Michael Petrelis

Petrelis was born in Newark, New Jersey, where he lived for "four or five" years before his family moved to Caldwell, a nearby suburb.{{rp|1}} According to a family legend, his maternal grandmother once created a scene when his mother failed to win a Shirley Temple look-alike contest in Newark, overturning the judges' table and screaming, "This is a mafia-rigged beauty contest! My daughter's the most beautiful one!" Petrelis said of the legend, "...of course, I wasn't there, and you don't necessarily inherit that kind of whatever it takes to do it, but sometimes, you've just got to overturn some tables and remember that, for me, I have a Mediterranean background and that anger is okay."{{rp|50–51}}

Petrelis attended an alternative high school in East Orange, New Jersey, where he was openly gay. He remembers first becoming involved with the gay community as a teenager, traveling to the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City.{{rp|3}} In the city, Petrelis discovered he could make money as a sex worker and engaged in "lots and lots of unsafe sex."{{rp|545}} After graduating high school in 1977, he spent the following summer hitchhiking across the United States to San Francisco, California, where he lived for the next three years.{{rp|3–4}}

In San Francisco, Petrelis witnessed the White Night riots at San Francisco City Hall, a reaction to the lenient sentencing of Dan White, convicted of killing San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. Petrelis remembers feeling outrage on hearing the news of White's sentence and said of the property destruction he had watched that night, "I remember feeling that was okay — that you had to have this destruction of personal property to send a message...to gay people here in San Francisco— [White's lenient sentence] is not okay. And we had to look out for ourselves — even with the relative liberal attitudes of San Francisco."{{rp|5–6}}

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. One of these men was the first of Petrelis' friends to die of the disease that would later come to be known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).{{rp|6–7}}

Through the early months and spring of 1985, Petrelis suffered from a persistent illness that one doctor diagnosed as influenza; by that summer, he had developed a "bump" on his arm and was referred to a dermatologist at New York University (NYU) Hospital. At first, Petrelis balked; earning his living as a temporary office worker, he had neither insurance nor money to pay a dermatologist. Urged by the referring physician, he relented.{{rp|8}}

At NYU Hospital, Dr. Patrick N. Hennessey removed a biopsy of the suspicious lesion and stitched the incision. Petrelis remembered not wanting to return to have the stitches removed, again for lack of insurance and money, assuming that "if there's bad news, they'll call me up and tell me." When Hennessey's office did call and insisted Petrelis must see the doctor, he resolved to "...worry about payment later."{{rp|9}}

On the afternoon of August 26, 1985, Petrelis returned to Hennessey's office for removal of the stitches. Hennessey explained the results of the biopsy: the lesion was Kaposi's sarcoma, an opportunistic infection.{{rp|545}}{{rp|9}} He told Petrelis he had AIDS and that more such opportunistic infections would follow. His prognosis was terminal, with six months to a year to live. Henley advised him to go to the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) as soon as possible, draft a will, and find a doctor.{{rp|8–9}}

Upon hearing news of Petrelis' AIDS diagnosis, the friend with whom Petrelis lived asked him to leave; he was soon sleeping on numerous friends' couches and engaged in his first campaign: to pressure the city to support the AIDS Resource Center's (ARC) proposed purchase of the River Hotel on Christopher Street at the West Side Highway.{{rp|12}} With help from Mayor Edward Koch's administration, ARC planned to open the first residence for people with AIDS in the United States.{{cite web|title=History: Home, hope, and community -- for 25 Years|url=http://baileyhouse.org/about-us/history/|work=Baileyhouse.org|access-date=May 7, 2014}} Also active in the campaign were Andy Humm of the Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Rights (CLGR), Buddy Noro of People With AIDS,{{rp|14}} and Bill Bahlman and Marty Robinson of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-defamation League (now the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD).

Robinson, whom Petrelis remembered meeting by chance one night outside New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on West 13th Street, as the two men waited for a GLAAD meeting to begin,{{rp|15}} was a veteran activist. Throughout the 1960s, he had been active in the Mattachine Society, one of the first homophile organizations in the United States. He 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.{{cite news|last=Lambert|first=Bruce|title=Martin Robinson, 49, Organizer of Demonstrations for Gay Rights|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/nyregion/martin-roboimson-49-organizer-of-demonstrations-for-gay-rights.html|access-date=May 7, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 24, 1992}} In the aftermath of the Stonewall riots, he co-founded the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA),{{rp|50}} where he was credited with developing the zap,{{cite book|last=Carter|first=David|title=Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked a Gay Revolution|date=2004|publisher=St. Martin's press|isbn=0-312-20025-0|pages=242–243}} a protest tactic that would become a central component of ACT UP's strategy.{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Raymond A.|title=Drugs into Bodies: Global AIDS Treatment Activism|date=2006|publisher=Praeger Publishers|isbn=0-275-98325-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/drugsintobodiesg00smit/page/28 28]|author2=Siplon, Patricia D.|url=https://archive.org/details/drugsintobodiesg00smit/page/28}}{{cite book|last=Gross|first=Larry|title=Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America|date=2001|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-11952-6|page=46}}

Frustrated with what Bahlman called the "timid sort of nature" of GLAAD's and CLGR's tactics in the face of the AIDS crisis, Robinson and Noro determined that they needed to start a new group. In the late summer of 1986, in the wake of the Supreme Court of the United States' ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick, they began meeting with a small group of friends at Bahlman's apartment.{{rp|543}}{{cite web|last=Schulman|first=Sarah|title=Bill Bahlman Interview|url=http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/bahlman.pdf|work=ACT UP Oral History Project|publisher=The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival|date=2010|access-date=May 7, 2014|archive-date=February 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201151300/http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/bahlman.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{rp|49}} In addition to Robinson, Noro, and Bahlman, early participants included Henry Yaeger{{rp|49}}{{cite book|last=Andriote|first=John-Manuel|title=Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America|date=1999|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-02049-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/victorydeferredh00andr/page/217 217]|url=https://archive.org/details/victorydeferredh00andr/page/217}}{{cite book|last=Kahn|first=Arthur D.|title=AIDS, the Winter War: A Testing of America|date=1993|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=1-566-39018-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/aidswinterwar0000kahn/page/5 5]|url=https://archive.org/details/aidswinterwar0000kahn/page/5}} Jean Elizabeth Glass{{rp|16}}{{cite web|last=Sommella|first=Laraine|title=Early Tactics: Interview with Maxine Wolfe|url=http://www.actupny.org/documents/earlytactics.html|work=actup.org|access-date=May 7, 2014}} Eric Perez, and Petrelis.{{rp|16}}{{cite book|last=Kahn|first=Arthur D.|title=AIDS, the Winter War: A Testing of America|date=1993|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=1-566-39018-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/aidswinterwar0000kahn/page/6 6]|url=https://archive.org/details/aidswinterwar0000kahn/page/6}} The group would come to call itself the Lavender Hill Mob, after a well-known comic British film — a title they believed captured the personality of the group and its actions: gay, confrontational, creative, and humorous.

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. Petrelis believed Greitzer was "dragging her heels on this deal". Without waiting for the question and answer session, and without fear of arrest, Petrelis says he "just let them have it."{{rp|13–14}}

Petrelis also 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. Bahlman believed the protest was instrumental; the city approved the contract within days.{{rp|52}}

Named Bailey House in honor of the Reverend Mead Miner Bailey, one of ARC's founders, the facility finally opened on December 10, 1986.{{cite news|last=Dunlap|first=David|title=For Homeless with AIDS, a New Home|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/05/nyregion/for-homeless-with-aids-a-new-home.html|access-date=May 7, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 5, 1987}} Petrelis was among its first residents.{{rp|14}}

On February 24, 1987, Petrelis traveled with Bill Bahlman, Eric Perez, Marty Robinson, and Henry Yaeger{{rp|56}} to Atlanta, Georgia, where the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had convened the largest meeting yet held on the subject of AIDS. Eight hundred state and federal health officials attended the two-day conference to discuss proposed CDC guidelines for the use of AIDS antibody testing in preventing the spread of the disease; specifically, the CDC was considering whether to recommend such testing of patients admitted to hospitals, patients seeking clinical treatment for family planning, drug addiction or sexually transmitted diseases, prison inmates, and couples planning to marry.{{cite news|last=Boodman|first=Sarah G.|title=Officials Weigh Wider Testing: D.C. Believed Among 5 Jurisdictions with Highest Infection Rates|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 24, 1987|author2=Okie, Susan}}

