(Little Rock, AR, December 28, 2011) – The Rev. Dr. Robert Franke, a retired university provost, Unitarian-Universalist minister and Lambda Legal client, died on Monday, December 26, at the age of 78. Dr. Franke was Lambda Legal’s client in the 2009 case Franke v.
"It was a story that seemed right out of the 1980s: When Dr. Robert Franke was evicted in 2009 from a Little Rock, Ark., assisted-living facility just for having HIV, it felt like the old days—before the HIV civil-rights battles, before the public health campaigns, before all the medical breakthroughs.
"Today is the 22nd anniversary of World AIDS Day, and Robert Franke, 77, can attest that the stigma attached to AIDS and HIV remains strong.
"A retired college provost and former minister confronting a host of medical problems, Franke moved from Michigan to Little Rock, Ark., in 2009 to be closer to his daughter, Sara Bowling.
An elderly man evicted from a North Little Rock assisted-living center because he had the virus that causes AIDS is scheduled to attend a White House conference on HIV and aging this week.
Lambda Legal client Dr. Robert Franke, who was evicted from a Little Rock, Arkansas, assisted living facility because he has HIV, has been invited by the White House to participate this week in a conference on HIV and aging. Dr. Franke, a retired educator and former minister, will attend the meeting with his daughter, Sara Bowling, and Lambda Legal HIV Project Staff Attorney Scott Schoettes. Schoettes will speak on a panel addressing issues likely to affect seniors living with HIV.
(Little Rock, Ark., September 1, 2010) - Lambda Legal announced today it has settled its lawsuit on behalf of an HIV-positive retired university provost and former minister against Fox Ridge, a North Little Rock assisted living facility.
9/1/2010
"Parties announced a settlement today in a lawsuit filed last year against a North Little Rock assisted-living center that allegedly evicted a 75-year-old man from the facility because he had the virus that causes AIDS.
