Paige: We've made one huge mistake with AIDS education as a community, and that is, we have made it fear-based: "Use a condom, or you will die." And at a certain point you get tired of being afraid. You want to feel alive. The one thing we need to do to make people safe is work on self-esteem. It's the biggest problem in our community.

Gant: The message ought to be "Your life is worth saving. Take care of it."

Paige: There's a place in all of us where we think, Maybe I should die. Would it be so bad?

What do you hope viewers get out of the Ben-and-Michael story line - specifically, with regard to HIV and what it means in Ben's life?

Gant: That you don't die! That HIV does not equal death. You have to take care of yourself. There are many, many people living perfectly healthy lives with HIV, with or without medication - and I think that's a case-by-case basis. It's such a different contemplation when I read posts on the [Showtime] Web site like, "Oh, I hope Ben doesn't die!" That's where people's minds go.
I'm really happy the show is exploring this. It's never been done before. I can't tell you the number of letters I've received or the number of people who have come up to me. [Being gay and positive is] doubly exclusionary. Not only are you dealing with acceptance around gay/straight, you're dealing with acceptance issues within your own peer group. Fear. People literally afraid of you. It's such a common dynamic that's emerging for gay men to have to contemplate. Do I date? Do I not date? Positive men have to contemplate whether to date only positive men or do they date negative men? And I think the same thoughts occur to negative men.

Paige: I think you could ask almost anyone who is positive, and they would say that they feel like an outsider, like, "I've been abandoned by the community." That moment when you are about to have sex with someone and he opens his mouth - or doesn't - to ask about your status is a huge moment.

The issue you bring up of caring for your health, with less drug use and late nights - is that something Ben is going to deal with this season?