Callen, Michael

From Philosopedia

Callen, Michael (1954—1993) Callen, a writer and singer who embodied for a dozen years the possibility of long-term survival with AIDS, was an atheist. He was one of the authors of How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach (1983, with his companion Richard Dworkin along with Richard Berkowitz and Dr. Joseph A. Sonnabend). He became well-known for his solo album, “Purple Heart,” and a quintet called the Flirtations. Dr. Jeffrey Laurence in the New York Times Book Review wrote in 1990 that Callen had managed in his book to “capture the spirit and eccentricities of men and women who, shouldering an extraordinary burden, simply will not break.” Callen is credited with encouraging the use of the phrase “safe sex” and of obtaining acceptance of “person with AIDS” rather than “AIDS victim.” Callen was an honorary member of the Secular Humanist Society of New York’s AIDS-support group (AASH), which held a joyous memorial in his honor when the prescribed shark cartilage and other treatments he had been taking were unable to keep him alive. At a memorial held in the Ethical Culture Society, the Flirtations sang, refreshments were served, and many individuals recounted Callen’s happy as well as gay life.