TORONTO

TO ATTEND the International AIDS Conference is to enter a world in which traditional morality is conquered by political correctness. But only temporarily, of course -- because the larger world, politically incorrect as it is, always prevails.

Consider the issue of prostitution. Or, as almost every one of the 25,000 global AIDS-tivists gathered here prefer to call it, "sex work." Public-health experts are correct when they note that the sex trade is a major vector for AIDS. In the past, venereal-disease epidemics were often dealt with by such tough measures as shutting down brothels and quarantining prostitutes. But those solutions are not under consideration here.

In fact, in this AIDS-conference world, prostitution -- oops, sex work -- is part of normal life. Nestled within the exposition area are many booths devoted to the sex trade -- "The Star Whore Show," for example.

One prominent group, Stella (chezstella.org), which bills itself as "by sex workers, for sex workers," has issued a manifesto, "Sex Workers, Human Rights, and the Fight Against HIV." In other words, Stella seeks to establish the right to be a "sex worker" as a human right -- alongside, say, free speech.

Most populations of the world are uncomfortable, to put it mildly, with this formulation of sexual-political rights -- but of course such queasiness didn't stop the Canadian government from funding Stella. The sex group also acknowledges funding from George Soros's Open Society Institute.

The effort to "mainstream" prostitution is not at all a fringe issue here. It is being waged by those at the pinnacle of the AIDS establishment -- for example, Melinda Gates, who delivered the keynote speech here last Sunday, alongside her husband, Bill Gates.

"The simple fact," Melinda Gates declared, "is that HIV is transmitted through activities that society finds difficult to discuss, activities that are infused with stigma, and that stigma has made AIDS much harder to fight." She is, no doubt, correct. All venereal diseases, across human history, have carried a stigma.

But now Gates, making her bid to be the next Princess Diana -- glam do-gooding jetsetter -- wants to change all that historical precedent. "When Bill and I visit other countries," she said, "we are enthusiastically accompanied by government officials on all our stops -- until we go meet with sex workers. At that point, it can become too politically difficult to stay with us, and our official hosts often leave."

The audience winced with collective appreciation for Gates's pain as she recollected those difficult moments. And then everyone smiled and nodded when she said of her being abandoned, "That is senseless."

But in the real world, we might observe that even if the stigmatizing of prostitution is senseless, it is also a matter of consensus. Even in those countries where prostitution is legal, it is still a subject of shame, and political leaders naturally shy away from such disrepute.

And so we see the problem confronted by AIDS-tivists: They wish to see AIDS not just as a scientific-medical issue, but, rather, as a social issue: a chance to turn tragedy into an opportunity to re-engineer societies around the world, starting with the "sex worker-ization" of prostitution. The weight of world opinion is against them, to be sure, but here in Toronto they keep trying.

The most interesting refutation of Gates's activist ideology came, interestingly enough, from Bill Gates. In a separate appearance on Monday, he allowed that the whole topic of "sex workers," as well as "men having sex with men," is "controversial." He added, wistfully, that if there were a country that attached no stigma to sex, "I would like to go to that country." The audience cheered loudly, because such a sexual Shangri-la is exactly where they all want to live. But the happy throng seems to have missed his point: There is no such non-stigmatizing country, and there never will be.

James P. Pinkerton is a columnist for Newsday.