On the first afternoon, Petrelis, dressed in a mock concentration camp uniform with a pink triangle,{{rp|22}} told a panel on confidentiality, "There's no such thing as confidentiality. I can tell you, as soon as you get on Social Security, your disability is AIDS, and everybody knows it." Petrelis accused federal health officials of genocide in mishandling the AIDS epidemic and said, "You locked up the Japanese during World War II, and you'll do it again if you want to. You should start talking about new treatments."{{cite news|last=Byrd|first=Robert|title=Mandatory Testing for AIDS Virus Criticized as Unworkable|newspaper=The Associated Press|date=February 24, 1987}} Lavender Hill Mob members also passed out leaflets that said "Test drugs, not people,"{{rp|56}} and referred to the CDC as "Center for Detention Camps."{{rp|22}}

Lavender Hill Mob members interrupted CDC deputy director Walter Dowdles' concluding remarks on the second day of the meeting, forcing the final plenary session to an early end with a "noisy demonstration accusing federal health officials of Nazism and genocide for debating the use of the AIDS test while people are dying for lack of a cure."{{cite news |last=Boffey |first=Phillip M. |title=Homosexuals Applaud Rejection of Mandatory Testing for AIDS |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 25, 1987 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/26/us/homosexuals-applaud-rejection-of-mandatory-tests-for-aids.html |access-date=July 13, 2021}}

The Lavender Hill Mob also criticized representatives of established lesbian and gay organizations attending the meeting, interrupting their joint press conference on the second day of the meeting. Urvashi Vaid was at the podium when Petrelis stood from his seat at the back of the room and shouted, "You've sold out the gay community!" Petrelis accused the community leaders of being "really out of touch" with the gay community's frustration and anger. "After six years there has been no action. And you guys are coming in here and acting as though what happened today is something to be applauded."{{rp|543–544}}

On April 30, 1987, Petrelis and Robinson were at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. to disrupt an appearance by William Bennet, then Secretary of Education in the Ronald Reagan administration. In a speech, approved by the White House and given to a group of students on the last day of classes, Bennet advocated mandatory AIDS testing for people convicted of crimes, people admitted to hospitals or seeking care at clinics, "perhaps particularly those serving high-risk populations," people applying to settle in the United States, and couples applying to marry.{{cite news|last=Werner|first=Leslie Maitland|title=Education Chief Presses AIDS Tests|url=https://nytimes.com/1987/05/01/us/education-chief-presses-aids-tests.html|access-date=May 7, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 1, 1987}} Petrelis and Robinson distributed leaflets saying, "No condoms, no sex, no privacy, no freedom, no choice, no reality, & no cure."{{cite news|last=Henry|first=Tamara|title=Bennett Defends AIDS Position|newspaper=U.P.I.|date=April 30, 1987}} When Bennett invited questions from the audience, Petrelis and Robinson stood, unfurled a purple banner that said "Lavender Hill Mob," and shouted, "Test drugs, not people. We're dying. We're dying." Petrelis screamed, "I have AIDS, but it's taken President Reagan six years to say the word AIDS." Campus security officers removed Petrelis and Robinson from the room, and detained them for half an hour before releasing them.{{cite news|last=Connell|first=Christopher|title=Koop, Bennett At Odds Over AIDS Testing|newspaper=The Associated Press|date=May 1, 1987}}

Upon his return from the CDC protest in Atlanta, Petrelis received a call from playwright Larry Kramer, asking to meet. Having read the news of the Lavender Hill Mob's actions at the CDC, Kramer wanted to discuss such confrontational tactics as ringing the White House with protesters, disrupting congress, and shutting down Wall Street. Kramer told Petrelis he was giving a speech at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on the upcoming Tuesday night, as a last-minute substitute for the scheduled speaker, writer Nora Ephron.{{rp|553}} Kramer urged Petrelis to invite everyone he knew.{{rp|23}}

On March 10, 1987, 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 (ACT UP).{{rp|547}}{{cite book|last=Bram|first=Christopher|title=Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America|date=2012|publisher=Twelve|isbn=978-0-446-56313-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/eminentoutlawsga0000bram/page/255 255]|url=https://archive.org/details/eminentoutlawsga0000bram/page/255}} In his speech, Kramer cited the attention achieved by the Lavender Hill Mob at the CDC in Atlanta, crediting the group's "blissfully rude" protest.{{cite book|last=Kramer|first=Larry|title=Reports from the Holocaust: The Making of and AIDS Activist|date=1989|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=0-312-02634-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/reportsfromholo000kram/page/135 135]|url=https://archive.org/details/reportsfromholo000kram/page/135}} After the speech, Petrelis stood and suggested they organize a public demonstration in New York City. "We need people," he shouted. "We have all got to get arrested.'{{rp|554}}

When ACT UP staged its first demonstration two weeks later, two hundred and fifty people descended on Wall Street to protest the relationship between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Burroughs Wellcome, the maker of AZT, charging the pharmaceutical manufacturer with profiteering. They hung an effigy of FDA Commissioner Frank Young in front of Trinity Church and tied up traffic for hours.{{cite book|last=Crimp|first=Douglas|title=AIDS Demographics|date=1990|publisher=Bay Press|isbn=0-941920-16-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/aidsdemographics00crim/page/28 28]|url=https://archive.org/details/aidsdemographics00crim/page/28}} Petrelis was one of seventeen demonstrators arrested for acts of civil disobedience.

In October 1988, Petrelis traveled to Portland, Oregon, where he organized a local chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power: ACT UP/Portland. There, he was arrested with three others protesting the airing of a television drama by NBC affiliate KGW-TV that depicted violence against a character with AIDS,{{cite news|last=Blackmun|first=Maya|title=Four Arrested in Protest at TV Station|newspaper=The (Portland) Oregonian|date=December 15, 1988}} helped block traffic on Burnside Bridge to protest passage of Ballot Measure 8, quarreled with state health officials who demanded the return of five thousand state-supplied condoms after they discovered ACT UP meant to distribute the condoms outside a high school,{{cite news|last1=Manzano|first1=Phil|title=State Retrieves Condoms from AIDS Awareness Group|work=The Oregonian|date=February 11, 1989}} criticized a state-sponsored series of AIDS awareness advertisements for not using the word "gay",{{cite news|last=O'Neill|first=Patrick|title=AIDS Ad Blitz Set in State|newspaper=The (Portland) Oregonian|date=March 1, 1989}} and was arrested with ten others outside the Portland office of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protesting the agency's failure to release four promising new drugs.{{cite news|last=Danks|first=Holly|title=11 AIDS Activists Arrested While Protesting FDA Policy|newspaper=The (Portland) Oregonian|date=February 28, 1989}}

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.{{cite news|last=DeParle|first=Jason|title=111 Held in St. Patrick's Protest|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 11, 1989}} The demonstration was among ACT Up's most controversial,{{cite book|last=Vaid|first=Urvashi|title=Virtual Equality: the Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation|date=1995|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=0-385-47298-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/virtualequalitym00vaid/page/364 364–365]|url=https://archive.org/details/virtualequalitym00vaid/page/364}}{{cite book|last=Hirshman|first=Linda|title=Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution|date=2012|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-06-196550-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/victorytriumphan0000hirs/page/205 205–206]|url=https://archive.org/details/victorytriumphan0000hirs/page/205}}{{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Randy|title=The Activist's Handbook: A Primer|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-20317-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/activistshandboo00shaw/page/221 221–223]|url=https://archive.org/details/activistshandboo00shaw/page/221}} but Petrelis almost didn't participate; none of the other activists wanted to include him in their affinity groups for that demonstration because, he recalled, "People felt I was too angry." Petrelis said he nonetheless felt driven to go and changed his mind. Arriving early before the police had established barricades, Petrelis was able to enter the church, and sit on the aisle in the middle of the cathedral.{{rp|35–36}} As other protesters stage silent die-ins, or calmly read prepared statements, Petrelis stood on the pew and screamed, "O'Connor, you're killing us! You're killing us, just stop it! Just stop it!" {{cite book|last=Strub|first=Sean|title=Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival|date=2014|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-1-4516-6195-8|page=2}} Before officers removed him from the cathedral, Petrelis screamed, "We will not be silent. We will fight O'Connor's bigotry."

