Medically, AIDS is the acronym for "acquired immunodeficiency syndrome," a medical condition which enables a massive suppression of the human immune system, allowing the body to be debilitated by a wide variety of infectious and opportunistic diseases. Culturally, AIDS is the modern equivalent of the plague, a deadly disease whose method of transmission meshed with gay sexual lifestyles to attack inordinate numbers of gay men—to the barbaric glee of those eager to vilify gay lifestyles. The syndrome is characterized by more than two dozen different illnesses and symptoms. AIDS was officially named on July 27, 1982. In industrialized nations and Latin America AIDS has occurred most frequently in gay men and intravenous drug users, whereas on the African continent it has primarily afflicted the heterosexual population. From 1985 to 1995 there were 530,397 cases of AIDS reported in the United States. By 1996 it was the eighth leading cause of death (according to...