Hold Tight Gently (56 page)

The “unanswered” questions about HIV are derived from Elinor Burkett,
The Gravest Show on Earth: America in the Age of AIDS
(Houghton Mifflin, 1995), 58–59, 84–85 (AZT). I’m puzzled why Burkett’s book—in my view, among the most cogent overviews—is rarely cited in the literature on AIDS. See her astute comments, for example, on Root-Bernstein’s
Rethinking AIDS
(pp. 65–68, 74–75) and Dr. Shyh-Ching Lo (pp. 68–72). Root-Bernstein argues that HIV is not present in all AIDS cases, that HIV and antibodies to it can disappear, and that when HIV is injected into monkeys it doesn’t produce AIDS (though apparently it does produce what some have called “simian AIDS,” which is similar to but not the same as human AIDS). The Nobel Prize winner Walter Gilbert pointed out that at one point cancer was said to be caused by a virus. Even Luc Montanier, the discoverer of HIV, has said that “HIV is not the whole story” (
Day One: Does HIV Cause AIDS
, DVD, and
Q & R 2 Mike TV
, DVD, RDP). JS wrote
[email protected]
, December 19, 1994, JSNYPL, “I continue to believe that the issue of AIDS causation still remains open.” MC interviewed twenty-one long-term survivors and felt they shared distinctive personality traits: “very aggressive, able to ask for help, able to say no, able to be clear about what they need; they love themselves and they love life and are able to demand what they need to survive, are incredibly knowledgeable [about AIDS], have a good relationship with their health provider, and believe in the possibility of survival” (DVD,
MC Interview with Tom Brokaw on Widetime
, DVD, 1993, RDP). MC had “studiously avoided federally designed treatment protocols, and insisted that AIDS need not be an automatic death sentence” and was not 100 percent fatal. (MC on
Charlie Rose CBS Nightwatch, March 27, 1989,
DVD, RDP). JS’s initial statements on HIV were made on the TV show
Sandi Freeman Reports
, DVD, 1984, and during an interview with John Hochenberry on
Day One: Does HIV Cause AIDS?
DVD, both RDP.

15
. Burkett,
Gravest,
92; MC, “The Emperor Has No Clothes,” 4-p. typescript, MCP; “Statement of Michael Callen, Bethesda, Maryland, June 4, 1992,” 6-p. transcript, MCP; MC to David Groff, June 21, 1993, MCP; JS interviews with Strub; MC, interview with Celia Farber,
Spin
, 1994; Steven Epstein,
Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge
(University of California Press, 1996), 194–96, 242–46, 300–309; MC,
Surviving AIDS
, 203–26; MC to Kevin Armington (managing editor,
Treatment Issues
), February 25, 1989 (AZT), MCP.

In the nineties, JS and Elena Klein found that AZT removes interferon from the bloodstream. That gave JS, for the first time, a
rational
use for AZT, since he believed that circulating interferon was “bad for you.” As a result, Sonnabend did begin to prescribe a low daily dose of AZT, but for no longer than seven to eight weeks. This didn’t contradict his long-standing view that the
chronic
use of AZT was counterproductive (MC, “A ‘Dangerous’ Interview with Dr. Joseph Sonnabend,” 18-p. transcript, MCP).

16
. Paul A. Sergios,
One Boy at War: My Life in the AIDS Underground
(Knopf, 1993), chap.6.

17
. Callen,
Surviving AIDS
, 129.

18
. Sergios,
One Boy
, passim; Callen, “Making Sense of Survival,” in
Surviving AIDS
, 183–89; Epstein,
Impure Science
, chap. 8; MC, “Remarks of Michael Callen, PWA Health Group,” 3-p. ms., April 24, 1987, MCP.

19
. Callen,
Surviving AIDS
, 68–69, 186–88; MC, “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been,”
PWA Newsline
, January 1989; Jeff Escoffier interview with MC, n.d., MCP.

20
. “Remarks of Michael Callen . . . 1986,” MCP; Epstein,
Impure Science
, 306; MC, “I Will Survive,”
Village Voice
, May 3, 1988.

21
. Epstein,
Impure Science
, 258–62; MC to Axelrod, November 10, 1987, MCP;
Buffalo News
, December 24, 1987; the material on GMAD derives from the Schomburg Center’s program for its twenty-fifth anniversary exhibit.

22
. Cohen,
Boundaries
, 95–102; MC to David Rogers, October 2, 1988, MCP; Wayson Jones commentary on this manuscript, April 15, 2013.

23
. Interview with Chris Prince, May 2009; EH,
Domestic Life,
a limited edition for friends of his poetry and prose, courtesy Wayson Jones;
High Performance
, no. 36, August 1986; Michelle Parkerson to me, April 8, 2013.

24
. EH, “Letter to the Post: From Essex Hemphill,” n.d.; Tod Roulette/EH conversation, printed in
Thing
, n.d., both SC.

25
. Lorde to JB [January 1987]; Isaac Julien to JB, March 22, 1987; JB to Julien, March 31, 1987, all JBSC.

