michael anthony petrelis born january 26 1959 is an american aids activist lgbtq rights activist and blogger he was diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome aids in 1985 in new york city new york as a member of the lavender hill mob a forerunner to the aids coalition to unleash power act up he was among the first aids activists to protest responses to the disease he was a cofounding member of act up in new york city new york and later helped organize act up chapters in portland oregon washington dc and new hampshire as well as the act up presidential project petrelis was also a founding member of queer nationnational capital the washington dc chapter of the militant lgbtq rights organizationin 1990 he organized a nationwide boycott of products manufactured by philip morris companies inc now altria group inc including marlboro cigarettes and miller beer to protest the companys support for jesse helms a republican senator from north carolina whose rhetoric and policy positions petrelis said were harmful to lgbtq communities petrelis was among several activists who disclosed in 1989 that mark hatfield a republican senator from oregon who supported antigay legislation was secretly gay the first such political outing of an elected official by american activists over the next few years petrelis became an outspoken proponent of outing and one of its most prominent practitioners at a 1990 press conference on the steps of the us capitol he outed a dozen public figures although no news outlets published the names and he played a pivotal role in the 1991 outing of assistant secretary of defense for public affairs pete williams by writer michelangelo signorile in the advocate an american lgbtinterest magazinewhen terry m helvey and an accomplice murdered helveys shipmate us navy seaman allen r schindler jr in october 1992 because schindler was gay petrelis traveled twice to japan to press the navy for justice on schindlers behalf and to monitor the trial while raising awareness of the hate crime in the usafter relocating to san francisco california in 1995 petrelis successfully lobbied the citys department of public health sfdph to make the female condom available to gay men and advocated reopening the gay bathhouses there he also founded the aids accountability project a watchdog organization that obtained irs tax forms 990 from nonprofit aids service organizations then published the financial information disclosed therein online he currently lives with his partner of eighteen years mike merrigan and writes a blog called the petrelis files on april 5 2014 petrelis announced his candidacy for the san francisco board of supervisors running against incumbent scott wiener for the district 8 seat representing the castro noe valley diamond heights and glen park neighborhoods of san franciscoin january 1999 out magazine included petrelis in the out 100 recognizing him for creating the aids accountability project as one of the people who defined 1998in august 1999 the advocate named petrelis among its best and brightest activists citing the aids accountability project and other controversial causes