Dannemeyer Says ACLU Misread His AIDS Law Stand

Rep. William Dannemeyer said Friday that he was just trying to have a little fun with the ACLU when he suggested that it investigate whether public health officials were violating privacy laws protecting AIDS victims.

The letter he sent last week shocked officials at the American Civil Liberties Union who thought Congress’ leading critic of homosexuality and one of their longtime opponents might have switched to their side.

But Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) said they were mistaken. “I thought there was a little humor in asking the ACLU to come to their rescue,” he said.

The incident stems from the disclosure last month that a Los Angeles man tested positive for HIV-2, a rare strain of AIDS. In fact, it was the first reported case of HIV-2 on the West Coast and only the seventh known case in the United States.

Dannemeyer said his attention was caught by a news story that said health officials were investigating the sexual history of the victim, something that is not done for carriers of HIV-1, the most common AIDS virus.

Dannemeyer said he wanted to be sure that both the ACLU and public health officials were consistent in their protection of the privacy of AIDS victims.

The congressman has authored legislation supporting so-called “reportability,” meaning that health officials question AIDS victims about the identity of their sexual partners.

But his letter to the ACLU indicated that he also supported the privacy protection, causing the ACLU officials to respond that they were “delighted” with his change in position.

Friday, however, the congressman apologized for any lack of clarity in his letter and said that he has not changed his position. He still believes the health department should investigate the sexual history of every known AIDS victim.

“I think it’s a classic case of just asking the ACLU to be consistent,” Dannemeyer said. “So now I’m saying to those paragons of virtue, ‘You have evidenced this great interest in HIV-1 carriers, are you also going to interest yourselves in the HIV-2 carriers? And if not, why not?’ ”

In seriousness, Dannemeyer said he does believe that health officials are violating the current law by questioning the background of the HIV-2 victim and that he was sincere in asking the ACLU to check his complaint.

But Paul Hoffman, legal director of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said his office checked Dannemeyer’s concern and concluded that the congressman was wrong. In a written response to Dannemeyer, Hoffman said public health officials are handling both types of AIDS cases in a similar manner and that the privacy of the victims was protected in both.