Terrorizing Dissent

January 2002

San Francisco activists Michael Petrelis and Dave Pasquarelli have, for years, annoyed many people and institutions. Most recently, they have paired up to protest the policies and pronouncements of HIV prevention groups and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. They have disrupted meetings, organized phone and fax zaps, and denounced their foes with harsh rhetoric.

After a round of phone calls in November that police allege were threatening in nature and in violation of earlier restraining orders, Petrelis and Pasquarelli were arrested. They are being held on $500,000 bail and stand accused of a long list of felonies and misdemeanors including conspiracy, stalking, and making threats of bodily harm.

The activist pair deny that any of their admittedly confrontational tactics involved criminal acts.

Such serious charges demand careful consideration of the facts and scrupulous protection of the accused’s civil rights. Unfortunately, both prosecutors and many on the long list of those Petrelis and Pasquarelli have pissed off have opted to vilify the pair in the press instead of insisting on dispassionate judicial deliberation. The local District Attorney’s office has branded both men “terrorists” and repeatedly labeled their actions “terrorism,” a transparent ploy calculated to capitalize on post-9/11 anxieties and justify the punitively high bail. And many of those stung by Pasquarelli and Petrelis’s past criticisms have tried to marginalize the pair as nothing but destructive, paranoid gadflies.

It is easy to find fault with much of Pasquarelli’s and Petrelis’s tactics and agenda. Pasquarelli– unlike Petrelis– denies that HIV is a causal agent in AIDS, a misguided delusion refuted by overwhelming scientific consensus. Petrelis’s contempt for HIV-prevention agencies has led him to an alliance with right-wing politicians. He has used sex-positive anti-HIV materials to inflame conservatives’ ire at anything sexual, hoping that they will take a budget ax to the agencies he despises– a shortsighted, counterproductive, and potentially dangerous political strategy.

Of course, a free society protects dissenters no matter their views; the robust debate vital to both science and society demands that differing viewpoints be protected, even if seemingly kooky or ill-advised. But Petrelis and Pasquarelli have also raised undeniably serious concerns that risk being overlooked in the current overheated rhetoric about their tactics.

Is it appropriate to be spending HIV-prevention money on nonessential social activities for HIV agencies’ clients while many sick with AIDS lack access to adequate medical care or housing? Are salaries approaching $200,000 justifiable for those running HIV/AIDS service organizations?

Are HIV and STD statistics being manipulated by agencies with financial self-interests in an ever-increasing caseload?

Should we be worried when the Department of Public Health considers subpoenas to force Internet service providers to reveal the names and addresses of those using Internet chat rooms for sexual liaisons? Do you want health officials to monitor your e-mail and on-line chat?

As states formulate sweeping new public health measures amidst fear of bioterrorism, how should we react when a San Francisco Public Health official talks to a reporter about quarantine as a means to control HIV-positive men who continue to have sex? Was he baited into making inflammatory remarks, or was he floating an easy-to-deny-later trial balloon?

These are serious issues that merit vigorous debate.

As the courts try to sort out whether Petrelis and Pasquarelli said or did anything that is legally culpable (and no one alleges any physical harm has been done to anyone), let us demand that no one be targeted for prosecution because they question official pronouncements, allege mismanagement, or warn against contemplated policies– even if many find their tactics and utterances obnoxious. Freedom of expression isn’t just for the polite.

Pasted from <http://guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=000B0376-7016-41CF-974FAAA2E2C9EBAB>