Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is an Anglo-American journalist and intellectual, known both for his heterodox personal-political identity (HIV-positive, sexually gay, politically Tory/conservative, religiously Catholic) as well as for his pioneering efforts in the field of weblog journalism.
Biography
Sullivan was born in South Godstone, England, and received a B.A. in modern history from Oxford University (Magdalen College). He went on to earn a masters degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in political science at Harvard, writing his dissertation on conservative British philosopher Michael Oakeshott. In 1986 he began his career with The New Republic magazine, serving as its editor from 1991 to 1996. Sullivan wrote for blog andrewsullivan.com, which soon became one of the most popular political blogs on the Internet (by the middle of 2003, it was receiving about 300,000 unique visits per month). Between starting his blog and ending his New Republic editorship, Sullivan wrote two works on homosexuality, arguing for its social acceptance on conservative grounds. His writing appears in a number of widely-read publications. He currently serves as the American columnist for the Sunday Times of London.
Sullivan is often compared to lesbian academic Camille Paglia, another gay intellectual who argues from a non-Leftist perspective.
Sex scandal
In May 2001, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto revealed that Sullivan had anonymously posted advertisements for "bareback" sex (anal or oral sex without a condom) on America Online and the now-defunct website barebackcity.com. Subsequently, journalist Michelangelo Signorile wrote about the scandal in a front-page article in a New York gay magazine, LGNY, igniting a storm of controversy.
In the advertisements, Sullivan noted that he was HIV-positive. Sullivan's critics have argued that it was hypocritical of Sullivan to engage in this kind of sexual activity while simultaneously arguing against gay sexual promiscuity; they claim that the vision of gay sexuality presented in Sullivan's writing is at odds with the activities he was revealed to be engaging in. They also charge that because Sullivan was HIV-positive, it was unsafe for him to engage in sex without a condom. Sullivan's critics argue that it is unfair for Sullivan to criticize Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions as "reckless" while engaging in unprotected sex himself.
Sullivan's defenders respond that he only had bareback sex with consenting adults who were also HIV-positive. According to Sullivan, this significantly reduced the risk inherent in his behavior, and he has derided what he called a "thin reed of evidence" of the existence of "reinfection," which, according to medical experts, heightens the destruction caused by the virus. His supporters have also argued that it was a violation of his privacy to publish information about his sex life. Sullivan has called the scandal "sexual McCarthyism". They also argue that those who revealed the details about his sex life were motivated by a desire for payback, because they disagree with his politics and his comments about the gay community. His detractors respond that his hypocrisy was reason enough to publish the stories.
List of works
- Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality
- Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex and Survival
