God has not abandoned victims of AIDS,...

God has not abandoned victims of AIDS, but rather is with them in their struggle to deal with the deadly disease, a gay clergyman told hundreds of churchgoers. The Rev. Steve Pieters, of the gay Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles, made his comments to more than 300 who gathered at St.-Augustine-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Santa Monica for what is believed to be the nation’s first Mass recited for victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.