What Would You Do If You Witnessed AIDS Discrimination?

Feb. 15, 2011 — -- It's been exactly thirty years since AIDS -- the acquired immune deficiency syndrome -- was first recognized in the United States. Since then, more than half a million people have died from the disease in this country alone, and more than a million Americans are currently living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In the early days of the epidemic, little was known about what caused the illness or how it was transmitted, and rumors soon circulated that it could be spread by sneezing, a handshake, kissing or even sharing utensils. Growing public fear led some to call for a quarantine of those diagnosed with the disease. And in 1985, a 13-year-old boy named Ryan White, who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion, made headlines when he was banned from attending school. It was just one of many instances of people living with AIDS being stigmatized and ostracized.

Three decades later, we wanted to see if people still misunderstood the disease. Would they feel uneasy if they were near an individual who they knew was carrying the AIDS virus? We decided to find out and brought our hidden cameras to the Colonial Diner in Lyndhurst, N.J.

In our first scene, our hired actress playing the waitress engages in conversation with another actor, who is playing a customer who happens to be HIV positive. It's only partly an act: the actor, Daniel Logan, is HIV positive in real life.

In conversation, Daniel reveals to the waitress that he is HIV positive. Vince, another actor hired by "WWYD" to play a customer, seated at the next stool at the counter, is alarmed.

"You have AIDS?" Vince asks.

"No. That's different, it's HIV," Daniel replies. Vince then gets up from his seat and moves away from Daniel. Reactions like this were not uncommon 30 years ago. So how will it play today?

Customer Joe Smith comforts Daniel and encourages him to ignore our rude actor, saying, "Don't talk to him. It doesn't pay. He doesn't understand."