New York State Division of Human
Rights Commissioner Helen Diane Foster today announced the launch of a
statewide public information campaign designed to educate New Yorkers
about the protections afforded to people living with HIV/AIDS under the
Human Rights Law. This campaign is made possible through a Memorandum
of Understanding with the State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute
which allocated $90,000 to the Division for this purpose.
“I cannot emphasize enough the
importance of this joint effort to ensure that persons living with
HIV/AIDS understand their rights under the law,” said Commissioner
Foster. “We are thankful to the AIDS Institute for helping our agency
achieve our common goal to provide those impacted by HIV and AIDS with
the knowledge they need to seek justice when their rights are violated.”
“We are proud to partner with the New
York State Division of Human Rights on an HIV/AIDS public education
campaign,” said Dan O'Connell, director of the Department of Health's
AIDS Institute. “This collaboration represents a key strategy to combat
HIV stigma and discrimination and will help ensure the goal of ending
the AIDS epidemic in New York State is realized.”
The statewide multi-media campaign,
which will launch in January 2016, urges members of the public living
with HIV/AIDS to learn more about their rights under the law and to file
complaints with the Division if they feel they have been discriminated
against. The campaign will appear in mass transit stations and on
billboards throughout the state. A social media component will also be
incorporated.
The Human Rights Law prohibits
discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in employment,
housing, places of public accommodation, credit transactions, and
private, non-sectarian educational institutions.
Additionally, the Division’s Director
of Disability Rights, John Herrion, will meet with advocacy groups and
service providers throughout the state to educate organizations and the
communities they serve about the agency’s enforcement of the provisions
of the law that protect people living with HIV/AIDS.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has made it a
priority to establish New York State as a leader in the national and
global effort to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The state campaign to End
the AIDS Epidemic in New York calls for reducing the annual number of
new HIV infections to 750 by the end of 2020 (from an estimated 3,000 in
2013). The goal is to achieve New York’s first-ever decrease in HIV
prevalence, since the epidemic began in the early 1980s. To learn more
about Governor Cuomo’s End the HIV/AIDS Epidemic campaign, please visit:
www.health.ny.gov/
New York has the proud distinction of
being the first state in the nation to enact a Human Rights Law, which
affords every citizen “an equal opportunity to enjoy a full and
productive life.” The New York State Division of Human Rights is the
agency in charge of enforcing this law, which prohibits discrimination
in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, and other
jurisdictions, based on age, race, national origin, sex, sexual
orientation, marital status, disability, military status, and other
specified classes. For more information about the law and the work of
the agency, please visit the Division of Human Rights’ website at www.dhr.ny.gov or call 1-888-392-3644.
Source: New York State Division of Human Rights
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