Petrelis later faced criticism for his actions inside the cathedral. By standing on a pew, blowing a whistle, and screaming, while the other protesters inside the church participated in silent die-ins or read prepared statements, Petrelis had angered other protesters as well as outsiders and established his early reputation as one of ACT UP's more radical members.

In January 1990, Petrelis moved to Washington, D.C., to "wreak havoc on what he saw as a complacent lesbian and gay community."{{cite news|last=Provenzano|first=Jim|title=America's Nastiest Activist: Michael Petrellis, a Radical's Radical, Changes His Direction While Remaining on Due Course|newspaper=The Advocate|date=January 14, 1992}} Years later, Petrelis recalled a confrontation with Kramer at an ACT UP meeting in New York as prompting the move."Your obnoxiousness is not appreciated here," he remembered Kramer shouting. "Why don't you move to Washington, where your anger is more necessary?"{{cite magazine|last=Bull|first=Chris|title=Rebel With a Cause|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46|newspaper=The Advocate|date=February 22, 1994}} There, Petrelis helped organize a local chapter of ACT UP, which began meeting in March 1990.{{cite news|last=Gowen|first=Ann|title=ACT UP: Radical Soldiers in the War on AIDS|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=November 12, 1991}} With ACT UP/DC, Petrelis protested censorship of homoeroticism in the arts,{{cite news|last=Richardson|first=Valerie|title=Arts Rally May Feature Infighting|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=March 20, 1990}} pressured Amnesty International to recognize people imprisoned for sodomy to be counted as victims of human rights abuse,{{cite news|last=Shaikh|first=Nermeen|title=Amnesty Asked to Look Out for Gay Rights Worldwide|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=June 13, 1991}} demanded an end to the United States' immigration restrictions against people with HIV,{{cite news|title=Gay Groups Say Ban on AIDS-Infected Immigrants is Political|newspaper=The Associated Press|date=May 29, 1991}} traveled to President George H. W. Bush's family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, to disrupt the president's vacation,{{cite news|last=Benedetto|first=Richard|title=Protesters Shadow Bush; President Won't Meet with Abortion Foes|newspaper=USA Today|date=August 19, 1991}} disrupted the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' press conference to protest Catholic Church's teachings on condom use,{{cite news |last=Briggs |first=David |title=Bishops Approve Policy Statements on Environment, Children |newspaper=The Associated Press |date=November 14, 1991 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-16-ca-1640-story.html |access-date=July 13, 2021}} helped stuff condoms and AIDS awareness posters into hundreds of vending box copies of The Washington Post to criticize the newspaper's AIDS coverage,{{cite news|last=Elvin|first=John|title=Inside the Beltway: ACT UP, Post!|newspaper=The Washington Times}}{{cite news|title=Metro; Around the Region: AIDS Group Places Condoms in Post|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 29, 1991}} helped organize large demonstrations at the United States Capitol,{{cite news |last=Wilgoren |first=Debbi |title=74 AIDS Activists Arrested in Capitol Protest |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 2, 1991 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/10/02/74-aids-activists-arrested-in-capitol-protests/9cea0604-793e-45e1-8b0b-184fa3268a60/ |access-date=July 13, 2021}} and launched a nationwide boycott of the Philip Morris Co. (now Altria Group, Inc.), to protest the company's support for Jesse Helms, a Republican senator from North Carolina.

In June 1991, angered by what he considered unfair treatment of Greg Greeley, a captain in the United States Air Force, after Greeley marched in Washington D.C.'s gay pride parade on the last day of his commission, Petrelis helped organize Queer Nation/National Capital, a Washington, D.C. chapter of the militant direct action group. Petrelis used Queer Nation as a platform for outing closeted politicians and seeking justice for Allen R. Schindler, Jr., a sailor beaten to death in Japan because he was gay.

On April 20, 1990, Petrelis and other members of ACT UP/DC met with executives of the Philip Morris Co., makers of Marlboro cigarettes, to discuss the company's support for Jesse Helms, a Republican Senator from North Carolina. The activists told the executives that Helms' voting record on issues important to lesbian, gay men, and people with AIDS was entirely negative: he had "voted wrong every time." They left the meeting "agreeing to disagree." On the following Monday, Petrelis announced a nationwide boycott of Marlboro cigarettes.{{cite news|last=Elvin|first=John|title=Inside the Beltway: Targeting Helms|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=April 23, 1990}} ACT UP/DC published a position paper explaining the reasons for the boycott.{{cite book|last=Petrelis|first=Michael|title=Position Paper: Marlboro Boycott|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cohenaids/5571095.0422.005?rgn=main;view=fulltext|work=Jon Cohen AIDS Research Collection|access-date=May 30, 2014 |author2=Goodman, Carl |author3=Underwood, Emmett|date=April 24, 1990}} In June, ACT UP/ San Francisco announced an expansion of the boycott to include Miller beer, also manufactured by Philip Morris.{{cite journal|title=One Gay Community Ignores Boycott: Milwaukee Gays Disagree with Boycott against Miller Brewing Co. Products|journal=Modern Brewery Age|date=July 30, 1990|volume=41|issue= 31|page=4|publisher=Business Journals, Inc.|issn=0026-7538}} The boycott drew support from advocates of the arts, unhappy with Helms' efforts to defund the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).{{cite journal|title=Theatre Pros Vow Support of Boycott aimed at Helms|journal=Backstage|date=August 17, 1990|volume=31|issue= 31|page=1|publisher=BPI Communications|issn=0005-3635}} At the boycott's peak, ACT UP was conducting related activities in eighteen cities, with a toll-free boycotters' hotline and a rumor control team.{{cite news|last=Asimov|first=Nanette|title=Consumer Politics: There's Big Power in the Boycott|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 2, 1990}} At an August 13, 1990, press conference on the steps of the Philip Morris headquarters in midtown Manhattan, representatives of ACT UP/NY said the Miller beer boycott was being observed in more than thirty cities across the U.S. and in more than one hundred bars, clubs, restaurants, and theaters in New York City.

As the boycott expanded, Petrelis targeted Helms in other ways. On July 17, 1990, he was arrested with five other members of ACT UP/DC in Helms' office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, after the demonstrators "shouted and chanted"{{cite news|last=Winneker|first=Craig|title=Homosexual Rights Protesters Arrested in Helms's Office|newspaper=Roll Call|date=July 19, 1990}} and threatened to occupy the office until Helms resigned.{{cite news|title=Washington Digest|work=The St. Petersburg Times|date=July 18, 1990}} A month later, the "Helms Office Six" pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of protesting in a capitol building; in exchange for their plea, prosecutors dropped the more serious misdemeanor charge of unlawful entry that carried a penalty of up to one year in jail. The court sentenced the protesters to three days in jail, suspended, and six months probation.{{cite news |last1=O'Neill |first1=Cliff |title='Helms Office Six' Get Six Months Probation |work=Outweek |issue=62 |date=September 5, 1990}} On August 14, 1990, Petrelis defended an ACT UP/DC poster campaign featuring an image of Helms sodomizing George H. W. Bush. ACT UP members wheat-pasted the poster in neighborhoods throughout the District of Columbia.{{cite news|title=Commentary: ACT UP, Meet RICO|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=August 28, 1990}}

In August, the Conservative Campaign Fund of Washington, D.C. filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) naming Petrelis, ACT UP/DC, and other boycott organizers. The complaint charged the boycott organizers with interfering with the North Carolina Senate race in violation of federal election rules.{{cite news|last=Asimov|first=Nanette|title=Boycott by Gay Group Called Violation of Election Rules|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=August 15, 1990}} In February 1991, the FEC announced it would pursue the case,{{cite news|last=Curran|first=Tim|title=FEC to Pursue Case Against Gay Group to Investigate Claim That ACT UP Violated Campaign Laws in Boycott of Sen. Helm|newspaper=Roll Call|date=February 25, 1991}} and in 1993, the FEC pressured ACT UP to enter into a conciliation process to negotiate the civil fine the organization would pay. ACT UP determined to keep fighting. Citing the length of time that had passed and the fact that the ACT UP chapters named in the complaint no longer existed, FEC general council Larry Noble eventually recommended the commissioners drop the case.{{cite web|last=Hayward|first=Allison R.|title=Gagging on Political Reform: The Federal Election Commission and its "Good Government Allies" are Crushing Free Speech|url=http://reason.com/archives/1996/10/01/gagging-on-political-reform/3|work=reason.com|access-date=May 18, 2014|author2=Hayward, Steven|date=October 1996}}

That fall, Petrelis and other ACT UP members heckled Philip Morris Co. executives in some cities as they traveled the country with Virginia's original copy of the Bill of Rights, a Philip Morris sponsored tour celebrating the founding document's upcoming bicentennial.{{cite news|title=NH Children Flock to View Bill of Rights|newspaper=The Union Leader|date=November 1, 1990}} Petrelis credited this "public relations nightmare" with the company's willingness the following summer to settle the boycott.

