63 Facts About Michael Petrelis

Michael Anthony Petrelis was born on January 26,1959 and is an American AIDS activist, LGBTQ rights activist, and blogger.

Michael Petrelis was diagnosed with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in 1985 in New York City, New York.

Michael Petrelis was a co-founding member of ACT UP in New York City, New York, and later helped organize ACT UP chapters in Portland, Oregon, Washington, DC, and New Hampshire, as well as the ACT UP Presidential Project.

Michael Petrelis was among several activists who disclosed, in 1989, that Mark Hatfield, a Republican senator from Oregon who supported anti-gay legislation, was secretly gay, the first such political outing of an elected official by American activists.

Michael Petrelis founded the AIDS Accountability Project, a watchdog organization that obtained IRS tax forms 990 from nonprofit AIDS service organizations, then published the financial information disclosed therein online.

Michael Petrelis was born in Newark, New Jersey, where he lived for "four or five" years before his family moved to Caldwell, a nearby suburb.

Michael Petrelis attended an alternative high school in East Orange, New Jersey, where he was openly gay.

Michael Petrelis remembers first becoming involved with the gay community as a teenager, traveling to the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City.

Michael Petrelis moved to New York, in 1981, where he renewed his acquaintance with a male couple he knew from his teenage visits to the city.

At first, Michael Petrelis balked; earning his living as a temporary office worker, he had neither insurance nor money to pay a dermatologist.

Michael Petrelis told Petrelis he had AIDS and that more such opportunistic infections would follow.

Michael Petrelis's prognosis was terminal, with six months to a year to live.

Michael Petrelis was present at the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village bar, when officers from the New York City Police Department raided it on June 28,1969, sparking the resistance known as the Stonewall riots, and he was a featured speaker at the subsequent rally in Sheridan Square, attended by two thousand people.

Michael Petrelis recalled, during this time, attending a community meeting at St Vincent's Hospital at which he, alone, confronted Koch advisor John LoCicero and Carol Greitzer, Councilwoman from New York City's Third District where the River Hotel was located.

Michael Petrelis believed Greitzer was "dragging her heels on this deal".

Michael Petrelis helped organize a Lavender Hill Mob demonstration, camping overnight in a tent outside Gracie Mansion, to protest the city's year-long delay in approving the contract and signing the paperwork for the River Hotel project.

On February 24,1987, Michael Petrelis traveled with Bill Bahlman, Eric Perez, Marty Robinson, and Henry Yaeger to Atlanta, Georgia, where the Centers for Disease Control had convened the largest meeting yet held on the subject of AIDS.

On March 10,1987, Michael Petrelis was among approximately seventy-five people at the community center when Kramer gave the speech that marked the foundation of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power.

Michael Petrelis was one of seventeen demonstrators arrested for acts of civil disobedience.

Michael Petrelis returned to New York City a year later, where he was one of 111 protesters arrested at the Stop the Church demonstration at St Patrick's Cathedral on December 11,1989.

Michael Petrelis later faced criticism for his actions inside the cathedral.

Michael Petrelis credited this "public relations nightmare" with the company's willingness the following summer to settle the boycott.

Michael Petrelis specified that its campaign contributions to Helms were based on Helms' support of the tobacco industry alone and did not reflect agreement with his other positions.

Michael Petrelis called on gay and lesbian groups to accept the settlement.

Michael Petrelis said the boycott had sensitized the company about AIDS and anti-homosexual attitudes.

On May 26,1990, Michael Petrelis held a press conference with Carl Goodman on the west steps of the United States Capitol to read the names of eleven officials, including eight members of congress and one entertainment executive who, the activists claimed, were secretly homosexual.

Steve Gunderson, a Republican representing Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, had been among those individuals Michael Petrelis had included on his list of closeted homosexuals at the May 26,1990, press conference on the steps of the United States Capitol.

When Michael Petrelis encountered Gunderson at a gay bar in Alexandria, Virginia, in late June 1991, Michael Petrelis confronted Gunderson, urging him to come out and support gay rights.

Michael Petrelis grew angry and threw a beverage at his face.

On June 28,1991, Michael Petrelis held a press conference attended by the Associated Press, Tribune Broadcasting, The Washington Post, and a local NBC affiliate to out Pete Williams, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.

