Can Tat Artists Turn Down HIV-Pos Customers? Ten Years Later, the Answer’s Still No

1. I’d like to note a few things on this “article.”
   First of all, when you contacted Alana (which you chose to spell wrong even though she spelled it for you twice), you didn’t tell her the shop in question was her own, in essence entrapping her into talking smack on her own place of business. This is pretty classless.
   Secondly, Mr. Napier must not have been as concerned as you think, because he certainly didn’t make an effort to contact the owners of the shop. If he had, he would’ve found out any employees refusing to serve him would have been doing so against company policy (and the law) and would have been fired. It’s most likely the person he spoke with no longer works there. You would have also found this out if you’d bothered to give Alana all of the details.
   Lastly, do you not have editors to check your spelling for words like bloodborne? Also, “tat” is a pejorative.
   I’m sure you think you’re writing for Gawker, but your “investigative” methods are sneaky and tactless at best, and your writing wouldn’t pass an 11th grade composition class.

2. To irritated family member: Criticising the form instead of the content is tactless and sneaky. Not only was Mr. Napier turned away, but I along with him, an HIV-negative customer, because of the uninformed answer given to his request. Obviously the company policies are not enforced among the artists at Body Revolution, as it is the duty of all employees to know and follow them, not only the owner/operator. Niether myself nor Mr. Napier are responsible for tracking down anyone affiliated with the management of Body Revolutions, in fact the onus rests upon all of it’s employees to follow the letter of the law. In this situation only Mr. Napier upheld his responsibility to the law to inform those performing their artistry upon him of his HIV status. It truly is unfortunate that the Body Revolutions employees and management have not been fully trained in or held up to the laws regarding HIV and disabilities. The artists have always performed amazingly, except, it seems, when called on to treat all customers with human dignity.

3. To irritated family member:

   Why are you focusing on a typo with someone’s name instead of the real problems?

   Entrapment? Please. Are you implying on Alana’s behalf that she would have given a different answer if it had been stated that it was, in fact, a Body Revolution store that behaved illegally? Given the reader wasn’t actually there to witness the conversation your statement that Alana wasn’t told is merely hearsay, by the way.

   Secondly, you cannot presume to speak on behalf of Mr. Napier’s frame of mind (i.e., his level of concern) regarding this matter as you are not he nor have you contacted him to ask.

   Thirdly, you cannot presume to speak on behalf of the owners of Body Revolution and their discliplinary actions towards their staff unless you are, in fact, the owner of Body Revolution hiding behind a “family member” moniker. As no employee names were discussed, how do you know as fact that “…it’s most likely the person he spoke with no longer works there…?”

   Fourthly, with regards to spelling errors, it may simply have been a case where Bill Gate’s word processing software didn’t know the proper spelling and spell-check changed it to what appeared in the article. I don’t know this for fact, obviously, but offer the explanation as “reasonable doubt” instead of condemning the author without proper fact-gathering.

   To whom is “tat” a pejorative? I’m not someone who is “inked” so I’m not familiar with the attitudes of the lifestyle, nor would I presume to be familiar.

   The real shame here isn’t that a name wasn’t spelled correctly or that there are some grammatical errors (I noted that you didn’t point out the “be” instead of “by” in the article.) The real shame is that your rebuttal targeted things like spelling and grammar instead of the real issues: this shop’s violation of the law, the reasons behind it’s blatant violations, how often do these violations happen, and is this the only law they choose to violate?
   If these violations, in fact, are “…against company policy…” then it would appear that there are renegade employees working for this company who willfully ignore company policy(and the law.) The company is either not exhibiting proper training procedures or proper management of it’s staff to weed out irresonsible (and potentially legally dangerous) employees. Either way, they are in violation of the law and, if this potential client wished, could be sued and would lose. As no attorney’s have apparently contacted Body Revolution it would appear that the customer isn’t taking that tact – he’s merely trying to ensure that this particular company is following the letter of the law.
   Lastly, it was my personal understanding that Mr. Napier did not seek out this reporter nor the article.

