I can agree that there is nothing wrong with asking the question, "Can
ferrets get AIDS?" -- a question which has been asked in the past
including by gay people who did not want to risk endangering anyone.
The answer, BTW is NO.  Ferrets don't get it and they don't carry it.
 
The added stuff though -- putting down a very kind neighbor who helped
the poster in the past just because the people that poster falls in love
with are of the same gender as he is -- was uncalled for.
 
The poster should have known better.  There is loads of excellent
material out there and there are many ways to learn.  Most gays and most
straights don't have AIDS or HIV.  It's not casually caught.  Nor should
people be ostrocised due to an illness or a handicap.  It happens again
and again, but it shouldn't.  Heck, the FHL was begun by a man with AIDS.
He wanted to leave behind a legacy which would help others.  That is how
it began.  Christopher wanted to achieve that so I got him talking with
Bruce Williams who designed almost all of the rules (and a lawyer
designed one).  Bruce said that I also had to be involved; I said that
there was more work on my plate than I could handle at that point so we
invited Mike who honored us by saying "Yes.".  That's how it began almost
3 years ago.
 
Anyway, why should I mind if a man has the good taste to fall in love
with a man?  I'm in love with a man, too, and glad that I am.  Why should
I care if a woman falls in love with a woman?  I'm a woman.  Steve would
say "good taste" because he is love with a woman and I am very glad that
he is.
 
I don't think it was at all the question, "Can ferrets get AIDS'?  which
bothered anyone.  Nor do I think even an invitation to explain that it is
not casually transmitted would be any problem.  The false implications
that homosexuals should be avoided and are a health risk were the
problem.
 
I really hurt for Christopher when I read that post, because he did so
much for ferrets and here was someone who was doing something that seemed
to stand everything Christopher was about till the final part of his
illness right on its head.
 
On the other hand, the answer was needed and it was needed that others
knew that there had been a reply from a veterinary pathologist, so part
of what the person learned got shared and the post appeared...
 
I do wonder if the question was a real one, or someone trying to get
people's hackles up, or cause needless fears, especially because of the
timing.  Have to just tackle one like that as if it is real, though,
since it might be.  Besides, then others become educated.
 
All in all, it went reasonably well, so no complaints from here on the
way it was handled or responded to...
[Posted in FML issue 4406]