@livinglava,
Yes, it is absolutely "worth the risk"!
I am a happily heterosexual man (although completely accepting of other genders and orientations). I like sex. In fact I like sex a lot. I find that having sex increases my self-esteem. I am happy when I am having sex, and I find the events leading up to sex (flirting, dating, suspense, kissing, undressing ...) to be a lot of fun. At a certain age, I was happy to have to casual sex as it came.
You may be surprised that lots of people (men and women) feel this way.
People have sex. For most American adults, the risk is fully worth it, it is actually pretty unlikely that anyone you might have sex with would have HIV (you are far more likely to die from a car crash then from HIV). Any time I had casual sex, I did use a condom, which does lower the risk even further.