AIDS Treatment News #143, January 17, 1992
On the evening of January 14, more than 50 people gathered at ACT UP/Golden Gate in San Francisco, for a spontaneous memorial service for Michael. Others met in New York and elsewhere. The following is from a statement by one of Michael's closest friends and associates which was distributed at the San Francisco meeting.
Michael Wright by G'dali Braverman
It was the week after the VIth International Conference on AIDS and 150 men and women packed a second floor room in the Women's Building for an ACT UP/San Francisco meeting. There were twice as many first timers at that meeting than there were old members. I perched myself on the bar off in the back of the room and watched the evening unfold. There amongst the new faces were a set of sparkling green eyes. Those eyes fixed themselves on me that evening, and they are burned into my memory today as they will be until the day that I die. Michael picked me that night to be his conduit into a new life as an AIDS activist. That choice changed my life and the lives of People with AIDS/HIV on this globe; not because of my knowledge or influence, but because of Michael's eagerness to take my knowledge and influence places where I could never have reached. Today I have lost my first and closest ally and friend in San Francisco. The AIDS community has lost a man who over the course of one and a half years has made an impact on AIDS treatment access and research that few would have thought possible from a relative newcomer to AIDS activism.
Michael Wright was a cofounder of ACT UP/Golden Gate, an organization that he was both proud of and frustrated with. His investment of time, energy, and love into that organization over the course of its first year has unquestionably served to bring credibility and respect to ACT UP nationally amongst researchers, elected officials, activists, and people with AIDS/HIV. Because of his work on opportunistic infections, the lives of thousands of people will be extended and improved....
Last night I went to visit Michael in the hospital and he told me that he was worried about me. What a control queen! He knew he was dying, but he wanted to make sure that I assessed my life and not his death. Before I left Michael, he told me that he had no regrets. I wish that resolution should be true for all of us as we continue to fight AIDS on our own behalf and on behalf of Michael and the few that have gone before him, that fought with the same spirit, for all of us still living through this horrible war.
Note: A memorial service for Michael Wright will be held February 1 at 2:00 at the Metropolitan Community Church, 150 Eureka Street, San Francisco. Contributions in his name can be sent to either ACT UP/Golden Gate, P. O. Box 519, San Francisco, CA 94114, or to Project Inform, 1965 Market Street, Suite 220, San Francisco, CA 94103-1012.
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