The resolution of legal questions regarding the rights of persons with AIDS depends on prevailing medical evidence. If legislatures and courts interpret medical evidence to determine that persons with AIDS are legally handicapped, then AIDS sufferers will be protected in employment, housing, and education. If AIDS medical research continues to find that AIDS cannot be contracted through casual social conduct, then courts will most likely rule that discrimination against persons with AIDS is unlawful, irrational, and unreasonable. To avoid costly litigation over the rights of AIDS sufferers, it is important to educate the community regarding the transmission of AIDS. Additionally, legislators must define legal limits in rational and reasonable ways. As in the past, the common law will expand to meet the legal needs of a new group needing societal protections. 180 footnotes. Appendixes.