Paul Gann’s Crusade Against AIDS

No humane person can withhold sympathy for Paul Gann in his fight against AIDS; but no thoughtful person can overlook the consistent poverty of his thinking. He wants mandatory testing and the death penalty for knowing transmitters, but he does not want more public funds committed to the disease.

Effective testing requires statewide administration; death penalties require public trials. Both require public funds. In all public services from health to education, we cannot get more without paying more; and if we are unwilling to pay, we must be content to go without. It’s that simple.

So let us sympathize with Gann (and with less-publicized AIDS victims); but let us not allow his genuine plight to gain credibility for his bogus ideas.

JIM STINSON

Pasadena