From: DaveACTUP@aol.com
To: ACTUPSF@aol.com
Subject: Jailed AIDS Activists Publish Ad in San Francisco Examiner
Date:
12/05/2001 09:50:22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 5, 2001
Jailed AIDS Activists Publish Ad in San Francisco Examiner
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HIV Industry Critics Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli Take Out Full Page Ad to Deny Charges of Stalking, Threatening, and Harassing Families
San Francisco - Languishing in the county jail for one week after being held on a one-million-dollar bail, two outspoken HIV positive activists announce today a joint public statement unequivocally rejecting allegations that they staked and threatened families of San Francisco public health officials, AIDS researchers, and reporters from The San Francisco Chronicle.
Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli, two of the nation's most vocal critics of the faltering HIV/AIDS disease industry, stated today from their cell in pod B of the San Francisco county jail that the full page open letter to the community is the first in a series to appear in The San Francisco Examiner and the weekly gay and lesbian newspaper, the Bay Area Reporter.
"We issue this statement to thank our many supporters who have leant their energy and strength to us during this ordeal," the activists state. "Your help means more to us than words can express."
The two then go on to adamantly deny the dozens of misdemeanor and felony accusations and condemn as steeped in homophobia the malevolent media representation of them as terrorists that threaten families.
Petrelis and Pasquarelli assert that claims they phoned in a bomb threat to The San Francisco Chronicle requiring their headquarters to be evacuated are "absurd." They also stated they never stalked public health officials' families and denied any communication with their children.
"We have never visited the homes of our accusers. Furthermore, we have never telephoned or talked to any of our accusers' children," stated the imprisoned protesters. "Claims that we engaged in such appalling acts are patently false and derived from the unacceptable societal stereotype of the big, bad homosexual that preys on little kids."
The statement then goes on to blast the industry of AIDS researchers and non-profit groups as driven by greed and rotten with corruption.
The AIDS activists reaffirmed from jail their commitment to non-violent direct action tactics and vowed to defend AIDS dissent and accountability.
They demand immediate federal audits of all San Francisco AIDS programs funded by the Ryan White Care Act and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and where appropriate, prosecution by the Department of Justice against executives and accountants abusing federal grants. Finally, the activists urged the public to speak out against quarantine plans for AIDS patients presently being pushed by federal health officers.
The activists state their goal is to bring national attention to the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, CDC backed legislation pending in all 50 states that will give health officials sweeping powers to cage citizens suspected of harboring disease, confiscate and destroy their property, monitor patients and publicize their health histories, and legally force medical testing and treatment without a court order.
A version of the act is expected to be introduced into the California State Legislature in January of 2002 by Assemblymember Keith Richman (D - Granada Hills).