Chapter 38

“Yes, we do,” I said, “but we didn’t do so until we knew for certain that we were in a committed, monogamous, and long-term relationship, and even then not until we’d been tested for HIV.”

“In point of fact,” Philip said, “there’s really no such thing as safe sex. Some activity, however, is significantly safer than others. Oral sex, for example, is generally believed to be fairly but not 100 percent safe. Anal sex, on the other hand, is definitely not safe.”

“The awful reality today is when you have sex with someone, you’re not only having sex with them but with everyone with whom they might have had sex for the past ten years,” I said. “That’s how long the HIV virus can lurk in the human body without manifesting itself.”

“That’s scary,” Steve said.

“Indeed it is,” I said. “You won’t believe how many fools there are, straight and gay, who truly believe that it can’t happen to them or that doing it once won’t matter.”

“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” Roger said.