This is an open letter Michelangelo Signorile wrote to Andrew Sullivan in response to Andrew having written this column for the gay magazine, the Advocate. I'll do my own analysis in a second post, but first, here's Mike's column.
Signorile's latest:
Dear Andrew Sullivan,
I just read your latest column, the one in the Advocate in which you – former New Republic editor and current right-wing blogger -- extol the virtues of having HIV and the wonders of being positive. I must say: Very effective. It was enough to make any young gay man declare, “I gotta go get some of that hot poz seed!” Maybe we can get Fox to create a reality show in which we follow people around as they try to get themselves infected – you can be the host! -- and then watch their lives transformed for the better, while all of those nasty, negative people who warn gay men against getting HIV are shut out of the most chic nightclubs, as their steroid-free bodies shrivel-up. We can call the show, “Getting Pozzed!”
In the Advocate column, titled, "Still Here, So Sorry," you write: “I’m sorry…It’s been almost 12 years since I became infected with HIV, and I haven’t died yet. I haven’t even had the decency to get sick. I am a walking, talking advertisement for why HIV seems not such a big deal to the younger generation—and indeed, many in my own age bracket… HIV transformed my life, made me a better and braver writer, prompted me to write the first big book pushing marriage rights, got me to take better care of my health, improved my sex life, and deepened my spirituality. I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better… I’ve even enjoyed sex more since I became positive—more depth, more intimacy, more appreciation of life itself. Sorry. I look physically and mentally healthier than ever. Sorry again….”
You then opine, sarcastically, about how, “Young negative men need to see more of us keeling over in the streets, or they won’t be scared enough to avoid a disease that may, in the very distant future, kill them off,” telling positives to do their duty and, “Die, damn it.”
Now honestly, Andrew, what is the purpose of this column - beyond you masturbating on your testosterone-fueled self? There is nothing wrong with building self-esteem, for yourself, for others who are HIV positive, or for people who are challenged by any adversity in life. But this is an angry rant in which you’re speaking not to positives but to negatives, about whom you have enormous contempt for what seems like one simple reason: They are still negative.
