The city council finds and declares:
(a)
That the medical condition described as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, commonly known as AIDS, is a deadly disease which has the potential to affect every segment of our city's population;
(b)
That AIDS was first recognized in 1981 by the United States Public Health Service's Center for Disease Control based on the study of a pattern of unusual illnesses among young, single males reported by the medical enter associated with University of California at Los Angeles and New York University;
(c)
That AIDS, in the opinion of the scientific and medical community, is caused by virus, known as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) (or in the past, HTLV III or LAV), which attacks and cripples the body's immune system and neurological system, thereby leaving the body vulnerable to opportunistic infections, certain cancers and neurological diseases;
(d)
That a person afflicted with AIDS suffers a variety of bacterial, viral and/or fungal caused illnesses, cancers, protozoan and neurological conditions which debilitate the body resulting in a high mortality rate within several years after diagnosis;
(e)
That the transmission of the virus has occurred through transfer of blood, blood by-products and body organs, through intimate sexual contact, through the sharing of hypodermic needles used in drug injections, or perinatally;
(f)
That no evidence exists to indicate the spread of the virus through casual contact, such as contact at work or at school, through the air or water or through the handling of food by persons having the AIDS virus;
(g)
That medical studies of family groups in which one or more persons have been diagnosed with AIDS show no spread of the virus other than through sexual intimacy or through the exchange of blood, such as mother to fetus;
(h)
That the virus can thrive only in favorable conditions, and cannot exist for a significant period of time outside the body, and can be protected against by the application of regular practices of hygiene, such as the use of chlorine in swimming pools or spas and the uses of household bleach when washing garments or cleaning of contaminated surfaces;
(i)
That a public health danger represented by the HIV virus and its subsequent manifestation as AIDS is caused by the lengthy incubation period during which an apparently healthy but infected individual may spread the disease to other persons through the transfer of blood, blood by-products, body organs, semen, breast milk, or vaginal/cervical secretions, perinatally or through the sharing of hypodermic needles used in drug injections;
(j)
That AIDS has been recognized as a national public health emergency with a large proportion of the cases diagnosed in California;
(k)
That AIDS, in the opinion of the scientific and medical community, will continue to increase at a high rate within our county and city for the foreseeable future;
(l)
That AIDS by its nature has created a discrete and insular minority of our citizens who are afflicted with a seriously disabling condition whose ultimate outcome is fatal;
(m)
That the persons with AIDS represent a segment of our population particularly victimized due to the nature of the disease and to the present climate of misinformation, ignorance and fear in the general population;
(n)
That discrimination against persons with AIDS, AIDS-related complex (ARC) or in AIDS-related status (ARS) exists in the city of Laguna Beach;
(o)
That such discrimination cuts across all racial, ethnic and economic lines;
(p)
That such discrimination poses a substantial threat to the health, safety and welfare of our community;
(q)
That persons with AIDS, AIDS-related complex (ARC), or in AIDS-related status (ARS), including persons with the AIDS virus who may never show AIDS symptoms or develop the disease, are faced with potential discrimination, and such potential for discrimination is sufficient to justify a city ordinance to prohibit those discriminatory practices which are not currently adequately addressed by federal and state law.
(Ord. 1152 § 1, 1988)