WY Rep Stands by Book Calling for AIDS Quarantine

In 1987, the newest member of Wyoming’s state legislature wrote a book called The Death Sentence of AIDS, in which he blamed the HIV epidemic on “homosexual terrorism,” and argued that people with HIV/AIDS should be quarantined. This past weekend, Troy Mader—who was chosen to fill the seat of another state rep who died this year—defended the book, admitting that while some of the information might need to be updated, he still fully stands by the core idea: that gays are more promiscuous than straight people and that this promiscuity led to the AIDS crisis. “If you want to participate in that particular lifestyle, that’s your choice,” Mader told The Casper Star-Tribune. “But I reserve the right to say, ‘Hey, there’s risk involved.’” In case there was any confusion as to how Mader feels about gay rights in 2014, he said, “We don’t have the standing to change the definition of marriage. We didn’t make it. Either nature did, if you believe in evolution, or God did, if you believe in the Bible.”