26
.
Philadelphia Inquirer
, December 31, 1988. A scholarship was set up in Joe Beam’s name at Temple University with an endowment, raised from family and friends, of $6,000. A $300 annual award was to be given “to an African-American student on the basis of academic promise, financial need and an essay or literary piece on a topic related to sexual minorities” (
Philadelphia Inquirer
, January 21, 1992).

27
. EH, “xix,” in
Domestic Life
, private edition, 1994, courtesy Wayson Jones.

Chapter 5: The Toll Mounts

1
. JS, Ron Najman, MC, and Mathilde Krim, “Community Treatment Initiative (CTI): A Proposal for the Prevention of AIDS,” November 12, 1986, MCP; “Remarks of Michael Callen,” PAAC Teleconference, New Orleans, LA, May 17–18, 1989, MCP; Steven Epstein,
Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge
(University of California Press, 1996), 216–19; MC, “AIDS Research: Missed Opportunities and Misplaced Priorities,” 5-p. transcript, MCP; JS, “Preventing PCP,”
AIDS Perspective
, n.d.,
http://aidsperspective.net/aidsperspective2010_006.htm
. “Without Mathilde [Krim],” JS has said, “none of it [amfAR] would have happened.” He was a member of CRI’s board of directors and Institutional Review Board, and chair of its Scientific Advisory Committee. Due to financial difficulties, CRI dissolved in 1990, but it reconstituted the following year as the Community Research Initiative on AIDS (CRIA). Sonnabend quit amfAR when he felt “that scientific issues were being decided without my knowledge. The most glaring example is the effort in 1985 to put out the message that there would be a heterosexual epidemic for which there was absolutely no evidence at that time” (Sean Strub, “The Good Doctor,”
POZ
, July 1998, JSNYPL). The online version of Vanessa Merton’s article, “Community-Based AIDS Research,” can be found at
http://erx.sagepub.com/content/14/5/502
.

2
. Randy Shilts,
And the Band Played On
(St. Martin’s, 1987), 585–89; MC, “AIDS and Passive Genocide,” MC testimony given at FDA hearing on aerosol pentamidine, May 1, 1989, printed in
AIDS Forum
2, no. 1 (May 1989), 13–16. The FDA finally approved aerosol pentamidine in 1989.

3
. MC, “AIDS Research: Missed Opportunities,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 25, 1988, May 6, 1989; MC, “Turning AIDS into a Chronic Manageable Disease: The Role of Prophylaxis,” 6-p. typescript, [1987?], MCP.

4
. “Testimony of Michael Callen . . . before Subcommittee on Health and the Environment,” September 22, 1987, 4-p. typescript, MCP; MC to Marvin [?], April 15, 1988, MCP.

5
. “Remarks of Michael Callen . . . at CRI Press Conference,” December 16, 1987, 4-p. typescript, MCP; JS, Najman, MC, and Krim, “A Proposal for the Prevention of AIDS,” November 12, 1986, MCP,
New York Times
, March 18, 1988; “Testimony of Michael L. Callen, before the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic,” February 19, 1988, MCP; MC to Governor Mario Cuomo, January 4, 1988, MCP.

6
. Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney,
Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America
(Simon and Schuster, 1999), 548–49; Epstein,
Impure Science
, 218 ff; Susan M. Chambré,
Fighting for Our Lives: New York’s AIDS Community and the Politics of Disease
(Rutgers University Press, 2006), 120–21; John-Manuel Andriote,
Victory Deferred
, rev. ed. (2011), chap. 17; Deborah B. Gould,
Moving Politics: Emotion and Act UP’s Fight Against AIDS
(University of Chicago Press, 2009), chap. 2; Steven Chapple and David Talbot, “Burning Desires,” reprinted in
While the World Sleeps
, ed. Chris Bull (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003); “Remarks of Michael Callen,” PAAC Teleconference, New Orleans, May 17–18, 1989, MCP.

7
. Cathy J. Cohen,
The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics
(University of Chicago Press, 1999), 144–48, 162–67;
New York Times
, February 26, 2013 (Koop obituary).

8
. Gould,
Moving Politics
, 49–53; EH, “The Occupied Territories,” in
Ceremonies
(Cleis 1992), 80–81.

9
. MD diary, August 7, 8, October 13, 1987, in my possession but ultimately to be part of my papers at the New York Public Library; Pamela Robin Brandt, liner notes for
Legacy
by MC, recorded 1996; Amin Ghaziani,
The Dividends of Dissent: How Conflict and Culture Work in Lesbian and Gay Marches on Washington
(University of Chicago Press, 2008); MC, “How Should We Presume,” 11-p. ms., October 15, 1987, MCP.