On May 31, 1991, the Philip Morris Co. and ACT UP held a joint press conference announcing an end to the boycott, with the cigarette and beer maker condemning anti-gay discrimination, and promising to double its contributions to AIDS causes and create a new program to channel contributions to lesbian and gay groups. The company also 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. Petrelis called on gay and lesbian groups to accept the settlement.{{cite news|last=Tuller|first=David|title=Tobacco Firm's Boycott Deal: Philip Morris Pledges Millions but SF Leader Not Satisfied|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=May 31, 1991}} He said the boycott had sensitized the company about AIDS and anti-homosexual attitudes.{{cite news|title=Philip Morris, Boycotters Announce AIDS Effort|newspaper=The Associated press|date=May 30, 1991}} The settlement, and Petrelis' role in the negotiations that led to it were controversial within ACT UP. Bill Haskell of ACT UP/San Francisco vowed the boycott would continue. William Dobbs of ACT UP/New York called the settlement "despicable," and equated accepting money from the company with "stepping over thousands of dead" to fight AIDS.{{cite news|last=Reilly|first=William M.|title=ACT UP calls off Miller Beer, Marlboro Boycotts|newspaper=U.P.I.|date=May 30, 1991}}

On May 26, 1990, 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. A number of reporters attended the press conference, and some wrote about it, but none published the names. Petrelis would later recall he had been "emboldened" to organize the press conference by an article in the San Francisco Examiner which attributed the prediction of a "national outing day" to writer Arthur Evans.{{cite book|last=Johansson|first=Warren A.|title=Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence|date=1994|publisher=Harrington Park Press|isbn=1-56023-041-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/outing00warr/page/188 188]|author2=Percy, Warren A.|url=https://archive.org/details/outing00warr/page/188}} One of the individuals Petrelis and Goodman named was Mark Hatfield, a Republican Senator from Oregon whom Petrelis had first helped expose as secretly homosexual in February 1989, part of the first political outing of an elected official by American activists.

In the aftermath of the outing of newly deceased multimillionaire Malcolm Forbes by the lesbian and gay news magazine, OutWeek, Petrelis said of the tactic, "Outing is a very complicated issue. There are no rules for outing. Politicians give up a lot of their privacy. Their lives are lived in a fishbowl."{{cite news|last=Allen|first=Charlotte Low|title=The World is 'Outing'; The New Gay Militants|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=September 13, 1990}}

Steve Gunderson, a Republican representing Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, had been among those individuals Petrelis had included on his list of closeted homosexuals at the May 26, 1990, press conference on the steps of the United States Capitol.{{cite book|last=Gross|first=Larry|title=Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America|date=2001|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-11952-6|page=139}} When Petrelis encountered Gunderson at a gay bar in Alexandria, Virginia, in late June 1991, Petrelis confronted Gunderson, urging him to come out and support gay rights. Specifically, Petrelis objected to Gunderson's vote against the Civil Rights Amendment Act of 1991, which would have extended the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation. Gunderson reportedly replied, "I am out. I'm in this bar aren't I?", dismissing Petrelis. Petrelis grew angry and threw a beverage at his face.{{cite book|last=Signorile|first=Michelangelo|title=Queer in America: Sex, Media, and the Closets of Power|date=1993|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-679-41309-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/queerinamericase00sign_0/page/87 87]|url=https://archive.org/details/queerinamericase00sign_0/page/87}}{{cite news|last=Elvin|first=John|title=Inside the Beltway: Out & About|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=July 8, 1991}}{{cite news|last=Hall|first=Dee J.|title='Outing' is In, Radical Gays Argue|newspaper=Wisconsin State Journal|date=September 8, 1991}} Petrelis then called the police on himself. Afterwards, Petrelis contacted journalists to promote the incident.{{cite book|last=Kurtz|first=Howard|title=Media Circus: The Trouble with America's Newspapers|date=1993|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-8129-6356-3|pages=175–177}} After Petrelis and others made Gunderson's homosexuality public, Gunderson became more supportive of gay issues and more open about his own sexuality.{{cite news|last=Bull|first=Chris|title=Outward Bound: Wisconsin Congressman Steve Gunderson Talks About his Private Life -- At Last|newspaper=The Advocate|date=October 4, 1994}}

On June 28, 1991, 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.{{cite book|last=Signorile|first=Michelangelo|title=Queer in America: Sex, Media, and the Closets of Power|date=1993|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-679-41309-X|pages=[https://archive.org/details/queerinamericase00sign_0/page/100 100–101]|url=https://archive.org/details/queerinamericase00sign_0/page/100}}{{cite book|last=Johansson|first=Warren A.|title=Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence|date=1994|publisher=Harrington Park Press|isbn=1-56023-041-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/outing00warr/page/190 190]|author2=Percy, Warren A.|url=https://archive.org/details/outing00warr/page/190}}{{cite news|last=King|first=Larry|title=Some Hints of Change for Gays in Military|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=August 11, 1991}} Williams had risen to prominence during the Gulf War, acting as a Pentagon spokesperson. His homosexuality was considered an open secret in some Washington circles. Petrelis' press release stated, "Pete Williams, an openly closeted gay man, hypocritically remains silent in his job as Pentagon spokesman, while the Department of Defense continues its irrational policy of ejecting thousands of gays and lesbians from the armed services." At the press conference, Petrelis unfurled a poster bearing an image of Williams that read: PETE WILLIAMS ABSOLUTELY QUEER: PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON, TAP DANCER, CONSUMMATE QUEER. No one reported the story, but Petrelis returned to the Pentagon on August 6, 1991, to intercept reporters as they entered the building for a regularly scheduled Tuesday morning briefing. Petrelis held an impromptu press conference. He carried with him a box of copies of an article by Michelangelo Signorile from the most recent issue of the Advocate, outing Williams. Petrelis scolded the reporters for ignoring the story and urged them to ask Williams directly about his homosexuality. A half hour into Williams' briefing that day, Rolf Paasch, a foreign correspondent with Berlin's Die Tageszeitung, asked Williams if he could confirm or deny the claims that he was gay, and whether or not he had discussed possible resignation with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.{{cite book|last=Signorile|first=Michelangelo|title=Queer in America: Sex, Media, and the Closets of Power|date=1993|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-679-41309-X|pages=[https://archive.org/details/queerinamericase00sign_0/page/142 142–144]|url=https://archive.org/details/queerinamericase00sign_0/page/142}} Williams responded by saying he was not paid to discuss his personal life and that "government people don't discuss in public whatever they may say to their bosses."

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. The aim of the project was to pressure presidential candidates of all parties to address AIDS and other issues important to lesbian and gay voters.{{cite news|last1=Scaduto|first1=Anthony|last2=Vanghan|first2=Doug|last3=Stasi|first3=Lisa|title=Inside New York: ACT UP and Out|work=(New York) Newsday|date=December 6, 1991}}

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. Two minutes into Buchanan's speech, broadcast on the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN), Petrelis started screaming, "Act up, fight back, fight AIDS!"{{cite web|title=Buchanan Announcement|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?23289-1/buchanan-announcement|website=c-span.org|publisher=Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network|access-date=June 16, 2014|date=December 10, 1991}} Off camera, senior Buchanan campaign officials tackled Petrelis and dragged him from the hall,{{cite news|last1=Pertman|first1=Adam|last2=Kiernan|first2=Laura|title=Gay Activist Dragged from Buchanan Event|work=The Boston Globe|date=December 11, 1991}} while Buchanan advised, "Be gentle. Be gentle with him."{{cite news|last1=Tibbetts|first1=Donn|title=Election '92: Assault Complaint Filed Against Buchanan Workers|work=The Union Leader|date=December 18, 1991|location=Manchester, NH}} Standing over Petrelis outside, the campaign officials were heard to threaten, "Every time you come here, this is what you're going to get. Tell your friends." Petrelis filed an assault complaint with the New Hampshire State Police against the two campaign officials, Paul Nagy and Chris Tremblay.

