On Father's Day Sunday June 17th POZ I AM radio spoke with Michael Kearns, an HIV+ father. Michael Kearns is an American actor, author, director, teacher, producer and activist. Long before coming out of the closet was considered a career move in the entertainment industry, Kearns was the first Hollywood actor on record to come out in the mid-seventies, amidst a shocking amount of homophobia. He subsequently made television history in 1991 announcing on Entertainment Tonight that he was HIV positive.
In 1992, as an openly HIV+ actor, Kearns starred in a segment of ABC's Life Goes On in which he played a character who had the HIV virus. He also played Cleve Jones in the HBO adaptation of Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On, appeared in A Mother's Prayer, It's My Party and had a recurring role on Beverly Hills, 90210. Other television and film credits include Cheers; Murder, She Wrote; The Waltons; L.A. Tool & Die; Knots Landing; General Hospital; Days of our Lives; and Brian De Palma's Body Double.
In 1995, Kearns began proceedings that resulted in his adoption in 1997 of a child. He presently lives in Los Angeles with his daughter who turned seventeen in August 2011. Kearns will be sharing about his new book The Truth is Bad Enough: What Became of the Happy Hustler (now available on Amazon) and what it is like to be an HIV+ father. Visit Michael's website for more information.