HIV Carriers Outed Online?

Legislation floating around Rio de Janeiro’s state government is pushing to publish an online list of all HIV-infected citizens. Not surprisingly, AIDS groups and human rights organizations are up in arms over the proposal, which was introduced to protect medical staff from contamination. “All professionals involved in attending [patients] have the constitutional right to know if they are treating an HIV-positive patient," the bill reads. The bill, proposed by controversial leader Jorge Babu, also mandates that HIV carriers should hold special identification cards because “such citizens take on different characteristics to the rest [of society], requiring different treatment.” An AIDS support group leader compared the ID cards to the Stars of David Jewish citizens were forced to wear in Nazi Germany.