Activist Michael Bellefountaine dies

OBITUARIES
Published 05/17/2007

by Liz Highleyman

liz@black-rose.com

Activist and amateur historian Michael Bellefountaine, best known
locally as a member of the controversial ACT UP/San Francisco, died
Thursday, May 10 at St. Mary's Medical Center. He was 41.

According to Andrea Lindsay, a friend and fellow activist, Mr.
Bellefountaine died of a sudden systemic infection, though the exact
cause has not been determined.

Mr. Bellefountaine grew up in small town in southern Maine, where he
attended Gorham High School and the University of Maine. In 1989, he
got involved with ACT UP, traveling by bus to meetings and actions in
Boston and New York before co-founding a Maine chapter. In 1991, he
helped organize a demonstration at the home of then-President George
H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, to protest Bush's lack of action on
AIDS.

In 1990, Mr. Bellefountaine moved to Florida, where he worked with ACT
UP groups in Sarasota and Tampa. There, he met fellow activist David
Pasquarelli, and the two men moved to San Francisco together in 1993.
They soon joined ACT UP/SF - which had dwindled in size after a new
chapter, ACT UP/Golden Gate, split off in 1990 to focus on HIV
treatment issues - and began promoting the use of dinitrochlorobenzene
(DNCB), a photographic chemical, as an immune-boosting therapy for
people with AIDS. Pasquarelli died in March 2004.

Over time, Mr. Bellefountaine - who himself tested positive for the
virus in 1995 and was later diagnosed with lymphoma - began to
question the medical consensus that HIV causes AIDS, arguing instead
that AIDS symptoms were due to recreational drug use and the side
effects of antiretroviral medications such as AZT. He also criticized
AIDS service organizations and the pharmaceutical industry, and was
active in a campaign to reopen San Francisco bathhouses. At an AIDS
dissident forum in 1999, he asserted that the "AIDS industry" had
subverted the institutions set up by the gay community, and stated
that, "People with HIV who are living healthy, vibrant lives should
not be forced onto toxic therapies."

In the latter half of the 1990s, members of ACT UP/SF - who also
sometimes used the name Queer Nation, long after the demise of the
original SF QN chapter - adopted increasingly aggressive tactics, such
as trashing the local Republican Party headquarters, overturning
tables at a Project Inform fundraising dinner (during which Mr.
Bellefountaine and ACT UP founder Larry Kramer came to blows),
throwing fake blood on researchers at the 1996 International AIDS
Conference in Vancouver, dumping used kitty litter (supplied by Mr.
Bellefountaine's cats) on former San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Executive Director Pat Christen, and disrupting numerous health
department meetings and public hearings. Over the years Mr.
Bellefountaine was subject to restraining orders and faced various
criminal charges related to his activism.

Mr. Bellefountaine also became involved in the animal rights movement,
getting arrested several times at protests around the country and
enraging many AIDS activists with his opposition to the use of animals
for medical research. At the 1996 March for Animals in Washington,
D.C., he befriended Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde, a member of
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who later provided
financial support to ACT UP/SF.

Mr. Bellefountaine worked full-time at the ACT UP/SF medical marijuana
dispensary on Market Street from its opening in 1998 until 2004, when
he decided to pursue his interest in history and enrolled at San
Francisco State University.

He took a particular interest in the history of local social movement
groups, including the Black Panther Party and Jim Jones's People's
Temple. At the time of his death, he was working on final revisions to
A Lavender Look at the People's Temple, a book about queer members of
that organization.

Mr. Bellefountaine - who grew up Catholic but later embraced his
Jewish heritage - also became interested in the history of Mission
Dolores Church, where he volunteered as an archivist, conducted
research about individuals buried in the church cemetery, and worked
as a teaching assistant for a church history class.

"Michael was an activist, a scholar, a rabble rouser, a proud member
of the city's queer community and, sometimes, a pain the a.s," said
Lindsay. "Love or hate his politics, he dedicated his life to fighting
for what he believed was right. San Francisco has lost a strong voice
and the activist community has lost an unwavering friend."

Mr. Bellefountaine is survived by his mother and father, Dora and
Ronald Bellefountaine, a brother, two sisters, and extended family and
friends.

A memorial service will be held at Mission Dolores at noon on
Saturday, May 26, followed by a gathering at 6 p.m. the ACT UP/SF
space at 1884 Market Street.