You can discourage the behaviors (or better, encourage safer ones), and this is a very good idea. However, per the article, Senator Helms was blaming and revili

You can discourage the behaviors (or better, encourage safer ones), and this is a very good idea. However, per the article, Senator Helms was blaming and reviling the people involved (“There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy”) and actively discouraging any attempts to fund prevention measures which would reduce the spread of the disease. This is precisely the opposite of your suggestion, but the way you have phrased your commment suggests that you are condoning his behaviour. I guess that this (and not the other commenter's claim that your point “[cannot] be addressed honestly”) is why you are being downvoted.