Cirque du Soleil settles with HIV performer...

Cirque du Soleil settles with HIV performer

Cirque du Soleil announced Thursday it has settled a

discrimination claim with a performer who was fired because he is

HIV-positive

The Canadian-based company will pay Matthew Cusick $600,000, said

spokeswoman Renee Claude-Menard.

Cusick supporters held two protests when the company’s latest show

“Varekai” visited the Orange County Fairgrounds in January.

The settlement is based on a finding by the U.S. Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission that found reasonable cause to believe the

company violated the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“It’s not the outcome we would have preferred, obviously in the

sense we would have liked the reinstatement position,” Claude-Menard

said. “We offered Matthew four performing positions. He thought it

out and preferred to use the money and move on and do something else

in his life.”

The company hired a medical specialist in the HIV field, Menard

said, and is wiser from the ordeal.

“We now can assure anyone that it won’t happen again,” she said.

Animal rights group will hold ‘snarl in’

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will hold a “snarl-in”

Sunday in Costa Mesa to try and persuade people to use Iams Co.

products.

The animal rights group claims the pet food company treats animals

in laboratories deplorably.

The protest is part of the group’s international campaign against

the company, which started last year after years of failed

negotiations.

A recent investigation by the group alleges that at least 27 dogs

were killed, while others died of illnesses that went untreated,

according to a press release.

Last June, the group filed a formal complaint with the Federal

Trade Commission against Iams and its parent company, Procter &

Gamble, for making allegedly false claims on the Iams website about

the care provided to the cats and dogs used in the company’s

research.

The protest will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Lions Park, 570 W 18th St.

Green Party chairman to speak at OCC

California Green Party Chairman Peter Camejo, former California

gubernatorial candidate and current presidential candidate, will

speak May 7 at Orange Coast College.

The topic of Camejo’s presentation will be “A Celebration of

Social Activism.”

A first-generation Venezuelan-American, he founded the investment

firm Progressive Asset Management 17 years ago. Born to a wealthy

Venezuelan family, he worked minimum-wage jobs in the New York

garment industry to help organize underpaid Latino workers.

In Texas he assisted the La Raza Unida Party in the 1970s, and

helped to demand rights for undocumented Latino workers.

As a political activist, he opposed the Vietnam war and marched

with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama.

Camejo ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor in the 2002

elections, and received 5.3% of the vote. In California’s 2004

Presidential Primary, he landed 75% of the Green vote.

Camejo is appearing as part of OCC’s spring Visiting Scholar

Program.

Camejo’s presentation is set to begin at 10 a.m. in OCC’s Science

Hall. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend. A

90-minute faculty panel discussion, in response to Camejo’s remarks,

will begin at 1 p.m.

Orange Coast College is at 2701 Fairview Road in Costa Mesa. For

more information, call (714) 432-0202.