Elton John condemns Betty Price's HIV quarantine remarks

Tue. October 24, 2017 11:14 AM by OnTopMag.com

Out British singer Elton John has condemned a Republican lawmaker's remarks on quarantining HIV-positive individuals.

Georgia state Representative Betty Price made her remarks Tuesday during a House committee hearing on lowering barriers to health care.

Price, a medical doctor and the wife of Dr. Tom Price, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services who was forced to resign earlier this year amid a travel scandal, asked an HIV specialist whether the state can quarantine HIV-positive individuals.

John, an outspoken AIDS activist who raises millions of dollars for research and awareness through his Elton John AIDS Foundation, called Price's comments "horrific, discriminatory and astonishingly ill-informed."

"As a doctor and elected official from a state where people are still contracting HIV at an alarming rate, Mrs. Price should know better than to demonize people and perpetuate myths that stigmatize people living with HIV," John said in a statement released Monday.

Price has since walked back her comments, saying that she does not support quarantining HIV-positive individuals.

"I do not support a quarantine in this public health challenge and dilemma of undertreated HIV patients," Price told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday. "I do, however, wish to light a fire under all of us with responsibility in the public health arena."

Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine

 

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