Over the coming months, Petrelis led a small group of activists around the country, following the candidates to key primary states and successfully inserting the project's issues into the national debate. The project distributed condoms at campaign venues and offices,{{cite news|title=AIDS Activists to Distribute Condoms at School|work=The Union Leader|date=January 3, 1992|location=Manchester, NH}} produced a thirty-second television ad, accusing the candidates of ignoring AIDS, that sparked controversy when WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire, refused to air it because the station objected to the images of same-sex couples kissing,{{cite news|last1=Levy|first1=Dan|title=New Hampshire TV Station Rejects AIDS Ad; ACT UP Wants Presidential Candidates to Take Position|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=January 10, 1992}}{{cite news|last1=Kurtz|first1=Howard|title=In Spotlight State, All the Political Ads Aren't Necessarily About Candidates|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 3, 1992}}{{cite news|last1=Loth|first1=Renee|title=Interest Groups Vie With Hopefuls for TV Time|work=The Boston Globe|date=February 12, 1992}} challenged presidential hopeful Ross Perot's promise that his administration would not appoint homosexuals to cabinet posts,{{cite news|title=Perot Holds Hi-Tech Rally|work=Toronto Star|agency=Associated Press|date=May 30, 1992}}{{cite news|title=California Gays Disappointed by Bush, Alarmed by Perot|agency=Agence France Press|date=May 30, 1992|location=San Francisco, California}} and encouraged lesbian and gay voters to be skeptical about then-candidate Bill Clinton.{{cite news|last1=Isikoff|first1=Michael|title=Gays Mobilizing for Clinton as Rights Become Issue|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 28, 1992}} The pressure on Clinton resulted in sixteen AIDS-specific policy promises from the campaign. Ann Northrop, a New York City activist and journalist, later said of Petrelis' efforts, "Michael did a great job putting our issues on the agenda during the campaign."

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., a United States Navy seaman stationed aboard the {{USS|Belleau Wood|LHA-3}}, who the newspaper said may have been gay. When Petrelis could find no other information, he said he grew suspicious. He believed the sailor's death was a consequence of the military's ban on homosexuals that Clinton had promised to repeal. He telephoned Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen,{{cite news |last1=Lavin |first1=Cheryl |date=April 23, 1993 |title=Grieving Mother Turns Angry Activist; Campaign against Navy Goes Full Steam Ahead |work=Chicago Tribune}} and told her his intentions to raise awareness about the crime for political reasons.

Petrelis vowed to turn Schindler into "the gay Rodney King." He organized a press conference and protest on the steps of the Pentagon that prompted coverage on local television stations that night. Activists claimed the protest also prompted the Navy to disclose previously concealed details of the crime.{{cite news|last1=Claiborne|first1=William|title=Navy Hearing to Begin in Beating Death of Homosexual Sailor|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 24, 1993}}{{cite news|last1=Nickerson|first1=Colin|title=Sailor Charged with Murder in Gay's Death|work=The Boston Globe|date=February 9, 1993}} Petrelis believed the Navy was downplaying Schindler's homosexuality. Hajdys-Clausen complained that the Navy did not inform her until December 6, 1992, that her son had openly identified himself as homosexual a month before the murder. Over the next six months, Petrelis organized numerous press conferences at the Pentagon, the White House, and in Japan. Hajdys-Clausen said that, without the public attention, "the Navy would whitewash the whole thing". She feared the Navy was trying to cover up a hate crime.{{cite news|last1=Sterngold|first1=James|title=The Gay Troop Issue; Death of a Gay Sailor: Lethal Beating Overseas Brings Questions and Fear|work=The New York Times|date=January 31, 1993}} On January 18, 1993, Petrelis organized a candlelight vigil for Schindler, sponsored by Queer Nation/National Capital, at the United States Navy Memorial, with Hajdys-Clausen participating.{{cite news|title=Metro: A Vigil and a Promise|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 14, 1993}}

At a hearing on February 3, 1993, the Navy charged Airman Apprentice Terry M. Helvey of the USS Belleau Wood with Schindler's murder,{{Cite web |date=February 3, 1993 |title=Sailor faces court-martial in murder of homosexual shipmate |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/02/03/Sailor-faces-court-martial-in-murder-of-homosexual-shipmate/8175728715600/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812181147/https://archive.today/20240812174641/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/02/03/Sailor-faces-court-martial-in-murder-of-homosexual-shipmate/8175728715600/ |archive-date=August 12, 2024 |access-date=August 12, 2024 |website=UPI |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Sterngold |first=James |date=February 4, 1993 |title=Navy Plans Murder Charge in Death of Gay Sailor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/04/us/navy-plans-murder-charge-in-death-of-gay-sailor.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530051450/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/04/us/navy-plans-murder-charge-in-death-of-gay-sailor.html |archive-date=May 30, 2023 |access-date=August 12, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Jameson |first=Sam |date=February 9, 1993 |title=Navy Sailor Accused of Killing Gay Shipmate Seeks Civilian Counsel |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-09-mn-1297-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819224629/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-09-mn-1297-story.html |archive-date=August 19, 2024 |access-date=August 19, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} based largely on the accounts of his shipmate and accomplice, Charles E. Vins, whom the Navy had tried quietly in November and sentenced to four months in prison, of which he served 78 days in exchange for his testimony against Helvey.{{Cite web |last=Lavin |first=Cheryl |date=August 10, 1997 |title=Death of a Sailor |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/08/10/death-of-a-sailor/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106125232/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-08-10-9708100361-story.html |archive-date=November 6, 2023 |access-date=August 12, 2024 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}} Petrelis did not trust the Navy to fully prosecute Helvey. At the White House, 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. With the financial support of David Geffen, Charles Holmes, Larry Kramer, and Marvin Liebman, among others, Petrelis traveled twice to Japan to monitor the proceedings. There, he held press conferences, met with sailors who had been stationed with Schindler on the USS Belleau Wood, gained access to the U.S. naval base at Sasebo, Japan, where the USS Belleau Wood was docked, and obtained special permission to attend Helvey's court-martial proceedings at the U.S. naval base at Yokosuka, Japan.{{cite news|last1=Kageyama|first1=Yuri|title=Court-Martial for Sailor Accused of Killing Gay Shipmate Begins|work=The Associated Press|date=February 8, 1993}}

To avoid the death penalty for premeditated murder, Helvey pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of "murder with intent to do great bodily harm."{{cite news|last1=Reid|first1=T.R.|title=Sailor's Killer "Disgusted ' by Gays; Court is Told Defendant in Vicious Beating said 'I'd Do It Again.'|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 26, 1993}} On May 27, 1993, the Navy sentenced him to life in prison.{{Cite news |last=Sterngold |first=James |date=May 27, 1993 |title=Sailor Gets Life for Killing Gay Shipmate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/27/us/sailor-gets-life-for-killing-gay-shipmate.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230173918/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/27/us/sailor-gets-life-for-killing-gay-shipmate.html |archive-date=December 30, 2023 |access-date=December 19, 2023 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Petrelis said, "This sentence sends a message that it's not O.K. to kill gay sailors and that homophobic violence will be punished."{{cite news|last1=Sterngold|first1=James|title=Killer Gets Life as Navy Says He Hunted Down Gay Sailor|work=The New York Times|date=May 28, 1993}}

In 2015, 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.{{Cite web |date=November 11, 2015 |title=Activist reveals information relating to sailor Allen Schindler's murder |url=https://www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/Activist-reveals-information-relating-to-sailor-Allen-Schindlers-murder/53394.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221212012/https://www.windycitytimes.com/m/APPredirect.php?AID=53394 |archive-date=February 21, 2024 |access-date=October 21, 2022 |website=Windy City Times |language=en-us}} Petrelis released the document on Veterans Day.{{Cite web |last=Jr |first=Lou Chibbaro |date=November 10, 2015 |title=New details surface in 1992 murder of gay sailor |url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/11/10/new-details-surface-in-1992-murder-of-gay-sailor/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240619022037/https://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/11/10/new-details-surface-in-1992-murder-of-gay-sailor/ |archive-date=June 19, 2024 |access-date=October 21, 2022 |website=Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News |language=en-US}}

