Precaution or prejudice?

On July 15, 2003, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a legal advocacy group far the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities, filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Los Angeles on behalf of dancer/gymnast Matthew Cusick. The complaint charged Cirque du Soleil with illegal discrimination for suddenly canceling Cusick's contract.

After an audition last year, Cirque du Soleil hired Cusick for its production Mystere, currently in a long run at the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. After months of training in Montreal and just before Cusick was slated to begin performing, however, the world-renowned circus troupe abruptly changed its mind, stating that Cusick's HIV-positive status posed a health risk.

In Cusick's termination letter, the Cirque du Soleil administration allegedly stated that he posed "a direct threat of harm to others." This contradicts predominant medical opinion. The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness wrote in a 1999 policy statement that the "risk of HIV infection ... during sports participation is very low."

Cusick, who tested positive for the HIV virus ten years ago, had been honest about his health from the beginning. His viral load, the primary indicator of disease progression, is currently undetectable. And a Cirque du Soleil doctor had pronounced Cusick healthy and able to perform twice during his training.

From his home in the Washington, D.C., area, Cusick said working for Cirque du Soleil was his dream job. "Maybe it's naive, but I never thought I'd be kept from pursuing my dreams because I'm HIV-positive." Cusick's statement is particularly wrenching when compared with these words from Cirque du Soleil's founder Guy Laliberte found on www.cirquedusoleil.com: "We hope you'll be inspired to dream your own dreams, and to believe they too con come true."

Cusick, 32, trained as a gymnast beginning in kindergarten and he competed throughout high school. He currently makes a living as a personal trainer. He was hired to be a high bar catcher for two different parts of Myst@re, the Russian high bar and the Chinese poles.

Cirque du Soleil has refused to comment on the complaint. A spokesperson for the company told the Associated Press, "We won't be commenting on this subject until the legal process continues on its due course."

Lambda Legal, originally founded in 1973 to advance the civil rights of LGBT people, began taking AIDS-related discrimination cases in the early 1980s. Even with the current breakthroughs in treatment options, AIDS remains stigmatized and misunderstood; Lambda recently settled a case against an HIV-positive police officer and has several similar cases pending.

The EEOC typically reviews a complaint for 180 days before delivering its findings, explained Hayley Gorenberg, Cusick's Lambda representative. In that time, Cirque du Soleil might make an offer of monetary compensation, though Gorenberg said Cusick is hoping to be reinstated to his original position with the company. Meanwhile, Cusick plans to stick with the approach that he has followed for the past ten years, to "live each day to the fullest."