R.I.P., Carl Goodman, ACT UP Activist

Carl & Mario

This just in from gay and human rights advocate, San Francisco's Michael Petrelis, regarding the suicide of activist Carl Goodman, from Petrelis' blog http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/:

"Earlier this morning, I spoke with my friend Mario Cavero who told me the tragic news that his beloved husband and my cherished friend had died yesterday in Bristol, Rhode Island. Sobbing with sadness, I needed to get off the phone and grieve and Mario understood and said we would of course talk again later. This news was a shock and totally unexpected.

When I checked in with our friend Wayne Harris up in Portland, Oregon, he delivered the news that Carl had committed suicide and we both had to process that info. Wayne shared this story from the East Bay RI news site:

A Bristol man jumped to his death off the Mt. Hope Bridge Sunday afternoon. Carl Goodman, 58, of Bristol, was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital at 4:42 p.m. Jan. 5."

As of this writing, any links regarding press coverage of this story have yet to surface on the Internet.

Petrelis added:

"Mr. Goodman was recently interviewed by the Providence Journal for and article about Obamacare. The Providence Journal reported that Mr. Goodman was “a consultant who does business development and training for lawyers.

"As I've gone through my morning routine, with tears and sadness, and a few giggles at the good times we shared over the decades, I have tried to come to grips with the fact that Carl was surviving all these years with AIDS and chose to end his life with an act of suicide....  Carl was with me at [Larry Kramer's] now-famous talk that led to the formation of ACT UP and participated in many early actions, and was an occasional member of the Treatment + Data Committee.

"Ok, the tears are flowing again as I write this and in the background I'm listening to the classic album "Gonna Take a Miracle" from Laura Nyro and LaBelle. One of my earliest and fondest memories of time with Carl and Tom Hannon at their Greenwich Village Perry Street studio was listening to the album and we three queen singing along with the girls.

"Rest in peace, Carl. You were and are very much loved."

We are saddened by this news and mourn the loss of a great activist in the social struggle to bring about treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the scourge of AIDS. He was a friend to many here in New York including Queens Our City Radio's Barbara Sobel who tipped me off to this story.

R.I.P., Carl. You will be missed and remembered by many.