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Russell Rich was a star McDonalds employee for more than two decades, but none of that seemed to matter when higher-ups learned he had AIDS, for the complete story click here In reponse to Russell Rich please read the following e mail I have recieved recently.
MCVERDICT, the article written in the Advocate has given me a totally different impression of MacDonald's as a company. I will NEVER eat there again. Having read the article written by Laurie Putre in the April 16, 2002 issue of the Advocate, I feel that we should boycott MacDonalds and force them to feel how painful their actions have been for the plaintiff, Mr. Russel Rich. If they discriminate against the plaintiff so easily, they will discriminate against others solely on the basis that the employee may have AIDS. It's a shame that they would willfully discriminate against employees with HIV/AIDS. This provides sufficient cause for all gays, transgenders, bi-sexuals and their friends and families to boycott MacDonalds; hence forcing the corporation to feel the affect of its discrimatory actions against People With AIDS (PWA). Since this illness can affect any and everybody at some level (including the heterosexual population), MacDonalds' parctice of discrimination could affect any one of their empoyees and/or customers. If the company sale of coffee alone produces revenue of $5,000,000.00 per day, imagine the affect that a boycott of its overall product would have on Macdonalds' bottom line. When a corporation's bottom line is affected, it is forced to take a closer look at the impact of it's discrimatory practices.
At some point the management of the MacDonalds Corporation lost sight of its original vision to sell hamburgers for a profit. It has become apparent that the Ronald MacDonald House and the image that MacDonalds intends to portray to the community is one that is sympathetic to only certain people with life threatening illnesses. While being so very generous to the families of children with life threatening illnesses, the MacDonald's Corporation has willfully discriminated aginst an employee with AIDS; a life threatening illness. Furthermore, the company has willfully inflicted life threatening harm on the plaintiff by discontinuing his insurance once he was forced out of the corporation with knowledge that the employee could die without access to life saving medications customarily paid for by the empolee's insurance as an employee of MacDonalds. I fail to comprehend how a corporation such as MacDonalds could on the one hand provide caring support to one class of it's customer base while it willfully inflicts harm on certain members of its workforce who have (or the corporation suspects of having) AIDS.
I was mistakenly under the impression that MacDonalds is a great place to work, however this article has opened my eyes.
You might ask yourself what inspired me to have such a website. I am a gay man with Aid's, I have moved more times then I would have liked to. It all began in 1990 when I left home (NJ) I left NJ because my family couldn't accept who I was. I found happiness in Denver Colorado that was God's heaven on Earth until what we call Amendment Two was passed, though Amendment Two was overturned it had attracted many conservative type's to Denver making the city unbearable to live in and the cost of living with them had gone up. My partner and I moved to Effingham IL figured we would give the country life a chance that went great for about a year until an ambulance had to be called for me because I was ill with Aid's, after a hospital stay in St.Louis we returned home and nothing was the same as it had been in Effingham we feared for our lives and decided to move to a city again St.Louis MO was chosen since it was the nearest city and the cost of living was cheap. St.Louis went great as well for about the first ten months I had gotten acquainted with a few of the neighbors and one of them in an argument over my dog threatened to call the police on us for breaking at the time Missouri's sodomy law, Once again we felt threatened I had wanted to move home closer to my Mother since we made complete amends in 1998, so once again my partner and I were on the move to NJ this time, we figured NJ out of all states would be the most accepting state we bought a trailer in the Edison Mobile Estates and once again we settled in after being there just two weeks we started receiving petty complaints we transplanted a flower in the yard, we had three garbage cans my dog wasn't on the lease, while these may sound like good reasons to document someone I would agree if the rules had been dispersed equally, My partner had confronted me on the idea we were once again being discriminated against I was in complete denial. Then the day came when we received a letter we were no longer allowed the two feet privilege into our neighbors yard to access the back of our trailer. I began having my suspicions at this point. So we wrote the management a letter about our concerns and like a light switch the letters stopped no apology was ever given but at least the letters stopped. It was the beginning of September I had just gotten home with my dog off the lease when a neighbor came running out in anger I turned to this woman and said if this is your biggest issue today I envy you, she continued to yell I then said with my partner and another neighbor standing there Lady you made an enemy out of a neighbor today and that is real stupid after a while she went away. A couple days had passed I imagine she attempted to write the landlord of the park another letter when no results were given to her she called the local police Dept. and said I had threatened her, I did no such thing with witnesses to prove it, the police took her report but did nothing about the issue for her fortunately for me. At that point my partner and who were struggling to live in NJ as it was decided to put our trailer on the market and move once again. We had checked out many places in NJ to buy but none within our budget so we moved to Melrose Florida, we are now setting up home again and this time around no one is chasing this gay man with Aid's out without a fight. Anyhow all this has inspired me to start this web site for others like myself who don't have the time health or money to fight.
This page is for you the reader, here I will publish your story by your request in your words.
The Ryan White Story
To Your right, you see the picture of one of the greatest people to grace this earth, in my opinion. His name is Ryan White and he died with AIDS. His story follows.
On December 6, 1971, Ryan Wayne White was born. Three days later, doctors told his parents that he was a hemopheliac. That means his blood does not clot the way it is suppose to. Luckily, there was a new product out that contained the clotting agents found in blood. This product was called Factor VIII, and was made from blood. Ryan grew up having many hemorages, or bleeds, and would get IV's of Factor VIII twice a week.
While he was battling pneumonia, he had to have surgery on December 17, 1984, to have two inches of his left lung removed. Two hours after the surgery, doctors told his mother that he had contracted AIDS. He was given 6 months to live. But he was a fighter.
He was determined to continue at his school and live life normally. But in 1985, not many people knew the truth about AIDS. Not very much was known about AIDS. Ryan faced a lot of discrimination, mostly based on the unknown. His school tried to keep him from attending and the town in which he lived was not very supportive, to say the least.
After legal battles, Ryan and his mother settled with the school to have separate restrooms and disposable silverware from the cafeteria. But that didn't stop much. Students vandalized his locker with the word "FAG" and restaurants threw his dishes away after he left. A bullet was even fired into his home.
After that, he and his family moved to Cicero, Indiana, and were welcomed. People had been educated and Ryan was happy again. He had his learner's permit. He had friends, his family, and he was turning an incurable disease into a way to edcuate America. There was a movie made about him, titled "The Ryan White Story," that aired on ABC. Ryan got to be an actor as he played his friend Chad.
Ryan White was making a difference. But on April 8, 1990, the world lost a wonderful person. He knew he was famous, took that, and turned it into something that everyone could learn from. He knew his purpose in life.
For facts on Ryan, click here.
Ryan spoke before the President's Commission. click here to read his testimony.
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