"What is it like to be a person with AIDS? Ask one. During the perod in which this article is being put together, I've moved away from allowing myself to be boxed into spokesperson status on AIDS. I've functioned as that, but discovered I wasn't comfortable with what that position incurred. A lot of it involved explaining to people basic information until I was blue in the face. People too lazy to find out for themselves found it easier to ask me for a synopsis"

"Since I have cancer because I have AIDS, am I then a cancer patient? Do people ask cancer patients their past sexual history and judge them morally inferior?"

During the first few months we worked together on this article, John wore heavy theatrical make-up to disguise his cancer, so that he could go outside without attracting too much attention. The aids induced cancer has swollen his left eye, necessitating the use of the eye patch.

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