Bay Area Reporter - September 28, 2006
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com

Last Friday, September 22, Sheehy sent the mayor an e-mail informing him he would be stepping down from the unpaid, volunteer post he has held since April 2004. In the 69-word statement, Sheehy refers to the recent return of AIDS activist Michael Petrelis to public meetings as a factor in his decision.

Back in 2001, Sheehy, as well as other public health officials and journalists, received harassing phone calls from Petrelis and the late AIDS dissident David Pasquarelli. Police arrested the two men on charges of harassment, stalking and making criminal threats, and in 2002 Petrelis and Pasquarelli pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges and were placed on three year's probation, plus had restraining orders barring them from contacting those they had harassed.

Pasquarelli subsequently died, and this summer, Petrelis was released from the constraints of the orders. While Petrelis has pledged to behave better from here on out, Sheehy said concerns about a repeat of the incidents led to his resignation.

"Given the lapse of restraining orders and the reality that the volunteer position that I hold would not be entitled the formal support of the City and County of San Francisco in the event of a repeat of past history, I resign immediately" wrote Sheehy.

Through a spokeswoman, Newsom said he was "very appreciative" of Sheehy's "work and his service to the city." He also said he is "100 percent committed to ensuring there is a person directly responsible to [me] responsible for handling HIV and AIDS issues."

Asked if the new AIDS czar would be a paid, staff level position, spokeswoman Jennifer Petrucione said, "It is certainly something we are considering." She added that Newsom would work with health director Dr. Mitch Katz on finding a replacement for Sheehy.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, a friend of Sheehy's, said he would be missed in the post and that he intended to seek the community's input on filling the czar role. He said making it a salaried position would be part of those discussions.

"I don't think we are going to find someone like Jeff," said Dufty.

As for criticisms of the mayor's downgrading the post to a volunteer position, Sheehy maintained in an interview that the city does not need a paid AIDS czar post when it is losing federal AIDS funding.

"I would rather the mayor focus on the broader issue of improving the health of all San Franciscans than singling out HIV and pouring money for a position that is well represented," said Sheehy, who pointed out there are three LGBT health commissioners, two gay supervisors, and an AIDS Office director all focused on HIV and AIDS issues.

"I just don't think people with HIV are unrepresented. The mayor has relationships with people in the community with and without HIV," said Sheehy, a gay man who is HIV-positive. "If there is any issue people should be focused on it is the performance of the AIDS Office. We have someone in charge of the AIDS Office and I think that if there is confidence in that position then that should be adequate. If there is not confidence then people should take that up with" the health commissioners and supervisors.

Hyperactive homophobia

Until it was removed this week, a hyperlink on the personal MySpace page for Michael Skipakevich, the 18-year-old Republican candidate running against state Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) for the 8th District state Senate seat, led viewers to a page on the Web site of the antigay National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.

Information about his Senate campaign is posted under the "Michael's Blurbs" section at www.myspace.com/michaelskip, and as of Monday morning, visitors who clicked on Yee's name, which had been highlighted in blue, found themselves directed to the Encino, California-based group's site. NARTH believes homosexuality can be cured, and on the page linked to, attacked Yee in 2005 for his legislation that would expand a non-discrimination pledge signed by political candidates to include sexual orientation.

NARTH leader Sander J. Breiner is quoted as saying that the premise of the bill is irrational on two points: "Homosexuality is a human behavior that is almost invariably an expression of some psychological/social problem; and therefore needs to be openly discussed."

[Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill last year, but the legislature passed it again this year. Yee has said the governor's staff told him the veto was a mistake, but as of press time, Schwarzenegger had yet to sign it into law.]

Asked about the link by the Bay Area Reporter, Skipakevich at first claimed there was no such link on his site. When told a reporter had just clicked on it, he then responded that he has family friends who are gay and "there is no way I would put up a link on my Web page that is anti-gay. I support equality. I am not anti-gay."

Pressed about why the link then was on his site, Skipakevich said someone else wrote his MySpace account.

"If that link does exist, I will tell them to take it off because it is not supposed to be there," said the Lowell High School and City College of San Francisco graduate.

Within minutes after the interview, the link had been removed. Yee, who said he had not seen the link but had been told about it, said he was surprised a candidate in the Bay Area "would subscribe to some of the small-minded thinking of those in the link." A former child psychologist, Yee said he knows "probably better than anyone else" that NARTH's position has been debunked as junk science by professional psychiatric groups.

"One's sexual orientation is not something you turn off with the blink of an eye or 10 therapy sessions. I hope Michael would understand that and not make references to those kinds of hateful links," said Yee.

Oscar Braun, Skipakevich's spokesman, later sent an e-mail thanking the B.A.R. "for calling our attention to the offensive link. Michael nor I, as you know, was aware of the offensive content." He added that Skipakevich's campaign "is ALL [sic] about connecting and representing ALL San Francisco & San Mateo County communities in Sacramento."

However, Braun would not say if Skipakevich supported Yee's bill that would ban such campaign tactics. And while Skipakevich would not state if he would support a gay marriage bill, Braun said, "We are both Roman Catholic. We both practice our faith. With marriage we believe it is just between a man and a woman, which is the teaching of the church."

No flag for Taipei

The city of Taipei received a congratulatory letter from Mayor Newsom marking its Pride celebration on September 17 but not a rainbow flag as the blog Towleroad reported last week. It was the second international pride celebration Newsom has sent a letter to; he also mailed one to the organizers of Riga, Bulgaria's Pride.

The Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, which produced Taipei's pride, had requested the letter from Newsom. According to Newsom's office, he also sent a letter to Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, who read the statement and told the crowd that gay rights provide common ground between him and other mayors. The Taipei Times quoted Ma as saying, "this year in San Francisco, I met mayor Gavin Newsom. We talked about gay issues and municipal Wi-Fi."

Gay nods

In Oakland, openly gay Michael Colbruno, vice president for governmental affairs at Clear Channel Outdoor in Northern California, will join the city's planning commission on October 4. Mayor Jerry Brown tapped Colbruno, once an aide to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and state Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco/Marin) when she served as a city supervisor, for the seat and the City Council approved the pick September 20.

In San Jose, City Council member Ken Yeager, who is set to become the first gay person to serve on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors come January, endorsed Clark Williams to replace him in his District 6 seat. Williams, vice president of the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, his partner, James Moore, and their 3-year-old daughter, Caroline, live in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose.

060928
BR060912

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2006. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2006. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .