I Am a Gay Scientist. Here’s What the HIV Crisis Taught Me About Risk.

We have to reframe the very notion of risk, of fear. The more we minimize risk, the less there is to fear.

Photo: The Washington Post/Getty Images

The first time I went down on a guy, my mind was doing math. I knew the risk to contract HIV was 1 in 12,000. “Oh god, this is a mouthful,” I thought. I knew, too, that…