[Letters from Bill Nelson to The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald, October 31, 1985] Part: 1 of 6
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12 A Monday, October 28, 1985
EditorialsJOHN A. RECTOR JR.
Publisher
BURL OSBORNE JEREMY L. HALBREICH
President/Editor Executive Vice President
HARRY M. STANLEY JR.
RALPH ANGERSenior Vice President
RALPHtLANEtr J. Wn.LLpI COX
Execuive EitorSenior Vic. President
Administration and Finance
WILLIA.MW. EVANS JAMES A. KEELEY
Managing Editor Vice President/Operations
JIM WRIGHT, Editorial Page EditorAIDS Quarantine:
The Public FirstWhat a pity it would be if
gay-rights activists or civil
libertarians tried to make a
civil-rights issue out of a
proposal that AIDS victims
be subject to quarantine.
The proposal comes from the
state health commissioner,
Dr. Robert Bernstein; the
State Board of Health takes it
up next month.
The state - any state -
has inherent power to pro-
tect the public by quarantin-
ing the victims of conta-
gious diseases like tubercu-
losis and cholera.
To say that the victim of a
particular disease may be
quarantined isn't the same
as saying he will be. The de-
cision to quarantine turns
on the likelihood of the vic-tim's passing on the disease
to others.
Bernstein explains: "We
don't have many diseases, if
any, that are worse than
(AIDS) in terms of mortality.
And if an individual for
some reason is spreading the
disease knowingly, (the
quarantine power) would
give us one means of con-
The controversial point,
from the gay-rights stand-
point, is that quarantined
AIDS victims would be
prohibited from homosexual
relations, lest they spread
the disease. But when was
there ever a ''right'' to
spread a disease? AIDS isn't
a civil-rights issue; it's a
medical issue. Let the doc-
tors act accordingly.
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The Dallas Morning News Editors. [Letters from Bill Nelson to The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald, October 31, 1985], clipping, October 28, 1985; Dallas, TX. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1823404/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.