Another sad story of discrimination against gay and HIV+ individuals. Kristopher - Kris - Sharp is a third-year social work major at the University of Houston-Downtown and he is running for student body vice president seat. Last week fliers about Kris were posted all across the university's campus by an unidentified person. The front of these fliers had the words "WANT AIDS?" above a picture of Sharp with a large "X" on it, and "Don't support the Isaac and Kris homosexual agenda" at the bottom (Isaac Valdez, also a junior at UHD, is Sharp's running mate.) What's even worse is that on the back of these fliers were detailed information about Kris' health, reporting also his HIV+ status. "I knew, going into the election, that I could possibly be targeted because of my sexuality - but I had no idea that it would go to this level," he said in the report. "What was going through my head was, 'How quickly can I transfer?'" he also added. The fact that gets me angry the most is that Kris said he knows who probably is behind this destructive campaign, nonetheless it will be difficult to prove anything. Gay people know how being targeted by discrimination can be and if Kris's got an idea it probably means that he's right. But, obviously, you can't do so much just with suspicions. UHD spokesperson Claire Caton believes that this episode is "an anomaly, (UHD is) really known for diversity, for welcoming all students - this hits at core of one of the central aspects of who we are. ... We're just taking all appropriate steps, and I have full confidence in UHD police. They are doing everything possible to get to bottom of this." Designers Against AIDS supports Kris whether he'll decide to transfer to another university or not. Even if someone could say that the victim of prejudice shouldn't ‘run away' from it, it is also true that sometimes you should just move on and forget about it. Our society can be way better than this and people like Kris worth much more. Nonetheless we also hope this sad episode will make Kris stronger and prepared to the idiots he, like every gay that is not ashamed of who he is, will continue to meet in the future.

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