AIDS Mind Amer

Author of several books on homosexuality (Coming Out in the Seventies, etc.), Altman here discusses the AIDS epidemic as it affects both the gay community and the views of heterosexuals on sex, disease, medicine and death. He criticizes the politicization of AIDS as abetted by the media. Bitter at the slow response of the Reagan administration and at groups like the Moral Majority, which consider the disease a uniquely gay ""plague'' and treat its victims as moral and physical lepers, Altman deplores the fear and prejudice AIDS arouses and the retrogressive effect such feelings have on the movement for gay rights. However, he reports, many heterosexuals have joined gays in raising funds and lobbying government for AIDS research and programs for individual victims. Noting that the epidemic is having a significant impact on the sexual choices gay people make, Altman speculates that it might lead to conservative sexual attitudes on the parts of gays and straights alike. January 24