The friend I wrote about in an earlier post who died from HIV, Pat, had a circle of friends who were involved in theatre in high school. Most of them are dead now. I can remember attending parties where they were all present.

Pat himself became disfigured by the end of his life. He was all twisted up, walking with a cane. At one point, he developed an infection in one of his eyes and it messed the eye up permanently to where he looked like he had been maimed in a war or something.

Despite all that, Pat stayed very positive and independent until the end. He never changed on the inside. The last time I saw him, I brought him home from the store with his groceries and he showed me the little veggie garden he was tending in his backyard.

Mandatory testing is "forced physical assault" Ian? Aren't you being just a bit over-dramatic? And how can anyone be prevented from being sexually active? I certainly wouldn't back that plan. It sounds impossible for one thing. Akenaton says that? In what context? Maybe he will speak for himself.

I mentioned TB in an earlier post. For most jobs, at least over here, you must be screened periodically. If you contract it, there's tracing to find out who you've been in contact with. You are quarantined for your entire treatment which can take a long while depending how well you respond to the antibiotics. Very difficult to get rid of and spreads like wildfire. So the protocol in dealing with it is very strict. Now obviously you're not going to quarantine people who test positive for HIV because it's sexually transmitted. Still, testing and tracing is extremely important for anyone associated with a high risk group.

When I was in college, I dated a guy who had had a male lover in his past. Whenever I have mentioned this, there have been people who responded with disgust (homophobe litmus test), however, Paul was not someone you could just toss into a bin labeled "bisexual." He was brilliant, funny and sang and played the guitar. I mean, Paul was really cool. So now you know. I'm really just a groupie :-)

I didn't think much about Paul's former lover at the time but I worried about it later on when I saw people I knew who were gay from high school getting sick and dying at an alarming rate. So, I went for testing eventually and it was negative thank God. I didn't have any problem with getting tested and I don't think it would have been any different if it had been mandatory. Once I was exposed to hepatitis and had to be tested for that. What's the difference? What's the big deal? If it saves a life or lives, I'm all for it.