>>I don't know who's deifying Rock Hudson. Ryan White, yeah, he was a hero. So was the reporter whose name escapes me who came out and wrote about his battle with AIDS fairly early on.
>
>What is about AIDS that makes someone a hero because he contracted the disease and talks about it?
>Millions of men and women died from syphilis... no heroes there that I've heard of.
>If Al Capone had talked or written about his syphilis, would that have made him a hero?
>Lots of men in my units overseas were infected with STD.
>We called them stupid ******, not heroes.
>What is different about AIDS?

Bill, I'm not saying that anyone "deserves" any diseases - but many contracted HIV via blood transfusions, transplants, etc. I'm not making any value judgments, but certainly the history on AIDS (especially first 5-10 years) is very different .

Those who contracted HIV via transfusions include children. That is very rare with STDs.