Petrelis appeared on an episode of the TV documentary crime series, The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade — "Don't Ask Don't Tell", season 1 episode 8, where he discussed his involvement in the Schindler case. The episode aired on Jan 7, 2019, on Investigation Discovery.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Anita |date=January 7, 2019 |title=Navy officer Allen R. Schindler, Jr., viciously murdered in hate crime on The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade |url=https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/true-crime/navy-officer-allen-r-schindler-jr-viciously-murdered-in-hate-crime-on-the-1990s-the-deadliest-decade/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129174904/https://www.dailycrime.com/navy-officer-allen-r-schindler-jr-viciously-murdered-in-hate-crime-on-the-1990s-the-deadliest-decade/ |archive-date=November 29, 2023 |access-date=October 21, 2022 |website=Monsters and Critics |language=en-US}}

In early 2022, Petrelis, along with Schindler's family, strongly opposed Helvey's recommendation for parole, with a possible release date on October 26, 2022.{{Cite web |last=Jr |first=Lou Chibbaro |date=February 21, 2022 |title=Man sentenced to life in prison for 1992 murder of gay sailor recommended for parole |url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/02/21/man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-1992-murder-of-gay-sailor-recommended-for-parole/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930171047/https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/02/21/man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-1992-murder-of-gay-sailor-recommended-for-parole/ |archive-date=September 30, 2023 |access-date=October 21, 2022 |website=Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News |language=en-US}} "The brutal death of Allen Schindler for daring to live authentically as a gay member of the U.S. Navy before the ban on LGBT people was lifted, at the hands of Terry Helvey, who pleaded guilty to the murder, demands that for justice to be served he remain incarcerated," Petrelis said in a statement. "It would have been an outrage if the U.S. Parole Commission granted him release around the date 30-years ago when Schindler was killed out of hatred." Helvey was denied parole on March 7, 2022.{{Cite web |last=Jr |first=Lou Chibbaro |date=March 8, 2022 |title=Parole denied for man who murdered gay sailor in 1992 |url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/03/08/parole-denied-for-man-who-murdered-gay-sailor-in-1992/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312151633/https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/03/08/parole-denied-for-man-who-murdered-gay-sailor-in-1992/ |archive-date=March 12, 2022 |access-date=October 21, 2022 |website=Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News |language=en-US}}

In 1995, Petrelis left Washington, DC, to return to San Francisco, California.{{cite news|last1=Miles|first1=Sarah|title=Rebel With a Cause|work=Out|date=December 1999}} There, he continued to speak out and take action on a wide range of issues: advocating rent control, protesting internet censorship,{{cite news|title=CompuServe Said to Act Alone on Ban; German Prosecutors Again Deny Threats Over Sexual Material On-Line|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 3, 1996}} criticizing how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted and publicized a study on the use of nonoxynol-9 among men who have sex with men,{{cite news|last1=Price|first1=Joyce|title=Federal Study of Lubricant Blasted; Agency to Weigh Effect on Gay Men|work=The Washington Times|date=July 25, 1996}}{{cite news|last1=McCaslin|first1=John|title=Inside the Beltway: Of Mike and Men|work=The Washington Times|date=July 31, 1996}} questioning the role of heterosexuals as leaders of lesbian and gay organizations,{{cite news|last1=Irvine|first1=Martha|title=Debate Sparked by Straight People Assuming Gay Leadership Roles|work=The Associated Press|date=June 28, 1997}} opposing the death penalty, even in cases of fatal hate crimes,{{cite news|title=Gay-rights Group Condemns Death Penalty for Gay Student's Accused Killers|work=The Associated Press State and Local Wire|date=January 7, 1999}}{{cite news|title=Denver & the West: Western Empire; Cheyenne|work=The Denver Post|date=January 10, 1999}}{{cite news|last1=Reeves|first1=Jay|title=Two Indicted on Capital Charges in Murder of Gay Man in Alabama|work=The Associated Press State and Local Wire|date=March 26, 1999}} criticizing Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco, for using a pejorative, "pantywaists," to insult United Airlines' airplanes,{{cite news|last1=McCaslin|first1=John|title=Inside the Beltway: Sissy Planes|work=The Washington Times|date=February 5, 1999}} and supporting state-mandated name reporting for people with HIV.{{cite news|last1=Ishida|first1=Julie|title=State Starts Monitoring HIV Cases; California One of Last States to Begin Such Monitoring|work=The Sacramento Bee|date=July 13, 2002}} Petrelis was also 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 (DOMA).{{cite news|last1=Dunlap|first1=David W.|title=A Republican Congressman Discloses He Is a Homosexual|work=The New York Times|date=August 3, 1996}}

In early 1996, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) agreed to offer female condoms to men who have sex with men, as protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections during anal sex, after Petrelis urged them to do so by phone and letter.{{cite news|last1=Tuller|first1=David|title=Health Dept. to Distribute Gay Condom; S.F. Makes Women's Device Available to Men|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=April 1, 1996}} Petrelis criticized the agency for failing to hold public meetings about the female condom,{{cite news|last1=Krieger|first1=Lisa|title=New Condom is Offered in the War Against AIDS|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date=March 10, 1996}} and initially failing to provide adequate instructions for its use. Petrelis also worried that use of the female condom for anal sex had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).{{cite news|title=Education and Prevention: Health Department Offering Female Condoms to Gay Males|work=AIDS Weekly Plus|date=March 25, 1996}} Because Petrelis had first lobbied for wider distribution of the female condom, then criticized how SFDPH accomplished that, an unnamed SFDPH staff member accused Petrelis of "a complete 180 back flip." Petrelis countered that he had consistently advocated for SFDPH to hold public hearings about its work.{{cite news|last1=McGarrahan|first1=Ellen|title=Petrelis the Pest; Michael Petrelis has Entered the AIDS Debate Once Again|work=SF Weekly|publisher=New Times, Inc.|date=April 10, 1996}}

In 1997, Petrelis helped organize a campaign to reopen the bathhouses, after San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Tom Ammiano proposed an ordinance to license and regulate the city's sex clubs, thereby codifying previously voluntary guidelines. Petrelis opposed the measure as an unwarranted government intrusion into the sex lives of gay men. Among the voluntary guidelines to be codified by the legislation was a prohibition against locked doors, behind which patrons might engage in unprotected anal intercourse. San Francisco health officials considered the availability of such private spaces to be a distinguishing characteristic of the bathhouses the city had worked to close, and keep closed, since 1984. The debate over the proposed legislation led some activists to demand reopening the bathhouses.{{cite news|last1=Tuller|first1=David|title=S.F. Mayor Said to Oppose Licensing of Sex Clubs|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 14, 1996}}{{cite news|last1=Quinn|first1=Dan|title=Back to the Baths; Gay Bathhouses in Austin, TX|work=The Advocate|date=April 1, 1997}} Petrelis said, "...I think that there are mature gay men who know how to make decisions behind closed doors." Ammiano's proposal failed for lack of support from San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

For the next two years, Petrelis and other activists lobbied SFDPH to reverse the prohibition against bathhouses with locking doors. In 1999, the activists authored a ballot initiative to overturn the ban on private rooms in gay sex clubs and eliminate the requirement that club staff monitor consensual behavior among club patrons.{{cite news|last1=Wildermuth|first1=John|title=Proposed Initiative Could Unlock Bathhouse Doors|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=May 4, 1999}} Mitchell Katz, director of SFDPH, strongly opposed the initiative before it even qualified for the ballot; the San Francisco Chronicle editorialized against it, citing "disturbing evidence of an upsurge in dangerous sex practices among some gays."{{cite news|title=Bathhouse Roulette|work='San Francisco Chronicle|date=May 6, 1999}}{{cite news|last1=Garcia|first1=Ken|title=They Seek Dangerous Liaisons; Queer Nation's Notion on Bathhouses is Denial|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=May 8, 1999}} Petrelis responded by demanding that critics reveal the evidence they claimed, while citing statistics showing decreased incidence of both male rectal gonorrhea and new AIDS cases in San Francisco.{{cite news|last1=Petrelis|first1=Michael|title=Letters to the Editor: Open the Bathhouses|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=May 12, 1999}} Activists collected only four thousand signatures of the more than ten thousand needed to qualify the measure for the ballot in November 1999.{{cite news|last1=Lite|first1=Jordan|title=In America's Gay Capital, a Drive to Bring Back the Bathhouses|work=The Associated Press|date=July 2, 1999}}

