AIDS Conference Organizers Slam HIV Discrimination at Thai Hotel

On Sunday, organizers of the world's largest AIDS conference due to take place in Thailand in July called a Bangkok hotel's attempts to isolate HIV-positive people "completely unwarranted." Activists said staff at the four-star Prince Palace Hotel had moved people with HIV, who were attending an HIV/AIDS meeting this month, to a single floor and cordoned off a dining area to separate them from other guests. "Such actions constitute discriminatory practices and must be avoided," Joep Lange, president of the International AIDS Society and co-chair of next month's conference, said in a statement. Conference organizers "are now working closely with the service industries in Thailand to correct common misconceptions about people living with HIV-AIDS and the risk of transmission of HIV-AIDS through everyday, casual contact," the statement said. Organizers said they had not recommended the hotel and will not use it to house delegates for the event, which up to 20,000 delegates will attend.

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