV-positive while a senior in high school, is leading the campaign on Change.org following the revelation that Milton Hershey School, a co-educational boarding school in Hershey, Pa., had denied a student in Pennsylvania admission to the school because of his HIV Status.
“Schools should be allies, not enemies of students living with HIV,” said Lawrence Stallworth II, now age 20, who is leading the campaign on Change.org with Advocates for Youth, an organization that helps young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health.
“At age 17, I learned I was HIV positive, and I told some trusted teachers about my status. I assumed schools would be a place of support for students like me, but instead I encountered stigma, ignorance and fear. A staff meeting was held to discuss what should be done about me. I was refused services by a teacher saying, ‘We don’t teach universal precaution down here, Lawrence. And we can’t expose students to that kind of a risk.’”
“It shouldn’t be the responsibility of a 13-year-old boy to teach the Milton Hershey School about the science of HIV or the moral obligation educators have to meet the needs of all students,” Stallworth continued. “But this young man is doing just that – and we all have a responsibility to have his back.”
“Lawrence’s campaign has certainly resonated with people across the country,” said Change.org Director of Organizing Katie Bethell. “Thousands of people have signed on in a matter of hours, and they’re all saying the same thing: the Milton Hershey School has to publicly apologize for discriminating against this 13-year-old student. Lawrence clearly won’t stop fighting until Milton Hershey stops discriminating against HIV-positive students.”
Live signature totals from the campaign:
http://www.change.org/petitions/milton-hershey-school-stop-discriminating-against-an-hiv-positive-13-year-old
Journalists interested in contacting the Milton Hershey School should try:
Connie McNamara, Vice President of Communications, Milton Hershey School
(717) 520-2212
Journalists interested in contacting attorneys for the 13-year old student should try:
Executive Director Ronda Goldfein, Esq.
AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania
(215) 587-9377
James Rosica, Media Relations
AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania
rosica.alpp@gmail.com
Contact information for petition signers can be arranged upon request:
Katie Bethell
Director of Organizing, Change.org
(202) 684 2552
For more information on Advocates for Youth, please visit:
http://advocatesforyouth.org/
Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health. Advocates focuses its work on young people ages 14-25 in the U.S. and around the globe.
For more information on Change.org, please visit:
http://www.change.org/about
Change.org is the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by more than 500,000 new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.
