ABSTRACT
The advent of AIDS was initially treated as a disease that affected persons outside the norm of the heterosexual majority (homosexuals, bisexuals, commercial sex workers, and intravenous drug users). The result of this perception was a difficult period of denial where heterosexuals could essentially ignore the warning messages that were issued about the disease because the virus was determined to affect a different set of populations. After all, any condition or disease believe to impact on the “other” is something that the majority does not have to worry about. The acceptance of this infectious virus as something impacting some other group of people permits an audience to ignore or misinterpret messages. Despite years of trying to lessen the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and the mythologies, evidence demonstrates difficulty in changing fundamental views (Brown, Macintyre, & Trujillo, 2003).