In 1997, Petrelis and other activists grew critical of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), a nonprofit AIDS service organization (ASO), and its executive director, Pat Christen. 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. He encouraged activists in other cities to ask similar questions about how AIDS dollars were being spent where they live.{{cite news|last1=Jennings|first1=Moss J.|title=Where's the Money Going?|work=The Advocate|date=April 1, 1997}} When SFAF's informational tax return, or Form 990, revealed that Christen was paid more than $162,000 in 1995, Petrelis and other activists were infuriated. The activists' complaints about the lack of transparency at SFAF led Tom Ammiano, representing District 9 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, to propose a controversial disclosure law requiring a charity that receives city funds to open all its meetings to the public, make all its documents available to the public, and admit a city-appointed observer to its board of directors if deemed necessary by the Board of Supervisors.{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Susan|title=San Francisco Considers Disclosure Law for Charities that Receive City Funds|work=The Chronicle of Philanthropy|date=January 29, 1998}} In June 1998, Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco, signed a compromise version of the ordinance, requiring charities that receive at least $250,000 in city grants to convene at least two public board meetings a year and provide some financial information to the public.{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Jason B.|title=Brown Signs Sunshine Ordinance; S.F. Archbishop Lobbied for Veto of Open Meeting law|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=June 20, 1998}}

In 1998, Petrelis organized the AIDS Accountability Project, and created a web site to publish the informational tax returns of nonprofit ASO's. By April, the project had published the tax returns of twenty-eight such agencies located throughout the United States and highlighted the six-digit salaries of certain ASO executives.{{cite news|last1=McCormick|first1=Erin|title=Tracking the Funds for AIDS|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date=April 26, 1998}}

After Petrelis expressed his concerns to Tom Coburn, a Republican representing Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, Coburn made a floor speech accusing AIDS charity executives of "lining their own pockets." Coburn read into the Congressional Record an article from the San Francisco Examiner about Petrelis and the AIDS Accountability Project.{{cite web|title=The Congressional Record; Volume 144, Number 55|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1998-05-06/html/CREC-1998-05-06-pt1-PgH2929.htm|website=gpo.gov|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=June 24, 2014|date=May 6, 1998}}{{cite news|last1=Shapiro|first1=Walter|title=What's the Value of Good Deeds? Charities Have to Decide|work=USA Today|date=May 8, 1998}}{{cite news|last1=Myers|first1=Jim|title=Coburn Claims AIDS Officials Overpaid: Patients Need Funds, Lawmaker Says|work=Tulsa World|date=May 7, 1998}} AIDS groups criticized Petrelis for working with Coburn, a supporter of mandatory names reporting for people with HIV and AIDS.{{cite news|last1=Flippen|first1=Alan|title=The $195,000 Question: How Much is Too Much When it Comes to the Salaries of AIDS Charity Executives?|work=The Advocate|date=July 7, 1998}} 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. Boxer and Pelosi did not take an interest in Petrelis' cause. Petrelis asked, "...but where are the liberals?"

In December 1998, the Family Research Council called on the 106th Congress to conduct a "full audit of all federal AIDS dollars" before reauthorizing the Ryan White Care Act, the legislation through which AIDS dollars were appropriated; Petrelis lamented, "What has the world come to when strident AIDS activists find their calls for accountability from AIDS charities are echoed by the Family Research Council?"{{cite news|last1=McCaslin|first1=John|title=Inside the Beltway: An Unlikely Ally|work=The Washington Times|date=December 9, 1998}} In April 1999, Coburn formally requested that the Government Accounting Office (GAO) conduct a performance audit and evaluation of all federal HIV programs and services. Joining him in the request were House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Republican representing Texas's 26th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, and Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, a Republican representing Virginia's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.{{cite journal|title=Lawmakers Call for GAO Audit of HIV Program Funds|journal=AIDS Policy and Law|date=May 14, 1999|volume=14|issue= 9}}{{cite web|title=HIV/AIDS: Lawmakers Request GAO Audit|url=http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/1999/4/22/hivaids--lawmakers-request-gao-audit|website=California Healthline|publisher=California Healthcare Foundation|access-date=June 24, 2014|date=April 22, 1999}}

The GAO published the requested report in March 2000, concluding that federal AIDS programs were administered well and were effective, portending the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE ACT.{{cite news|last1=Roehr|first1=Bob|title=AIDS Programs Reviewed; Reauthorization Proceeds|url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=28152|access-date=June 25, 2014|work=The Windy City Times|date=April 5, 2000}} The report said that compensation for the executives of nonprofit ASO's receiving federal assistance was "generally comparable to that of similar nonprofit organizations."{{cite web|author1=Government Accounting Office|title=HIV/AIDS: Use of Ryan White CARE Act and Other Assistance Grant Funds|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-54/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-54.pdf|website=gpo.gov|publisher=Government Printing Office|access-date=June 25, 2014|page=5|date=March 2000}} Based on the report, Coburn concluded that more federal funding needed to be directed towards prevention efforts.{{cite news|title=Arresting AIDS; Coburn's Idea: Focus First on HIV|url=http://newsok.com/arresting-aids-coburns-idea-focus-first-on-hiv/article/2691819|access-date=June 25, 2014|work=Oklahoman|date=March 30, 2000}}

Months later, a San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) report showing increased HIV transmission rates in San Francisco led Petrelis to question how local organizations were using the more than sixteen million dollars being spent annually for HIV prevention efforts.{{cite news|last1=Romesburg|first1=Don|title=Unsafe-sex Storm Brews in San Francisco|work=The Advocate|date=September 12, 2000}} He also publicly accused two local HIV prevention professionals of hypocrisy for advocating condom use while posting personal profiles on a website for men seeking unprotected sex with other men.{{cite news|last1=Neff|first1=Lisa|title=Barebacked into a Corner: AIDS Activists Expose Hypocrites|work=The Advocate|date=August 29, 2000}} Petrelis demanded greater accountability at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 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. Petrelis said such expenditures exemplified the "AIDS gravy train."{{cite news|last1=McCaslin|first1=John|title=Inside the Beltway: Georgia Tango|work=The Washington Times|date=March 12, 2001}} In April 2001, he credited Paul Kawata, executive director of the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), for postponing indefinitely a Minority Executives Retreat originally planned to take place in Oahu, Hawaii.{{cite news|last1=McCaslin|first1=John|title=Inside the Beltway: Crystal City Anyone?|work=The Washington Times|date=April 26, 2001}}

In 2001, Petrelis contacted Mark Souder, a Republican representing Indiana's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and chairing the subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform that oversaw public health programs, and complained about the ineffectiveness and sexually explicit nature of federally funded HIV prevention programs being administered by the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco. Petrelis said he had tried first to pressure both the SFDPH and the CDC to scrutinize the programs, without results. Souder requested that Janet Rhenquist, Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services conduct an investigation into the programs. In a report released October 12, 2001, Rhenquist concluded the programs could be construed as directly encouraging sexual activity and as obscene, both violations of the guidelines for such programs receiving federal funds.{{cite news|last1=Heredia|first1=Christopher|title=S.F.'s HIV Fight Might Be Too SEXY; Feds to Review City's prevention Programs|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 16, 2001}} As a result of the findings, Rhenquist said she would expand her investigation into all CDC-funded AIDS-prevention programs.{{cite news|last1=Margasak|first1=Larry|title=Federal AIDS Prevention Money is Paying for Sexually Explicit Workshops, Investigators Say|work=The Associated Press|date=November 15, 2001}}

The AIDS Accountability Project also questioned the activities of the Elton John AIDS Foundation after the foundation refused to release its informational tax returns (IRS Forms 990). 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.{{cite news|title=Challenge to Elton's AIDS Charity|work=New York Post|date=June 4, 1999}}{{cite news|last1=Koah|first1=Nui Te|title=Elton Keeps Hair On in Charity Row|work=The Sunday Telegraph|date=June 13, 1999}}

