Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan (born August 10, 1963) is a British-American blogger and journalist, known both for his heterodox personal-political identity (HIV-positive, gay, libertarian/conservative and Catholic) and for his pioneering efforts in the field of weblog journalism. Sullivan has described himself as being a South Park Republican, a phrase he coined in 2001 and which has gained considerable currency since.

Biography

Sullivan was born in South Godstone, Surrey, England, and received a B.A. in modern history from Oxford University (Magdalen College, Oxford). He went on to earn a masters degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in political science at Harvard University, 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.

Related Topics:
Surrey, England - Oxford University - Magdalen College, Oxford - Harvard University - Michael Oakeshott - The New Republic

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In that position, he expanded the magazine from its traditional roots in political coverage to cultural politics and the issues around them. This produced much in the way of groundbreaking journalism, but also courted several high-profile controversies.

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Some longtime subscribers, who had never forgiven Sullivan for firing veteran political writer Morton Kondracke when he took over, regularly took umbrage at the articles by Camille Paglia he published. One particular article about Hillary Clinton led to some readers writing letters to Martin Peretz, saying they intended to cancel their subscriptions.

Related Topics:
Morton Kondracke - Camille Paglia - Hillary Clinton - Martin Peretz

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Sullivan decided in 1994 to publish excerpts from Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's controversial The Bell Curve, which argued that African Americans' lower IQ scores than whites' were the result of genetics. Almost the entire staff of the magazine threatened to resign if material which they considered racist was allowed to be published; when the issue did come out, it ran with lengthy rebuttals from more than a dozen writers and contributors.

Related Topics:
1994 - Richard Herrnstein - Charles Murray - The Bell Curve - African American - IQ

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Sullivan's departure as EAC of The New Republic magazine is also not without controversy. Opinions still differ, even among those who wrote for The New Republic at the time, about whether he was fired or quit after losing a bitter power struggle with Leon Wieseltier, the magazine's literary editor and a longtime friend of Peretz's. In any event, Sullivan had only recently gone public with his HIV status, and was likely to be taking a break for treatment soon. Regardless, Andrew Sullivan is currently a respected senior editor of TNR.

Related Topics:
Leon Wieseltier - Senior - Editor

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Later, Sullivan wrote for The New York Times Magazine briefly. He left the magazine in 2002 — Sullivan describes himself as having been "banned". (see )

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Sullivan is often compared to lesbian academic Camille Paglia, another gay intellectual who argues from a non-leftist perspective and who wrote for The New Republic under his leadership.

Related Topics:
Lesbian - Camille Paglia - Leftist

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Scandals

In May 2001, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto revealed that Sullivan had anonymously posted advertisements for "bareback" sex (anal sex and/or oral sex without a condom) on America Online and the now-defunct website barebackcity.com. Subsequently, the Italian-American journalist and activist, Michelangelo Signorile, wrote about the scandal in a front-page article in a New York gay magazine, LGNY, igniting a storm of controversy.

Related Topics:
Village Voice - Michael Musto - Anal sex - Oral sex - Condom - America Online - Barebackcity.com - Michelangelo Signorile - New York - LGNY

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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.

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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 some 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". Sullivan supporters also argue that those who revealed the details about his sex life were motivated by a desire for payback, because they disagreed with his politics and his comments about the gay community. His detractors respond that his hypocrisy was reason enough to publish the stories. In Sullivan's book, "Love Undetectable", published in 1999, Sullivan wrote "Although I never publicly defended promiscuity, I never publicly attacked it. I attempted to avoid the subject, in part because I felt, and often still feel, unable to live up to the ideals I really hold."

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Sullivan's journalistic ethics were called into question, when he announced that he would be accepting a sponsorship to write his blog The Daily Dish from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the lobby for the industry that he credited with saving his life, but which has also been criticized for its practices in AIDS-affected areas of the Third World. The controversy lay in Sullivan's initial refusal to disclose the relationship in writing outside his blog, even though much of that often touches on drug manufacturers and their policies in poor countries. He dropped the sponsorship in the ensuing uproar.

Related Topics:
Journalistic ethics - Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

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