The ongoing tragedy is that almost all HIV infections in this country are preventable.

If we just listened to what the research has taught us; needles would be provided to drug users; condoms would be provided in prisons; kids would learn that it is OK to be gay, and no child would graduate from junior high without knowing how to protect him or herself. Safe-sex advertising would routinely run in prime-time and Oprah would have a show about female-controlled prevention technologies. Indeed, in my dream of what should be, all of our silly attempts to legislate morality would be replaced by a compassionate willingness to allow science to save lives.