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Michael Callen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Michael Callan.

Michael Callen
Born(1955-04-11)April 11, 1955
Rising Sun, Indiana,
United States
DiedDecember 27, 1993(1993-12-27) (aged 38)
Los Angeles, California,
United States
Cause of deathAIDS-related complications
Occupation(s)Musician, author, and AIDS activist
Known forEarly AIDS activist

Michael Callen (April 11, 1955 – December 27, 1993) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, author, and AIDS activist. Callen was diagnosed with AIDS in 1982 and became a pioneer of AIDS activism in New York City, working closely with his doctor, Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, and Richard Berkowitz. Together, they published articles and pamphlets to raise awareness about the correlation between risky sexual behaviors and AIDS.

As a major contributor to the foundation of AIDS activism, specifically activism from People With AIDS, Callen helped draft unprecedented documents such as How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach, and The Denver Principles. In addition to his written work, Callen was a leader and founder of activist organizations including The People with AIDS Coalition and the Community Research Initiative. As a musician, he was a member of the openly gay and politically active a cappella quintet The Flirtations and released two solo albums: Purple Heart in 1988 and Legacy in 1996. He consistently spoke out for AIDS activists and gay and lesbian organizations and made frequent speaking and performance appearances. Callen remained a primary public figure in AIDS activism until he died at age 38 from AIDS-related complications of pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma at Midway Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.[1] In Love Doesn't Need a Reason the author, Jones, wrote that Michael Callen requested that Douglas Sadownick and Tim should be granted power of attorney over him.[2]

AIDS activist

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Activism with Sonnabend, Berkowitz, and Dworkin

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In 1983, Callen co-authored the book How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach, which outlined the tenets of safe sex, developed in collaboration with Richard Berkowitz and Dr. Joseph Sonnabend. In 1990, he wrote Surviving AIDS, which received an Honorable Mention from the American Medical Writers Association.

Inspired by Sonnabend's theory, Callen joined with fellow person with AIDS Richard Berkowitz and partner Richard Dworkin to write an essay entitled "We Know Who We Are: Two Gay Men Declare War on Promiscuity" for the New York Native. What the men referred to as "promiscuity" was the frequent backroom, unprotected sexual encounters that dominated the gay sexual culture of the time and place. In the post-Stonewall Riots and gay liberation years, the popular belief was that sex was a revolutionary act, and more sex was equivalent to being more liberated.[3]

Opposition

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Despite his career and prominence as an activist, Callen was met with resentment, suspicion and opposition from others. Since he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1982 and survived over a decade, people speculated as to whether his diagnosis was real or fabricated to get attention. He responded to that criticism by releasing his medical reports and pictures of his lungs which showed his pulmonary Kaposi's Sarcoma.[3] Additionally, Callen stood by his belief in the multifactorial theory when there was scientific proof that HIV was the cause of AIDS.

Callen openly questioned the HIV theory of AIDS and was especially critical of AZT monotherapy when it was first introduced: "The HIV paradigm has produced nothing of value for my life and I actually believe that treatments based on the arrogant belief that HIV has proven to be the sole and sufficient cause of AIDS has hastened the deaths of many of my friends."[4]

Honors

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In June 2019, Callen was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City's Stonewall Inn.[5][6] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,[7] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.[8]

Performance career

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Michael Callen briefly was the lead of the a cappella group Mike & the Headsets. In 1982, Callen, along with Janet Cleary, Pamela Brandt, and Richard Dworkin formed a queer rock-and-roll band called Low Life. After Low Life disbanded, Callen's solo album Purple Heart was released and quickly acclaimed as a staple of gay men's music.

He was a founding member of the gay male a cappella singing group The Flirtations, with whom he recorded two albums. He also had a solo album, Purple Heart, which a review in The Advocate called "the most remarkable gay independent release of the past decade." Callen recorded two albums with The Flirtations, as well as a double disc album, Legacy, which was released by Significant Other Records in 1996 after Callen's death.[9]

Additionally, Callen made cameo appearances in the films Philadelphia (1993) and Zero Patience (1993), in which he famously performed a song in falsetto as the fictitious "Miss HIV".[3]

In partnership with Oscar winner Peter Allen and Marsha Melamet, Callen wrote his most famous song, "Love Don't Need a Reason", commissioned by Larry Kramer for his play, The Normal Heart. The song was introduced at a 1986 AIDS Walk and was performed frequently at gay pride and AIDS-related events around the country. The song has been covered by numerous gay men's choirs as well as the Peter Allen Broadway musical The Boy From Oz (1998).[3]

Bibliography

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  • 1983: How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach (co-author)
  • 1990: Surviving AIDS (author)

Discography

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Albums

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as part of The Flirtations
  • The Flirtations (1990)
  • The Flirtations: Live Out on the Road (1991)
  • Feeding The Flame: Songs By Men to End AIDS (1992)
Solo
  • Purple Heart (1988)
  • Legacy – a 2-CD album (posthumously)

Filmography

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Dunlap, David W. (December 29, 1993). "Michael Callen, Singer and Expert on Coping With AIDS, Dies at 38". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  2. ^ Jones (2020). Love Don't Need a Reason - The Life & Music of Michael Callen. Punctum Books. p. 261. ISBN 9781953035158.
  3. ^ a b c d Jones, Matthew J. (October 20, 2017). ""Luck, Classic Coke, and the Love of a Good Man": The Politics of Hope and AIDS in Two Songs by Michael Callen". Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture. 21: 175–198. doi:10.1353/wam.2017.0011. ISSN 1553-0612. S2CID 158389650.
  4. ^ "Immunity Resource Foundation – Meditel Film and Video Archive". Immunity.org.uk. Archived from the original on August 7, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  5. ^ Glasses-Baker, Becca (June 27, 2019). "National LGBTQ Wall of Honor unveiled at Stonewall Inn". metro.us. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  6. ^ Rawles, Timothy (June 19, 2019). "National LGBTQ Wall of Honor to be unveiled at historic Stonewall Inn". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  7. ^ Laird, Cynthia (February 27, 2019). "Groups seek names for Stonewall 50 honor wall". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  8. ^ Sachet, Donna (April 4, 2019). "Stonewall 50". San Francisco Bay Times. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  9. ^ Jones, Matthew (November 2016). ""Enough of Being Basely Tearful": "Glitter and Be Gay" and the Camp Politics of Queer Resistance". Journal of the Society for American Music. 10 (4): 422–445. doi:10.1017/S1752196316000341. S2CID 157497540. ProQuest 1862305966.

Further reading

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