It was a horrible thing to have done, but I do kind of see where he was coming from. There was this weird spotlight shone on people during that time who were HIV positive, especially when you had people like Diana, Madonna and Elizabeth Taylor out there spreading the word and trying to change people's views on "the gay disease" not to mention someone like Rock Hudson dying from it. The gay community had no real option but to come together and become tight and I dare say many people wanted that extra bit of attention and...closeness(?) that came form having the disease and others being there to support them. During that time period there was an air of mystery to it, even though so many people were suffering and dying. It's not right in any way, but it also sadly was something many people did, and still do to this day with other "diagnoses".
Obviously many of us did not live through that time period and we have vast amounts of research available to us, but Richard actually was there and mindsets were totally different, and there was far fewer means of spreading information.