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Three decades ago, Rock Hudson was hailed as a hero when he went public with his HIV-positive status. After Charlie Sheen made the same admission, some are now calling him a hero.

It wasn't true in 1985. It's not true today. Although Sheen could keep his vow that "My partying days are behind me. My philanthropic days are ahead of me."

There are, of course, parallels Neither man came forward about his status until after he had been outed, so to speak, in the media.

Variety had reported that Hudson had AIDS, which turned out to be true. The National Enquirer reported that Sheen has known he's HIV positive for four years; the actor confirmed that.

In both cases, it's understandable that the men wanted to keep their HIV status private ­— as it should be for everyone, including celebrities. For Hudson, it was not only admitting he had AIDS but a de facto admission that he was gay — which was a much bigger deal in 1985 than it is today, particularly for a man who was at the height of his fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Hudson's AIDS admission — made through his publicist about two months before his death — absolutely helped change public perceptions about those with HIV. But if it was heroic, it was forced heroism. (And he never publicly acknowledged he was gay.)

Even today, when gay marriage is legal and medical advances mean those with HIV can live long (but not trouble-free) lives — even 24 years after Magic Johnson was forced out of the NBA by fear and ignorance — those who are infected are stigmatized.

Which is why, Sheen admits, he paid $10 million in hush money to people who threatened to make his status public.

Clearly, the former star of "Two and a Half Men" would have been better off going public four years ago, not after the National Enquirer made his big announcement on "The Today Show" moot. But Sheen has never been known for making good decisions.

There's another possible parallel between Hudson and Sheen that's far more troubling — that they both continued to have unprotected sex without revealing their status to partners.

In 1989, a jury awarded Marc Christian $21.75 million (reduced to $5.5 million) for Hudson's "outrageous conduct" — continuing to have unprotected sex with him after he knew he had AIDS.

One of Sheen's sexual partners, Bree Olson, told Howard Stern that Sheen "never said anything to me," although they were having frequent unprotected sex after his diagnosis.

Sheen denies this. He denies he ever exposed anyone to the virus.

Whom do we believe — the former porn star or Charlie Sheen? It's not as if either comes across as particularly credible.

The truth is, Sheen went public because he had to. If he focuses his efforts on fundraising, research, caring for the infected, he might be a hero.

That hasn't happened yet.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune . Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.