For all its satirical elements, Voltaire’s lesson about the spread of syphilis tells the deeper historical truth: A sexually transmitted disease never restricts itself to a particular sexual minority or to any subgroup of the population. The realities of human sexual behavior are and always have been such that STDs respect neither national borders nor class barriers. They inevitably affect ever more men and women in a steadily growing number of countries. Apparently, this fact was well known to Voltaire’s readers.
Unfortunately, because of prudery and general historical ignorance, these epidemiological basics had been widely forgotten when AIDS made its appearance in the 1980’s. Many people then erroneously believed that it was simply a “gay disease” that would kill only homosexuals and never reach anyone else.