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Free Michael Petrelis
(and David Pasquarelli)


By Jesse Monteagudo

Michael Petrelis: Activism gone too far, or victim of paraonia? Michael Petrelis is an AIDS activist whose political history gives "in your face" a new meaning. A few years ago Petrelis made the news by tossing a drink at then-closeted U.S. Representative Steve Gunderson (R-WI).

In 1998 Petrelis joined Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and other right-wing congressmen to attack what he thought were the excessively high salaries of the heads of various AIDS organizations.

In 1999 Petrelis shocked even Larry Kramer when he publicly demanded that the Elton John AIDS Foundation release a financial statement. More recently Petrelis charged that Dr. Jeffrey Klausner of the San Francisco Department of Public Health was trying to shut down the AOL "men for men" chat rooms because of the chat rooms' contribution to the spread of HIV.

This was not the first time - or the last - that Klausner and Petrelis crossed words, nor was the doctor Petrelis's only regular target. Things got so bad that Klausner, Health Department spokeswoman Eileen Shields, mayoral advisor Michael Shriver and several journalists from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Bay Area Reporter got a judge to issue restraining orders against the volatile activist.

Apparently, the restraining order didn't work. On November 28 Petrelis and fellow AIDS activist David Pasquarelli were arrested for "acts of terrorism" against newspaper reporters and public health officials.

The activists' alleged "terrorism" includes violating restraining orders, criminal conspiracy, stalking and making threatening phone calls; 27 counts in all, though the federal government did decline to charge the pair under the recently-passed Patriot Act. Petrelis and Pasquarelli are currently in the San Francisco County jail, where they remain in lieu of paying a hefty bail of $500,000 each.

Pasquarelli belongs to ACT-UP San Francisco, a "dissident" AIDS group that rejects the notion that HIV causes AIDS. Like Petrelis, Pasquarelli has a history of disrupting public meetings, noisily and disgustingly. Both men admit that they made late-night phone calls to their alleged victims, but both denied making any threats.
David Paquarelli of ACT UP-San Francisco

There is no question that Petrelis and Pasquarelli are pains in the butt, and that their zealous fight on behalf of PWAs sometimes crosses the boundaries of decency, courtesy and good taste. But are they guilty of "acts of terrorism"?

Their "victims" and the government apparently think so, as do gay activists and journalists like Michelangelo Signorile and Gabriel Rotello. Even Andrew Sullivan, who once found common ground with Petrelis and Pasquarelli, drew back after the arrests and attacked their "extreme left activism" on his Web site.

Other activists disagree. "The charges, a large number of felonies and misdemeanors, are out of all proportion to the harms alleged," wrote Bill Dobbs, who also noted that the $1 million bail was "unconscionably high". "The San Francisco prosecutor has succumbed to political pressure," Dobbs said, and "'terrorist' characterizations are made to inflame passions in this post 9-11 time of anxiety."

Scott Tucker, in an open letter, reminded us that "we should presume innocence until proven guilty". "The frustration with the rising incidence of HIV infection among gay males is real," Tucker noted.

One of Pasquarelli's actions: barging into the office of San Francisco Health Department Director Mitch Katz in order to "fire" Katz

"We need political action to get the right messages, medicine and prevention efforts to as many people as possible. ... Petrelis and Pasquarelli should learn some manners, even and especially with political opponents. But they have a point: the most important one being (to my own mind) that AIDS, Incorporated will never serve the needs of mere queers unless there is continued friction between some folks with high salaries and some folks who still get sexually transmitted diseases."

On December 12 an impromptu coalition of activists issued an "open letter of concern" in defense of Petrelis and Pasquarelli: "While we ... may disagree with them on politics or tactics, the history of AIDS has often compelled aggressive responses by activists. The prospect of high bail and escalating criminal charges for protest is a genuine threat to civil liberties."

The authors of the open letter placed the Petrelis-Pasquarelli case within the context of an "increased repression of political dissent in the last several years", and certainly since Sept. 11. "All of these cases send a clear message to others who might engage in protest. In this new legal and political climate, activists must beware. We call for fair legal treatment for Petrelis and Pasquarelli. We call for their immediate release on reasonable bail."

The open letter was signed by a score of prominent activists, including Dobbs, Tucker, Steve Ault, Jim D'Entremont, Harvey Fierstein, Ann Northrop, Sarah Schulman, David Thorstad, Wayne Turner and French Wall.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Jailed AIDS Dissidents Publish Ad in San Francisco Examiner

The Impulse to Prosecute: The Petrelis-Pasquarelli Affair

Michael Petrelis: A Pioneer of AIDS Activism

Related Sites:
ACT UP-San Francisco


GayToday does not endorse related sites.

This is not a good time to disagree with the powers that be. The George W. Bush Administration is determined to curtail civil liberties in its fight against terrorism, and any one who disagrees is, in the words of Attorney General John Ashcroft, assisting the enemy.

A poll conducted by Zogby International shows wide support for the Administration's anti-terrorist programs, and most Americans apparently do not mind having the government monitor their phone calls, survey their public places, search their vehicles or read their mail. And they certainly don't mind if the government puts its critics in their place. Petrelis and Pasquarelli are not the first victims of the government's zeal and the public's fear, nor will they be the last.





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