4. I really don’t need to go into much as the last 2 people that responded have done that already.. but to the “irritated family member” the point of the whole article comes down to IGNRORANCE and INTOLERANCE and you, and the way you responded SCREAMS it loud and clear… how could you dwell on such petty things like mis-spelling a word… who died and made you God? You never made an error in your life? The point was someone was denied services ILLEGALLY based on DISCRIMINATION. I’d think you would be more concerned (being a family member) about the way he was treated. Obviously not, which is the sadest part…

5. And yes, I made a typo in my responce… why don’t you dwell on that too….

6. I’m not the owner of the tattoo establishment masquerading about on the internet. I am a family member of the person interviewed, which is why I have more information at my disposal than a layperson.
   Mr. Napier didn’t actually come into the store, so he wasn’t exactly “turned away.” He called, and spoke to an uninformed employee. Now, this is terribly unfortunate and a waste of Mr. Napier’s time, but it was a misunderstanding, and not a violation of the law.
   If he had actually come in come in and followed the appropriate protocol of filling out a release form and marking HIV as a communicable disease, he would’ve been served just like any other customer. He has no grounds to sue, as he would receive service were he to physically visit the shop.
   and to this person:
   “this shop’s violation of the law, the reasons behind it’s blatant violations, how often do these violations happen, and is this the only law they choose to violate?”
   Again, an employee misspoke. Had he come in and spoke with an artist there would have been no issue. Artists are not in the practice of discussing a customer’s personal HIV status, which is why you put it on the release form and don’t walk into the shop saying “I have HIV who’s going to tattoo me?!”
   The real issue is the “reporter” blew an isolated incident out of proportion and attempted to misconstrue it with the interviewee’s own words. If she’d explained the situation, the story would’ve been set straight immediately. It’s irresponsible to put a responsible and forthcoming artist’s employment in jeopardy by twisting their words because of an incident by someone at a completely different shop.
   This was not an issue of discrimination, but one of misinformation, and no real attempt on the part of “C-Notes” to get the whole story.

7. I would like to state, that I am the person that called the shop and was refused service over the phone…. I would also like to say that I called all of your shops, and everyone had said the same thing, the reason I didnt want to go into the shop before calling was because this is new to me, i’ve not had to deal with HIV that long. I was scared and nervous. I had previously before this incident was told by someone that you could not be tattooed or pierced in the state of ohio if you are hiv + which i have found since to be not true. However, the persons on the phone did tell me that they wouldn’t do it. So this led me to believe that you couldn’t….. Well whatever, i found this to be not true.. and was preturbed, i contacted scene because I know of someone else that went to the same shop, he actually went to the shop, and was told by a tattoo artist that because he was a new artist and there was no one else there to tattoo that he wouldnt service him…. So this is why I went the way that I did with this…..
   I must say that I have since been back to Body Revolutions, they sent me a gift certificate obviously acknowleding there wrong doing or whatever you want to call it… I went in, marked my paperwork, and the piercing artist didnt even look at it. I got my lebret pierced, i was a little annoyed at how the artist didnt read my form, but whatever. He after piercing me and letting the needle bounce off the floor had already taken his gloves off, reached down to grab it with his bare hands, stopped, and grabbed a paper towel and said “not saying that you have anything, im just being careful” ……. My point of telling you this is…. I think that Body Revolutions needs to have some sort of refresher with there employee’s ……..with that being said, that you Denise, and thank you Body Revolutions..
   John Napier

8. I don’t agree with this. There is always the possibility something will go wrong. As a tattoo artist the risk of tattooing an HIV positive person can be scary. You could accidentally puncture your skin, blood could splatter in your eye/mouth. Yes it is possible. Tattoo artists don’t refuse HIV positive people because of discrimination. They are just scared of becoming infected. Honestly the tattoo and piercing guidelines are just not sufficient to protect tattoo artists themselves. “Tattoo artists are no more likely than health care workers to become infected through an accidental needlestick” This is simply not true. With tattooing you are constantly opening and poking the skin and splatters do happen.

9. John Napier, Just out of curiosity do you think its fair to force somebody to do something that theyre obviously uncomfortable with? I dont know how you got HIV and to be honest I really dont care. But knowing what you know now; would you take more preventative steps to avoid it? I know I would and thats all these tattoo artist are trying to do. I think its unfair for the law to force somebody to put themselves at risk for body modification. Doctors make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and go to school for many years to learn how to avoid the dangers. Tattoo artist dont and they dont make as much money as people think they do.

   When it comes down to it tattoo artists are just that, artist! They should have the right to refuse you service and just because the law says different, actually doesnt make it right. Because at the end of the day its the artist that has to live with a communicable disease should the unfortunate thing happen, not the law makers.

   Yes I know theres probably typos and grammar issues.

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