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Danny Pintauro Declares "HIV Is The New Closet"

The actor calls media reports outing HIV-positive people as unethical as those outing gay people.

Charlie Sheen discussed being blackmailed by people who knew the status of his health before revealing he is HIV-positive in a Today show interview with Matt Lauer this week.

The former Two and A Half Men star described being held ransom by people who knew he was HIV-positive and threatened to "release" that information. Over the course of four years since he's been diagnosed, Sheen claims he spent millions of dollars keeping his HIV-positive status a secret.

Related: What The News About Charlie Sheen’s HIV Status Tells Us About America

His experience is one shared by former Who's The Boss star Danny Pintauro, who revealed he was diagnosed with HIV more than 14 years ago in a recent interview as well.

In an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, Pintauro calls HIV "the new closet" and compares the ethics of "outing" someone with HIV to "outing" someone who is gay.

Pintauro writes:

I have said numerous times in the last two months that HIV is the new closet. What I have not said is that I do not believe the media can handle this closet the same way they handled the gay closet. In other words, I think it is completely unethical for anyone to release this actor’s name without his consent, and I think they have already crossed the line by simply listing his ex-girlfriends.

We are talking about a medical condition. Yes, it’s a sexually transmitted disease, but it’s still a medical condition. Any media outlet that has ever released that a major celebrity has cancer or any other life-threatening illness before that celebrity did has received major backlash for it. Why should this be any different? Outing someone’s HIV status without their consent is not good journalism.

Pintauro is likely referring to The National Enquirer, which reportedly threatened to "out" Sheen by publishing a tell-all story revealing his HIV-positive status. Sheen credited the Enquirer's "blind item" and similar media reports as what made him finally decide to come out publicly.

And that, according to Pintauro, can be a good thing.

"I do think that [Sheen's] coming out will be very beneficial for the HIV movement and will help curb stigma," he said. "I also think it will help reach groups of people who are less inclined to relate to my story. But it has to be on his terms — no good will come of this if it’s handled otherwise."

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