I used the Ryan White comparison to illustrate the point that most HIV infected people today use poor judgment in making bad choices that govern their behavior.

Anyone who has been gay or bi for at least five minutes 'knows' that unsafe sex and/or the sharing of needles are choices not made without knowledge of the consequences. Mixing alcohol and other recreational drugs in an environment where unsafe sexual behavior is likely to occur, such as circuit parties, raves, or sex clubs, only underscores the cultural acceptance of such behavior and does not mitigate personal responsibility and accountability whatsoever.

A person who chain-smokes cigarettes for many years may be addicted to nicotine. However, even when they have repeatedly read the various warnings on each pack of cigarettes, they have continued to smoke with the foreknowledge that smoking could still lead to cancer. This is not the case when it comes to using good judgement and making good choices to promote safe sex practices.

I will always have sympathy for people who contract the HIV. However, lets not fall all over ourselves in making distinctions without a difference for why people use poor judgment in making bad choices when we do have alternative choices in preventing the spread of HIV to others. It begins and ends with personal accountability which cannot be separated from personal responsibility.

We may not like the alternative choices available to us in preventing the spread of the HIV, and the high number of new HIV cases each year (approx 40,000) strongly suggests some of us are not making those alternative choices much less ever considering them in light of the tragic and deadly consequences. Being gay or bi is not a valid or mitigating reason for contracting the HIV.

In most cases, the HIV/AIDS is the deadly consequence of bad choices from poor judgment. Alcohol and/or recreational drug usage only magnifies and compounds poor judgment and bad choices ten fold, the consequences of which are never in doubt.



[This message has been edited by IrishRedHead (edited April 02, 2001).]