AIDS, the main character, Andrew Beckett, played by Tom Hanks, who won the Oscar for best actor for this role, develops the AIDS virus and as he begins to become sicker and sicker, his company, a law firm fires him.
DISCRIMINATION- Andrew is fired on a false allegation of incompetence. But the real reason is because the law firm does not want him around...
THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT- Andrew files a Civil Lawsuit against his firm for firing him when they found out he had AIDS.
"No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment."
HOMOSEXUALITY - Andrew is discovered to be a Gay man and the resulting Homophobia leads to the dismissal as much as the discovery of his deadly disease.
HOMOPHOBIA - Prejudice and fear of homosexual people