Gay UHD student hit with smear campaign

Lynsie Whitehead 
The Signal
Kristopher Sharp, social work major at University of Houston-Downtown, has found himself in the middle of a smear campaign.

At the end of March, Sharp was called into the UHD Dean of Student’s office where he was given a copy of an anonymously posted flier discriminating against his sexual orientation and revealing that he was HIV positive.

The situation was not exactly what Sharp had in mind while preparing to run for vice president of the UHD Student Government Association alongside running mate and potential presidential candidate Issac Valdez, applied mathematics major.

The flier featured a photo of Sharp with a large X on top of it along with the words “WANT AIDS?” and “Don’t support the Isaac and Kris homosexual agenda.”

Printed on the back of the flier were Sharp’s private medical records, exposing that he is HIV-positive. The information also included his home address and phone number.

The UHD campus police department is currently investigating the circulation of the fliers.

Sharp could choose to pursue criminal charges against the perpetrator(s) because, technically, the medical documents were stolen from him.

Sharp believes the medical records were stolen from his briefcase in the UHD SGA office, where he spends time working as a student senator.

The content of the flier cannot be considered libelous because the accusation that Sharp is HIV positive is factual. However, under the Health Insurance and Accountability Act (HIPAA) it is a crime to obtain individually identifiable health information relating to an individual to use for malicious harm.

Penalties for this offense could result in a fine of up to $250,000 and/or up to 10 years in prison depending on the seriousness of the offense.

The content of the flier does not fall within the category of hate speech either, because slang slurs were not used; therefore, the content is protected under the First Amendment.

Even though pressing criminal charges is an option if the perpetrator(s) is caught, Sharp does not want to go that route.

Instead, he wants to help educate others, including the creator(s) of the fliers, on the stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS.

“I don’t want to pursue criminal charges,” Sharp said. “In retrospect, I think that this individual fell victim to a moment of weakness in believing the stigmas about the disease. I don’t think it is their fault; I blame society for creating and reinforcing stigmas associated with the disease. We, as a society, have an idea associated with the disease, and simply, it is a myth. It is really sad that the person who did this decided to use that stigma.”

Sharp and Valdez are collaborating with several local organizations in order to help eliminate stigmas about the disease, particularly LIVE Consortium, a Houston-based organization that works to educate the community about HIV and the negative affects of the stigmas associated with the disease.

LIVE Consortium hosts month-long campaigns on college campuses to raise awareness and debunk myths associated with HIV.

University of Houston, Rice University and Texas Southern University are just a few of the schools who have participated in the campaign.

Beau Miller, president, CEO and founder of LIVE Consortium, feels the campaign could be beneficial on the UHD campus after this occurrence.

“The horrible incident at the University of Houston-Downtown campus illustrates the need for programs like LIVE Consortium’s University Anti-Stigma Campaign,” Miller said. “It is for the very reason that these types of incidents are rooted in ignorance, fear and intolerance.  The campaign, on the other hand, is about knowledge, purpose and understanding. The more students know about HIV, the negative affects of stigma, why reducing HIV stigma is important and what they can do about it, the less these types of events will occur.”

Sharp and Valdez also have plans to speak out about the atmosphere regarding tolerance on their campus.

“We are going to address the culture of hate that is prevalent at UHD,” Sharp said.

UHCL’s Student Government Association wants to ensure students feel safe and not surrounded by a “culture of hate” similar to what Sharp describes. UHCL offers the Safe Zone Program where faculty and staff work to facilitate a safe and supportive environment for the UHCL community.

“What happened at UH-Downtown is completely horrible,” said Carla Bradley, current UHCL SGA vice president-outreach and communication and incumbent SGA president. “If any student feels upset about or is concerned about what happened, they are welcome to come talk to us.”

Unity Club is UHCL’s gay-straight alliance that works to “provide safe and supportive social interaction with the lesbian, bisexual, gay, trans-gender and ally community.”

Colden Snow, Unity Club president, believes the issue goes beyond education and awareness about HIV/AIDS and sexual orientation discrimination.

“The UH System should not tolerate this behavior,” Snow said. “This is shameful on so many levels and a disgrace to the UH System that we all belong to. I wish that students on all the UH campuses would do more to express their outrage, and if administrators do nothing then we must all rise up as students to make it known that this is unacceptable.”

The motivation behind actions against Kristopher Sharp remains unclear. However, Sharp is working to turn this incident into one that others can learn and benefit from themselves.

Sharp said he does not harbor resentment, and has had time to reflect on what he would say to the perpetrator(s) responsible for creating and distributing the fliers.

“I would really just ask why they did it,” Sharp said. “I would ask for an apology and, really, to give my medical information back that was stolen.”