Following an October 23, 2000, demonstration in the client service area of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) offices, the San Francisco County Superior Court named Petrelis, David Pasquarelli of ACT UP/San Francisco, and four others in an injunction against ACT UP/San Francisco, barring the activists from within one hundred feet of five SFAF employees and their workplace for three years.{{cite news|title=Injunction Against ACT UP|work=The Oakland Post|date=May 2, 2001}} Petrelis was not a member of ACT UP/San Francisco.{{cite news|last1=Ornstein|first1=Charles|title=2 AIDS Activists Accused of Stalking; They Admit Late-night Calls to S.F. Officials, But Deny Making Threats|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 29, 2001}}

On November 12, 2001, a temporary restraining order barred Petrelis and Paquarelli from contacting or coming within three hundred feet of any employees of the San Francisco Chronicle or the newspaper's offices. The order alleged that Petrelis and Pasquarelli made dozens of obscene and threatening calls to editors and reporters at home and at work. The newspaper's lawyers said the activists appeared to be angry about two stories published in the newspaper, one about an increase in unsafe sex practices among gay men in San Francisco, another about SFDPH statistics showing rising rates of syphilis among gay men in San Francisco.{{cite news|title=AIDS Activists Told Not to Harass S.F. Chronicle Employees|work=The Associated Press|date=November 19, 2001}}

On November 28, 2001, Petrelis and Pasquarelli appeared before the San Francisco County Superior Court for a hearing on civil harassment suits by two public health officials, and five San Francisco Chronicle editors and reporters who claimed they received threatening phone calls. In the courthouse hallway after the hearing, San Francisco Police Department officers arrested Petrelis and Pasquarelli. The activists were charged with criminal conspiracy, stalking, and making terrorist threats against newspaper reporters and public health officials.{{cite news|last1=Egelko|first1=Bob|title=Two Taken into Custody; held on $500,000 Bail After Hearing|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 29, 2001}} Petrelis' bail was set at $500,000; Pasquarelli's bail was set at $600,000.{{cite journal|last1=Cockburn|first1=Alexander|title=Come Off It, Kayo! AIDS Activists Prosecuted|journal=The Nation|date=February 11, 2002|volume=274|issue= 5|page=8|issn=0027-8378}} On November 30, 2001, a judge refused the arrestees' request for a reduction in the unusually high bail. Mark Vermeulen, the attorney representing Petrelis and Pasquarelli, said the activists were abiding by the restraining orders, the matter was being handled by the civil courts, and that there was no need for criminal prosecution.{{cite news|title=Bail Reduction Denied for Chronicle Stalkers|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=December 1, 2001}} The twenty-seven counts of criminal conspiracy, stalking, and making terrorist threats carried a possible penalty of up to seventy-eight years in prison.{{cite journal|last1=Ireland|first1=Doug|title=Liberty on the Defensive|journal=In These Times|date=January 21, 2001|page=12|publisher=Institute for Public Affairs}}

Petrelis and Pasquarelli admitted they made late-night phone calls but denied making threats. They said they had been angered by an article reporting what they believed to be concocted SFDPH statistics showing rising rates of syphilis among gay men in San Francisco. The activists also admitted making similar phone calls to Jeffrey Klausner, the public health official from whose office at SFDPH the syphilis statistics had originated and one of the complainants in the criminal proceedings.{{cite news|last1=Ornstein|first1=Charles|title=Activists Split Over Jailed AIDS Protesters|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 28, 2001 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-28-me-18457-story.html |access-date=July 13, 2021}} Klausner had also angered the activists by speculating in a Washington Monthly magazine article about possibly quarantining HIV-positive men who refused to practice protected sex. Klausner said his remarks were taken out of context.{{cite news|last1=Bull|first1=Chris|title=Not-so-civil War: The Controversy Stirred Up by Renegade AIDS Activists in San Francisco is Just One of Many Distractions from an Increasingly Crucial Question: Can AIDS Prevention Programs be Fixed?|work=The Advocate|date=January 22, 2002}} The author of the article wrote a clarification denying that Klausner or the SFDPH advocated such an approach.

Hundreds of people, including AIDS activists and cultural icons, signed an open letter written by William K. Dobbs, a New York-based activist and civil liberties lawyer, demanding bail reduction and opposing the severe charges, although some activists said Petrelis and Pasquarelli belonged in jail. A researcher at the University of California at San Francisco requested the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigate Petrelis and Pasquarelli under the domestic terrorism provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. The FBI declined to pursue the request.{{cite news|title=FBI Declines to Investigate Activists|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 11, 2001 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-11-me-13772-story.html |access-date=July 13, 2021}}

While in custody, Petrelis complained of inadequate medical attention. He suffered from an esophageal candidiasis infection (thrush) and a serious skin condition affecting sixty percent of his body. On December 8, 2001, a judge ordered Petrelis rushed to the prison medical unit for treatment.

In February 2002, Judge Perker Meeks of the San Francisco County Superior Court said he found sufficient evidence that Petrelis and Pasquarelli had made threats intended to cause fear and ordered the activists to stand trial.{{cite news|title=Pair of AIDS Activists Ordered to Stand Trial|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=February 13, 2002 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/health/amp/SAN-FRANCISCO-Pair-of-AIDS-activists-ordered-to-2875249.php |access-date=July 13, 2021}} Petrelis and Pasquarelli had spent seventy-three days in jail when their supporters posted a reduced, combined bail of $220,000, and the activists were released to await trial.{{cite news|last1=Ornstein|first1=Charles|title=AIDS Activists Released|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 13, 2002}}

Nearly a year and a half later, the activists pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of making threatening phone calls to public health officials and reporters at the San Francisco Chronicle. The court sentenced Petrelis and Pasquarelli to one year in jail, suspended to three years probation, and ordered the activists to attend anger management training, stay away from the officials and reporters for three years, and issue written apologies to their victims. Under the agreement, Petrelis was allowed to send the San Francisco Chronicle one letter or fax per day on matters of public interest.{{cite news|title=AIDS Activists' Plea Deal in Stalking Case|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=August 5, 2003 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/AIDS-activists-plea-deal-in-stalking-case-2597752.php |access-date=July 13, 2021}}

In 2012, Petrelis opposed legislation to ban public nudity proposed by Scott Wiener, a Democrat representing District 8 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.{{cite news|title=San Francisco: Nudists Sue to Stop Supervisors' Vote on Nudity Ban|work=Oakland Tribune|agency=Bay City News Service|date=November 14, 2012 |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/11/14/san-francisco-nudists-sue-to-stop-supervisors-vote-on-nudity-ban/ |access-date=July 13, 2021}} Petrelis also clashed with Wiener over other issues.{{cite news|title=San Francisco: Blogger Pleads No Contest to Photographing City Supervisor in Restroom |website=East Bay Times |date=June 13, 2013 |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2013/06/13/san-francisco-blogger-pleads-no-contest-to-photographing-city-supervisor-in-restroom/ |access-date=July 13, 2021}} In November 2012, Petrelis was arrested for taking a photograph of Wiener in a public restroom in San Francisco City Hall without Wiener's permission. Petrelis pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and received three years probation. The judge also issued a complicated stay-away order restricting Petrelis from being within one hundred and fifty feet of Wiener, as well as other provisions, including exceptions that permit Petrelis to attend certain public meetings.

In March 2013, Petrelis announced his candidacy for the District 8 supervisor seat held by Wiener.{{cite web|last1=Bajko|first1=Matthew S.|title=LGBT Activist Michael Petrelis to Kick Off SF Supervisor Bid April 5|url=http://ebar.com/blogs/lgbt-activist-michael-petrelis-to-kick-off-sf-supervisor-bid-april-5/|website=ebar.com|publisher=The Bay Area Reporter|access-date=June 27, 2014|date=March 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806024404/http://ebar.com/blogs/lgbt-activist-michael-petrelis-to-kick-off-sf-supervisor-bid-april-5/|archive-date=August 6, 2015|url-status=dead}} Petrelis said he was running to give voters a way to "protest against Castro gentrification and development greed."{{cite news|last1=Bajko|first1=Matthew S.|title=Few Challenge Wiener for D8 Seat|url=http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=69788|access-date=June 27, 2014|work=The Bay Area Reporter|date=June 12, 2014}}

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from Newark, New Jersey

Category:Members of ACT UP

Category:HIV/AIDS denialists

Category:American LGBTQ rights activists

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