Washington Blade - September 19, 2003
Joe Crea

Michael Petrelis, who was jailed earlier this year for allegedly harassing newspaper reporters and local health officials in San Francisco, said that a number of the classes are unnecessary approaches to preventing HIV. He wants federal funds to be shifted away from "silly, offensive and ineffective flirting classes and geezer balls" and rerouted to programs that that help individuals pay for life-extending medicines. Among the examples he cites are workshops labeled "fisting forum" and "booty call," as well as the "geezer's ball" for those over 40,

"I want to see hard, scientific evidence that the average gay man in San Francisco needs a workshop to cruise the Web," Petrelis said. "Proof of effectiveness seems to be such a dirty word. The San Francisco Health Department and Stop AIDS Project say that new HIV infections are increasing, on the other hand they want to say that their programs are effective."

The Stop AIDS Project, a San Francisco-based group that seeks to prevent HIV transmission among gay men, was cleared of federal guideline violations in early February.

Petrelis said that CDC officials concluded an investigation a year ago but have yet to issue any report about their discoveries. Petrelis said he has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the CDC and Department of Health & Human Services in an effort to get the report released.

Cathy Harben, a CDC spokesperson, did not respond to specific questions regarding the report's contents. Harben did confirm that a series of reviews were conducted at Stop AIDS Project at the request of elected officials who questioned the "appropriateness" of the workshops. Harben said that during the investigation, some officials thought certain programs appeared to violate federal law by directly promoting sexual activity.

Harben said that the CDC acknowledges that "frank discussions" must occur surrounding HIV/AIDS, but that federal guidelines stipulate that federal funds cannot be used for activities that directly promote sexual activity and violate locally determined obscenity laws.

Harben said that Stop AIDS has complied regarding the complaints surrounding their workshops.

Courting conservatives, liberals

Some gay activists have criticized Petrelis' efforts to bring the issue of the controversial classes to the desks of socially conservative members of Congress. They fear that the classes will inflame conservatives who object to homosexuality and increase the likelihood of funding cuts for AIDS programs.

Petrelis said that if the classes are inflammatory, then it raises the question of why Stop AIDS is staging workshops that antagonize Congress. He added that his motivations were based on years of frustration, "asking the same questions over and over again since 1995" about the proof of effectiveness.

"I'm going to these members of Congress because I want some answers," Petrelis said. "I don't want another gay brother of mine to get this disease."

Petrelis said he has also contacted California Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Henry A. Waxman, but he said they issued statements praising Stop AIDS and their efforts.

He added that if members of Congress cut CDC funding to groups like Stop AIDS as a result of his lobbying, Stop AIDS will "have no one to blame but themselves." The San Francisco Examiner reported that Stop AIDS received $686,000, or 38 percent of its $1.8 million budget in federal funds for 2000. Officials from Stop AIDS did not return calls for this article.

Brent Minor, chair of the Alexandria, Va. Commission on HIV/AIDS and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, said that while Petrelis is free to choose "how he wants to spend his energy," he said that his arguments "should be based on the merits and not the decibels."

"What he and everyone else should focus on are the larger issues out there," Minor said.

History of harassment?

Petrelis said that the money funding the workshops could be better spent on housing subsidies in San Francisco for homeless, HIV-positive men and programs to pay for doctor visits.

The controversy surrounding Stop AIDS began in August 2001 when Rep. Mark E. Souder (R-Ind.) first heard about the controversial workshops. He soon contacted Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, who ordered his inspector general to review the Stop AIDS workshops, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year.

Critics of Petrelis and David Pasquarelli, a member of ACT UP San Francisco, who was also arrested with Petrelis in 2001, have said that the two men have a history of harassing public health officials.

In November 2001, some health officials and newspaper reporters in San Francisco said that the two activists were placing harassing, obscene and threatening phone calls, including death threats, to media and health officials because the two were unhappy with recent articles that suggested that unsafe sex practices among gays, as well as syphilis rates, were on the rise in San Francisco. Both said the claims in those articles were inaccurate.

In May 2002, a judge dismissed all 27 misdemeanor and felony counts against Petrelis and Pasquarelli on a technicality. According to the San Francisco Examiner, a procedural blip due to court overcrowding resulted in their release. Both men were released from jail in February 2002 after spending 72 days in prison.

Petrelis was jailed in November 2001 and charged with criminal conspiracy, stalking and making criminal threats against public health officials and members of the media.

Whitman-Walker workshops criticized Petrelis said he could not offer suggestions on what would be effective HIV prevention programs but said it was incumbent on the "trained professionals" to tell citizens what is a successful campaign.

Minor said, "There's not one universal message" available that will prevent new HIV infections and that it is important to "listen to the people in the community who say, æHere's what works and here's what doesn't.'

"It would be na ve to suggest that it is an either/or situation," Minor said. "It just goes to show that we have an enormous challenge ahead of us. How do you approach someone who won't acknowledge that they are having sex with men? We really should look at this as the greatest public health threat the world has ever faced."

But Wayne Turner of ACT UP/DC, an AIDS activist group, disagreed with Minor's assessment that communities should determine how best to appropriate federal dollars when the prevention planning councils in communities aren't made up of community members.

"How many of those members aren't working on AIDS prevention programs," Turner said. "They are comprised of æAIDS Inc. employees', hardly members of the æcommunity,' who like things with a huge over-cost because, after all, the more staff you have, the better prospect you have of getting your next federal grant."

Turner said he attended two Whitman-Walker Clinic workshops in 2002 entitled, "Sacred Sexuality," and "Cookies and Sex." Both were marketed as "HIV prevention" clinics but Turner said they were "anything but."

Turner described the "Sacred Sexuality" class as a daylong retreat, with 16 participants, that focused on a Native American cleansing ritual coupled with deep-breathing Buddhist exercises. "Sex and Cookies," according to Turner, was a dating workshop that "felt like the æBob Newhart' show" involving a series of exercises and discussions that involved quizzes, role-playing and discussions about the circles of intimacy.

Michael Cover, communications director for Whitman-Walker said that "Sacred Sexuality" was discontinued after it was first offered and said all WWC workshops are reviewed through community panels and none violate federal guideline requirements or local obscenity laws.

"Our courses are designed for those who are HIV negative or those who may not know their HIV status," Cover said. "They are not specifically designed for those who know they are HIV positive. So certainly one who is HIV positive who participates in a course like this may not get the full intent of the class because they are at a different place in their life. We design programs that our community can understand and engage in."

Turner's biggest criticism of HIV prevention campaigns was directed at D.C.-based AIDS organizations that he said have failed to uphold one of the cornerstones of HIV prevention - readily available condoms and lubricants in gay establishments.

"You have 10,000 people walk into the Green Lantern and 16 people attending a prevention workshop," Turner said. "Spending priorities on prevention dollars in D.C. are not where they should be."

MORE INFO

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.)

U.S. House of Representatives

1227 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515-1404 202-225-4436

Michael Petrelis

MPetrelis@aol.com

National Alliance of State

& Territorial AIDS Directors

444 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 339

Washington, DC 20001

202-434-8090

www.nastad.org

030919
WB030909

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