Editing Michael Callen (section)

==AIDS activist==
=== Activism with Sonnabend, Berkowitz, and Dworkin ===
In 1982, 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]]''. Inspired by Dr. [[Joseph Sonnabend]]’s theory, the men suggested closing the baths as a way to stop the spread of AIDS. 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.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Matthew J. |date=October 20, 2017 |title="Luck, Classic Coke, and the Love of a Good Man": The Politics of Hope and AIDS in Two Songs by Michael Callen |journal=Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture |language=en |volume=21 |pages=175–198 |doi=10.1353/wam.2017.0011 |issn=1553-0612 |s2cid=158389650}}</ref>

Callen co-authored the manual ''[[How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach]]'', which was developed in collaboration with Berkowitz and Sonnabend in 1983. The authors outlined the tenets of [[safe sex]], advocating for the increased use of condoms. Prior to the AIDS epidemic, condoms were advertised as a viable way to prevent pregnancy but not considered an effective tool for STD prevention.<ref>{{Cite book |last=France |first=David |title=How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |year=2015 |isbn=978-0307700636 |language=English}}</ref>

In 1990, Callen wrote ''Surviving AIDS'', which received an Honorable Mention from the [[American Medical Writers Association]]. In ''Surviving AIDS,'' Callen exposes what he calls the “propaganda of hopelessness”, arguing that public health officials and researchers are more interested in the dead than the living, ultimately largely ignoring long-term survivors. The latter half of the book tells the story of 13 long-term survivors, including people of different sexes, ethnic, and sexual backgrounds.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zurlinden |first=Jeff |date=1991 |title=Choosing Life: Man-at-Arms Michael Callen Declares War on Hopelessness |work=Lambda Book Report |pages=19}}</ref> 

=== Opposition ===
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.<ref name=":02"/> 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.immunity.org.uk/videos.html|title=Immunity Resource Foundation – Meditel Film and Video Archive|publisher=Immunity.org.uk|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807120900/http://immunity.org.uk/videos.html|archivedate=August 7, 2013|url-status=dead|accessdate=March 31, 2013}}</ref>

===Honors===
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]].<ref name=":23">{{Cite web|url=https://www.metro.us/news/local-news/new-york/stonewall-inn-lgbtq-wall-honor|title=National LGBTQ Wall of Honor unveiled at Stonewall Inn|last=Glasses-Baker|first=Becca|date=June 27, 2019|website=metro.us|access-date=June 28, 2019}}</ref><ref name="SDGLN">{{Cite web|url=https://sdgln.com/news/2019/06/19/national-lgbtq-wall-honor-be-unveiled-historic-stonewall-inn|title=National LGBTQ Wall of Honor to be unveiled at historic Stonewall Inn|last= Rawles|first=Timothy|date=June 19, 2019|website=San Diego Gay and Lesbian News|language=en|access-date=June 21, 2019}}</ref> The SNM is the first [[U.S. national monument]] dedicated to [[LGBT rights in the United States|LGBTQ rights]] and [[History of LGBT people|history]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebar.com/news/news//272833|title=Groups seek names for Stonewall 50 honor wall|date=February 27, 2019|first= Cynthia|last=Laird|website=The Bay Area Reporter|language=en|access-date=May 24, 2019}}</ref> and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the [[Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019|50th anniversary]] of the [[Stonewall riots]].<ref>{{Cite web|first=Donna|last=Sachet|date=April 4, 2019 |url=http://sfbaytimes.com/stonewall-50/|title=Stonewall 50|website=San Francisco Bay Times|access-date=May 25, 2019}}</ref>

Approximately five years after Callen's death, the Community Health Project (CHP), a primary care center located in New York City that serves the needs of the [[LGBTQ community|LGBT community]] and people living with HIV/AIDS, was renamed to the [[Callen-Lorde Community Health Center]] after Callen and activist [[Audre Lorde]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hensler F. |first=Kate |date=1998 |title=Michael Callen-Audre Lorde Community Health Center |journal=Interiors |volume=157 |issue=8 |pages=50–55 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>