EFE Sues Lambs Farm for Excluding Man with HIV

On September 27, 2005, Equip for Equality filed suit against Lambs Farm, a nonprofit organization in Libertyville, Illinois, that provides housing and vocational and recreational services to adults with developmental disabilities. The suit was brought on behalf of a "John Doe," a 54-year-old man with a developmental disability whom Lambs Farm refuses to serve because he is HIV positive.

The suit alleges that Lambs Farm's refusal to admit Doe to its services is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal Rehabilitation Act, and the federal Fair Housing Act. The complaint seeks an order compelling Lambs Farm to admit Doe to its vocational and residential programs, as well as compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

Doe received services from Lambs Farm from the time he was a young man and was close to the founders. After moving out of state to be with his terminally ill mother, Doe returned to Illinois in 2004 with the intention of returning to Lambs Farm. So confident was his mother that Doe would be received warmly by Lambs Farm that she set up a trust for him which provided that upon his death the assets of the trust would go to Lambs Farm.

Lambs Farm initially welcomed Doe back and even took him to see the apartment that would be his when the processing of his application was completed. However, when Lambs Farm reviewed the medical packet sent by the agency assisting Doe, its management became aware that Doe was HIV-positive and his application was immediately rejected. Lambs Farm's executive director, Dianne Yaconetti, expressed concern that others would find out about Doe's HIV status and would be fearful. The chairman of the board of directors, Robert Neiman, confirmed that Lambs Farm would provide neither housing nor vocational services to Doe because of his "communicable disease."

Doe, who regularly takes medication for his HIV without assistance, has no symptoms.

"All I wanted to do was go back to Lambs Farm," says Doe, who does not understand how he could be rejected by "the Lambs" when he has done nothing wrong and poses no threat to anyone.

"Lambs Farm's categorical refusal to serve Doe based on his HIV status is a clear violation of the federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on disability," says Karen Ward, senior counsel at Equip for Equality and one of the attorneys representing Doe. "Lambs Farm's actions are based upon the very stereotypes and unfounded fears that these laws were designed to address." Senior Attorney Alan Goldstein is also on the case.

In response to the complaint, Lambs Farm alleges that HIV is not a disability under the ADA and that Doe's presence is a direct threat to the health and safety to others at Lambs Farm.

"For a well-known community agency that claims to be devoted to the empowerment of people with disabilities, this attitude is particularly shocking and disheartening," says Zena Naiditch, President and CEO of Equip for Equality. "Twenty-five years after the emergence of AIDS in this country, and 15 years after the passage of the ADA, we certainly did not expect to see such illinformed decision making. We are hopeful that the federal court will quickly bring an end to this injustice."

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