FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 19, 2011

GLAD files anti-discrimination lawsuit on behalf of group home for people with HIV and Hepatitis C

For the second time Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) has filed a lawsuit against a New Hampshire town that is trying to shut down a group home for people living with HIV and Hepatitis C Virus.

GLAD filed the suit on behalf of AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region (ASMR) on July 5 in Cheshire Superior Court in Keene, New Hampshire. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the Town of Gilsum from taking the Cleve Jones Wellness House, operated by ASMR in Gilsum, New Hampshire, by tax deed on July 21. The Town’s action would render all of the residents of Cleve Jones Wellness House homeless.

The suit arises from the Town’s discriminatory treatment of ASMR with respect to the granting of property tax exemptions to nonprofit charitable organizations. ASMR was a few days late filing the required application for the exemption and the Town denied it on that basis. Documents requested from the Town, however, demonstrate that other nonprofits in Gilsum, such as the Congregational Church and the American Legion, never filed the required application, or filed it late, but were always granted a property tax exemption.

“The Town of Gilsum applied one set of rules to the Cleve Jones Wellness House and another set of rules to all other nonprofits,” said attorney Ben Klein, director of GLAD’s AIDS Law Project. “The town’s motive for unequal treatment is clear: they don’t want people with HIV and Hepatitis C in the neighborhood.”

After the Court scheduled a July 13 hearing on GLAD’s motion for a preliminary injunction, the Town agreed not to take the Cleve Jones Wellness House while the full lawsuit proceeds. The suit claims that the Town’s actions violated ASMR’s rights under the equal protection provisions of the state and federal constitutions, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the National Fair Housing Act. In 2008 GLAD successfully sued the Town after it placed illegal zoning restrictions on Wellness House.

Named for the founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, Cleve Jones Wellness House is the country’s first housing program for low to moderate income people living with HIV/AIDS and/or Hepatitis C. The program houses up to seven male residents over age 21 and offers them community-building opportunities, life-stabilizing activities and case management services.

ASMR is also represented by Stephen Bragdon of Bragdon, Dowd & Kossayda, P.C. in Keene and Elliott Berry of New Hampshire Legal Assistance.