Flashback to 1980 and I would have been about 20 years of age. It had become clear to me that my attraction to members of the same gender (sexually), was not a “phase” or anything that seemed changeable. Some close friends and family had a belief because I had “normal” relationships with girls, maybe it was a phase I was going through. It was not. I was working as a chef in northern California for a couple of years, going out to local clubs and other areas where gay men hook up. During that time, I visited San Francisco and it seemed the place to be if one happened to be gay. I met a guy there who offered me a better job and away I went to pursue my new life. Even though I have great memories of the fun and mischief I had right after moving to San Francisco, it also was when and where a horrible new pandemic of a disease was spreading. Knowing what I know now, I believe a couple of things: (1) it would have been a miracle for me not to have become infected with HIV and (2) I probab...