HIV Testing to Be Proposed

State Assemblymen Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) and Bill Hoge (R-Pasadena) announced Tuesday that they will introduce separate bills to require pre-fight HIV testing of all boxers and martial arts fighters in California. But gay-rights and AIDS-issues activists said that they plan to oppose such legislation.

The push by the assemblymen comes in the wake of the revelation Saturday that boxer Tommy Morrison tested positive for the virus before a fight scheduled for Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel. Nevada is one of only four states to require HIV testing. The others are Arizona, Washington and Oregon.

“I couldn’t believe we don’t already have a law,” Miller said. “It is frightening to me that another boxer could have unknowingly been exposed to the virus which causes AIDS if he had fought Tommy Morrison in California.

“There is no way of knowing who you are fighting. It’s bad enough to go into the ring and face an opponent. But to face an opponent who could test positive is scary. We are not talking about golfers or basketball players. But when you talk about boxers, you are dealing with a very bloody sport.”

Hoge called it “unconscionable” that the state does not have mandatory testing.

“Given the nature of boxing and frequency of cuts and injuries, continuing not to test is playing with fire,” said Hoge, chairman of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, which oversees athletics in California.

The California Athletic Commission has been trying to find a sponsor for such a bill for three years, Chairman Bob Eastman said. He has accused state legislators of cowardice in the face of expected opposition.

“I have been in the legislature for nine months and I have no such fear,” Miller said. “What I do fear is ignorance about a dangerous disease. . . . I know the special interests have succeeded in knocking down this proposal before the fight ever got started. This is not an issue of civil rights. It is an issue of public health.”

Robert Rios, public policy director of Life Lobby, a nonprofit group active in gay- and AIDS-related issues, said that he will oppose the legislation.

“I absolutely concur that it is an issue of public health,” Rios said. “But the HIV antibody test is at least six months out of date when it is taken because there is a window period when a person can test HIV-negative but be positive. There is no assurance or guarantee a boxer is negative just because he tested negative. These tests can provide a false assurance of safety.

“The second thing is, there must be a likelihood of transmission. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 15 years, there has not been a single case of [HIV] transmission through athletic competition.

“All HIV testing should be voluntary. . . . This bill smacks of being an attempt to make HIV negativity an employment condition, which is a dangerous precedent. It’s a quick-fix response. It casts too broad a net.”

Mark Senak, deputy director of AIDS Project Los Angeles, agreed.

“You are more likely to get the disease in bed than you are to get it in the ring,” Senak said. “If the bill were about mandatory education concerning HIV transmission, it would save more lives than this particular bill. This bill is a great way for politicians to look like they are doing something when, in effect, they are not doing anything.”

While the legislative wheels began to turn in California, referee Mills Lane underwent HIV testing in Nevada after learning that Morrison’s results were positive. Lane refereed Morrison’s last fight, a loss to Lennox Lewis in Atlantic City in October.

“My doctor called me about 4:30 today and told me I was absolutely negative,” Lane told the Associated Press. “I had blood all over me. He bled all over me and everyone else.”

Lewis has been unreachable in Jamaica, but his promoter, Dino Duva, said that the fighter is scheduled to be tested for AIDS next month in Great Britain as part of that country’s requirements for an annual boxing license.