10
. According to RB (interview of June 9, 2009), JS disapproved of MC taking time out from his AIDS work to devote to making music; MC interview with Dr. David Schmidt, November 12, 1987, 9-p. typescript, MCP (background to “Nobody’s Fool” and “Love Don’t Need a Reason”). Most of this section on
Purple Heart
, unless otherwise noted—as well as other aspects of Mike and RB’s musical history—is primarily based on my multiple interviews with Richard Dworkin. I’m especially grateful to Richard for his help with describing the special qualities of MC’s voice. See also Will Grega, “Michael Callen Up Close,” in
The Gay Music Guide
(Pop Front Press, 1994), 14–19. Grega’s book is dedicated to MC: “Thank you, Michael, for your
generosity of spirit and support for this project. You will always be the spirit of gay music, and the very best of us.”

MC had intended to submit “Love Don’t Need a Reason” as the love theme for Barbra Streisand’s pending film production of Larry Kramer’s
The Normal Heart
, but the project never happened. Another song on
Purple Heart
, “Nobody’s Fool,” derived from the two-year period when MC and his father didn’t speak; when MC would call home, his mother would try to persuade him to

                               
Talk to your Daddy

                               
He misses you. He does—

                               
In his own way.

                               
I know it was rough For you and your brother

                               
But do it for me

11
.
Los Angeles Dispatch
, August 3, 1988;
Gay Community News
, August 21–September 3, 1988;
Gaybeat
, June 1988;
New York Native
, July 11, 1988; Grega,
Gay Music Guide
;
San Francisco Sentinel
, July 22, 1988; MC, “Living with AIDS,” speech at the American Academy of Dermatologists, December 3, 1989, 7-p. typescript, MCP; MC, “In Defense of Anal Sex,” 11-p. typescript,
PWA Newsline
, February 1989; Jim Graham to MC, as printed in the April 1989
PWA Newsline
; MC to Bruce [?], January 15, 1989, MCP; MC to Kevin Armington, February 25, 1989, MCP.

12
. MC, ed.,
Surviving and Thriving with AIDS: Collected Wisdom
(People with AIDS Coalition, 1988) in an edition of 12,000. Jim Eigo, “The City as Body Politic/ The Body as City unto Itself,” in
From ACT UP to the WTO
, ed. Benjamin Shepard and Ronald Hayduk (Verso, 2002). About half the articles in
Surviving
were reprinted from the
PWA Coalition Newsline
, and a few from other publications. Mike was committed to the principle of respecting diversity of opinion, and as a result the book contains a section on “Holistic Approaches,” for which in general he held scant regard, and even several arguments in favor of taking AZT. The book was gratefully received; in a typical response, James T. Beal thanked Mike “for taking the time and energy to make such a heroic contribution to our shared condition” (Beal to MC, July 10, 1987, MCP). For the condom study, see Jennifer Brier,
Infectious
,
Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis
(University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 46.

13
. MC, “AIDS 201,” in
Surviving and Thriving
; multiple interviews with Richard Dworkin; MC to Holly Near, August 24, 1993 (Gay Men’s Chorus), MCP; EH, “The Imperfect Moment,”
High Performance
, Summer 1990; Albert Williams, “Essex Hemphill and ‘Cultural Transformation,’ ”
Windy City Times
, March 21, 1991. For a capella, see
New York Times
, June 22, 1997;
Washington Post
, March 12, 1997;
Billboard
, August 23, 1997. At the memorial service for Joe Beam more than a thousand people showed up (
Washington Post
, August 17, 1991).

14
. See Black LGBT Archivist Society of Philadelphia (
archivistssociety.wordpress.com
) for EH and Dorothy Beam’s comments on JB; EH to JB, February 18, [1988?];
Washington Blade
, July 11, 1991 (Dorothy Beam); EH to Barbara Smith, August 1, 1989, BSP; James Baldwin, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”
New York Times
, July 29, 1979; EH, ed.,
Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men
, conceived by JB, project managed by Dorothy Beam (Alyson, 1991).
Out-week
, August 8, 1990;
Network
1, no. 3 (December 1990); “Black Talk: A Personal
Interview with Essex Hemphill of
Tongues Untied
,”
Au Courant
, July 29, 1991; Patricia Morrisroe’s fine biography,
Mapplethorpe
(Da Capo, 1997), doesn’t discuss black anger at his “objectification” but does provide considerable evidence of it. Essex’s introduction to
Brother to Brother
is xv–xxxi; the Isaac Julien and Kobena Mercer essay, “True Confessions,” 167–73. It’s worth pointing out that in his introduction Essex made a point of acknowledging Adrian Stanford’s pioneering precursor,
Black and Queer
(Good Gay Poets of Boston, 1977); he also published four of Stanford’s poems in
Brother to Brother
; Stanford had been murdered in Philadelphia in 1983. David Frechette, “Renaissance for Black Gay Writers,”
City Sun
, April 19–25, 1989;
New Republic
, October 12, 1992. Essex’s later collection
Ceremonies
(Cleis, 1992) contains both “Civil Servant” and “To Some Supposed Brothers”; as well, under the essay title “Does Your Mama Know About Me?” Essex reprinted and added to his critique of the white gay world.