Michael Petrelis, Not Afraid Of A Little POZ Face
—Michael Petrelis, the blogger and activist, is not letting vanity get in the way of a positive attitude about living with HIV [via]
I too refuse to change the way I look now. I will not put more suspicious chemicals (or fat) in my body just to look “normal.” It’s difficult in the gay community because we put such a high price on pretty and young. But you will hear no whining, I got this in 1981 and I wear it like a badge of courage.
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Michael deserves our respect. He’s done more for the LGBT community than any snarky writer or commenter on this site could ever dream of.
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You are beautiful and you wear the scars of your battle with HIV with pride!
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@Jon (not that one): Hey while I agree with what you say, this is one of the few times where I don’t feel you should be being a bitch towards the writers of queerty. It isn’t like they got anything wrong this time, and this article celebrates Petrelis for being proud to be in his own skin. He definitely deserves our respect, but no need to bitch about writers being snarky when they did a good job on this article, even if it is just a quote. Unless of course this article was meant to be sarcastic, which I don’t see as being true.
wow never thought i’d be sticking up for queerty writers, but then again, i’m here everyday and love what you guys (and girls?) do, even if its riddled with typos sometimes
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This is one of those “do what you need to do (but don’t bemoan other people doing what they need to do)” situations. There are LOTS of diseases where the treatment is disfiguring, not just AIDS. Many people wear their scars as a badge of honor, but many others need to make alterations to feel comfortable. People wear fake eyes, prosthetic limbs, cover deformed areas, have aesthetic plastic surgery, etc.
Just do whatever you need to do to enjoy yourself. Life is too short to worry about it.
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Thank you Mr, for going on about your life in th public eye with dignity and no fear in being yourself. That alone is Gay pride epitomized.
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The drug cocktails are phony. Don’t use them. We’ve been tricked into taking them by the pharmaceutical companies and the devious sleazeballs in the GLBT community who could never admit that it was their promiscuity and amyl use, and not a virus, that brought about lowered immunity.
As for Petrelis, I appreciate his activism. I think we need more like him. There’s not enough true activism on the gay scene. Almost all of us have been anesthetized by a combination of alcohol, dance music, and the thrill of sex with strangers on a Saturday night.
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POZ or not (it’s beside the point), Petrelis is a sneaky dirtbag.
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His poz face is not so bad, kinda cute too. The reality of HIV/AIDs though, its a sentence to a life of trying to survive in a world where its already difficult to be who you are. That’s why it is important to be as safe as possible in every sexual encounter. Getting your rocks off with a guy you don’t even know might be a life of drug cocktails waiting for you.