Michael Petrelis's homosexuality was considered an open secret in some Washington circles.

Michael Petrelis carried with him a box of copies of an article by Michelangelo Signorile from the most recent issue of the Advocate, outing Williams.

Michael Petrelis scolded the reporters for ignoring the story and urged them to ask Williams directly about his homosexuality.

Michael Petrelis temporarily relocated to a rented apartment in Manchester, New Hampshire at the beginning of December 1991, to organize what later became known as the ACT UP Presidential Project.

Michael Petrelis launched the effort in Concord, New Hampshire on December 10,1991, when he disrupted conservative commentator Pat Buchanan's announcement of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

On December 17,1992, Petrelis noticed a short item in The Washington Times about the October 27,1992, beating death, in Sasebo, Japan, of Allen R Schindler, Jr.

When Michael Petrelis could find no other information, he said he grew suspicious.

Michael Petrelis believed the sailor's death was a consequence of the military's ban on homosexuals that Clinton had promised to repeal.

Michael Petrelis telephoned Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen, and told her his intentions to raise awareness about the crime for political reasons.

Michael Petrelis feared the Navy was trying to cover up a hate crime.

Michael Petrelis did not trust the Navy to fully prosecute Helvey.

At the White House, Michael Petrelis met with Bob Hattoy, the Clinton administration's liaison to the gay community, to discuss the Schindler case and ask for a special prosecutor.

In 2015, Michael Petrelis released to the public a 900-page Naval investigative report on Schindler that he had obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request after years of pressuring the Navy to divulge undisclosed information about the Schindler murder.

In 1995, Michael Petrelis left Washington, DC, to return to San Francisco, California.

Michael Petrelis was credited as the architect of a campaign to out Jim Kolbe, a Republican congressman from Arizona, after Kolbe voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Michael Petrelis criticized the agency for failing to hold public meetings about the female condom, and initially failing to provide adequate instructions for its use.

Michael Petrelis said people with AIDS were going without needed assistance because SFAF was spending "too much on itself" and demanded that SFAF disclose the salaries of its executives.

Michael Petrelis encouraged activists in other cities to ask similar questions about how AIDS dollars were being spent where they live.

In 1998, Michael Petrelis organized the AIDS Accountability Project, and created a web site to publish the informational tax returns of nonprofit ASO's.

AIDS groups criticized Michael Petrelis for working with Coburn, a supporter of mandatory names reporting for people with HIV and AIDS.

Michael Petrelis responded that he had first expressed his concerns to Barbara Boxer, a Democrat representing California in the United States Senate, and Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat representing California's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

Michael Petrelis demanded greater accountability at the Centers for Disease Control as well; he believed federal funds budgeted for HIV prevention should only be spent on the prevention programs themselves and not to reimburse prevention professionals for travel and lodging related to attending conferences.

Michael Petrelis said he had tried first to pressure both the SFDPH and the CDC to scrutinize the programs, without results.

Michael Petrelis said that of the sixty organizations from which the project had requested the returns, only the Elton John AIDS Foundation had refused to release the information.

Michael Petrelis' bail was set at $500,000; Pasquarelli's bail was set at $600,000.

Michael Petrelis suffered from an esophageal candidiasis infection and a serious skin condition affecting sixty percent of his body.

On December 8,2001, a judge ordered Michael Petrelis rushed to the prison medical unit for treatment.

Under the agreement, Michael Petrelis was allowed to send the San Francisco Chronicle one letter or fax per day on matters of public interest.

In 2012, Michael Petrelis opposed legislation to ban public nudity proposed by Scott Wiener, a Democrat representing District 8 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

In November 2012, Michael Petrelis was arrested for taking a photograph of Wiener in a public restroom in San Francisco City Hall without Wiener's permission.

Michael Petrelis pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and received three years probation.

The judge issued a complicated stay-away order restricting Michael Petrelis from being within one hundred and fifty feet of Wiener, as well as other provisions, including exceptions that permit Michael Petrelis to attend certain public meetings.

In March 2013, Michael Petrelis announced his candidacy for the District 8 supervisor seat held by Wiener.