Whether someone has HIV shouldn’t matter

Republican Dave Leach says he “fell on the floor” each time he saw television commercials that he says raise questions about whether his Iowa Senate opponent is HIV positive.

In response, state Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, said today he doesn’t understand Leach’s reaction to the anti-stigma advertisements, and that it shouldn’t matter whether or not he has the infection.

The advertisements by the Iowa HIV Alliance feature McCoy and other prominent Iowans saying HIV won’t stop them from interacting with people.

“HIV won’t stop me from shaking hands with my constituents,” McCoy says in the ad.

Then a female voiceover says: “Whether HIV positive or HIV negative, we are talented, hard-working and lovable. We are neighbors, providers, family and friends. HIV is not the sum of who we are.”

Leach said in a statement on his website Tuesday: “I heard that commercial so many times, the doctor had me install a seat belt on my sofa. Was McCoy actually telling us that he has HIV, but he is willing to accept the risk of giving it to us by shaking our hands?”

He added: “I am dying of curiosity to know what he meant.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states that HIV is not spread by “casual contact like shaking hands or sharing dishes.”

It’s been previously reported that McCoy doesn’t have HIV.

But he declined to respond this morning when asked by the Register whether he has HIV, saying he had decided purposefully not to answer that question.

“We don’t care if people think we do or don’t,” McCoy said. “The point is we’re just about de-stigmatizing this disease, and ultimately creating conversation and awareness about it.”

Also featured in the ads are Bankers Trust CEO Suku Radia, Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, the Rev. Mark Stringer, Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu, retired businessman David Hurd, as well as everyday Iowans who are identified as a “person living with HIV.”

McCoy said: “I didn’t really understand his comments about laughing on his couch about people with HIV. I don’t really know what he was trying to say. I don’t see the humor in it.”

In a telephone interview this afternoon, Leach said he’s not laughing – he’s astonished that someone would imply he doesn’t mind giving people HIV. “I’ve talked to others who also perceived that,” he said.

Leach hasn’t been shy about expressing his opposition to homosexuality. He refers to himself on his campaign website as an “out-of-the-closet Christian” and calls McCoy “a marriage-diluting sodomite.”

Leach’s statements Tuesday at www.saltshaker.us/Leach2010 were part of a written commentary on whether or not he and McCoy will debate each other.

He wrote: “One thing I would love to ask McCoy, which perhaps I will finally be able to ask during the debate. It’s a small thing on the great stage of state issues, but I am dying of curiosity about it. In those endless commercials about AIDS, I fell on the floor every time McCoy said ‘HIV will not keep me from shaking hands with my constituents.” I heard that commercial so many times, the doctor had me install a seat belt on my sofa. Was McCoy actually telling us that he has HIV, but he is willing to accept the risk of giving it to us by shaking our hands? In trying to think of a more favorable interpretation, I considered whether he meant he will not let the possibility of some of his constituents having HIV keep him from shaking hands with them; but I had to rule that out, since that is so much the opposite of which direction the disease would be most likely to travel, because that is the least of the ways he is likely to acquire it, that to mean that would be callous, and I don’t think he is that kind of guy. I apologize if there is some third interpretation which makes sense and is what he meant, but I am dying of curiosity to know what he meant, so I just want to ask.”

In the telephone interview today, Leach said: “I wouldn’t say that is a man is disqualified from serving in the Legislature because he has a disease,” but “homosexuality ought to be restrained by law.”

Leach said his opposition to homosexuality and Iowa’s gay marriage law aren’t his only campaign issues. He also has strong opposition to abortion, “stupid spending” and waste in the education system, he said.