Content area
Full Text
Chanting, "Stop AIDS evictions," about 150 people, both gay andstraight, packed the street outside a Chelsea apartment building yesterday to rally behind a man who has been fighting eviction since his lover died of AIDS last year.
In speeches and in interviews, the supporters argued that Michael Brown, 31, should have received a renewal lease automatically because of the spousal relationship he maintained with Robert Hayes.
"Underlying this is that lesbian and gay people really want to be treated as any other people," said David Fleischer, a community activist and Chelsea resident.
The case, which now is before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Helen E. Freedman, revolves around what Brown's supporters consider to be a gap in the state's Rent Stabilization Code. Housing activists say that as the housing...