Unless you rape someone... — Page 3

In the 90's, TB patients in New York City who refused treatment were forced to go into a secure hospital ward and be quarantined. Why? Because they were knowingly spreading disease and that just couldn't be allowed for the sake of public health.

TB is spread through the air when people cough or sneeze. The quarantine was necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. HIV, on the other hand, is spread through sex most of the time, and sex is given some legal respect. So people are arrested after the fact, and only for knowingly engaging in behavior that could spread the disease. Sounds fair to me.

Personal liberty vs. public safety is one of the oldest legal debates out there, and a balance must be struck that doesn't go too far in either direction. I don't think this law tilts the balance too far in the "public safety" direction.

What? NO!

You should always be safe until that point when your relationship with someone is trusting enough. But full disclosure, for me, is not only necessary, but fair. And not only for the other person, but for myself.

The bottom line is you shouldn't be having unprotected sex.

If no one asks or discloses and you still have unprotected sex, I think the blame is 50/50. Yes, the positive person should disclose, but it's the negative person's responsibility to protect themselves. If one person asks, and the positive person doesn't disclose, then I think most of the blame falls on the person who lied.

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Is going from HIV- to HIV+ called zero converting?


Also, public sex clubs are not limited to gays but as jrb_actor states , gays are the targets because....

Updated On: 7/21/05 at 05:07 PM

Ah--it's seroconversion.

HIV tests cover before your last 3 months.

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If the law is being unevenly enforced, that's a problem. Is that problem inherent in the law itself, though?

Legally, it's problematic that homosexuality isn't a suspect classification nationally or in most states as far as I know. So if the law is unfairly enforced mostly against gay men, I'm not sure anything can be done about it.

Man, people are going to hate this:

1) ASK people about their HIV status? That is useless. You don't think men lie to get laid? Believe nothing.

2) Yes, to knowingly infect someone is monstrous. It should be a crime.

3) Yes it takes two to tango. You sleep with strangers, you take your chances. Protect yourself. Everytime. But some of us have extra responsibilies. If you know your car door pops open whenever you make a turn, you MAKE SURE your passenger wears his seatbelt.

4) The idea of legislating sexual activity doesn't thrill me. This isn't TB where you can be infected in a million different ways. But sadly, 25 years later there are still dizzy queens out there who are thinking with the wrong head. Since they obviously won't act responsibly for all the good reasons there already are, I wonder if jail will make them fly right? I guess we have to give it a shot. We've already made some adjustments to protect ourselves and those we care about-- this doesn't seem to be that dreadful. It's a law against something I'd never do, anyway.

Wow... that's excellent. Gone are the days of the excruciating 2 week wait to get your Elisa test back, and if that was + another week or so for the Western Blot.

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Elphie- Thanks for the info, I honestly didn't know that. I appreciate you letting me know and I am really glad that everything is going well for you. Living in a very umm..."uncultured" and somewhat homophobic area of the country keeps me from always being up to date. I edited it.

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The scary ones are the 'bug chasers'... who want to get infected and just get it over with. It p's me off.

"Oh, I can just take meds and live a long time"

God only knows how much I wish I didn't have to remember to take my meds everyday, and go to the dr. every 3-months and get poked and tested.

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And let's not forget all these men and women having unprotected sex in a time of HIV and AIDS could be a symptom of an insidious disease called self hatred.

dammit, there goes joe making sensible points again. once more, buddy, once more and you are going to be asked to return your daily kos decoder ring!

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well, yes. There are people who despite monogamy--never stop having safe sex.

That's a big question for people, gay or straight, to figure out for themselves.

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