Beginning in 1983, Michael began his activism by helping to organize a massive political march and rally (National March for Lesbian/Gay Rights) to the site of Democratic Presidential Convention in San Francisco. Held the following year, he marched with Cesar Chavez by his side and over 100,000 individuals at his back in the widely publicized event. He returned to New Haven in 1990 where he helped organize some of New Haven's early HIV prevention campaigns and was a member of ACT UP New Haven-- one of the many ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) chapters in the U.S. and across the world that helped change the course of the epidemic and saved countless lives. Part of the worldwide AIDS activist phenomena that flourished in the late 80's and 90's, its members were willing to risk arrest in nonviolent protests to have their voices heard, speed the drug-approval process, have a seat at the table where decisions were being made affecting them, and influence virtually every aspect of HIV/AIDS care, treatment, prevention and public policy. In 1991, he returned to California where for nearly a decade he was a member of one of the largest and most effective of these chapters, ACT UP/Golden Gate. Besides his own specific projects, he served as the organization's administrator and main fund-raiser, raising more than $800,000 to support the work of his fellow activists. Michael’s novel housing assistance formulary for disabled, low-income patients won a national SPINS award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and became a model for similar assistance programs throughout the country. When ACT UP Golden Gate changed its name to “Survive AIDS” to counter "HIV denialists" who had assumed the name of a defunct ACT UP chapter, Michael remained one of the integral members of this new organization for many years. In 2000, he helped lead a new organization called AAAVAL (AIDS Activists Against Violence & Lies) which organized community support and municipal officials to end the harm these violent, HIV denialists were causing locally, nationally and internationally. For three years, he co-organized the International AIDS Candlelight March in San Francisco, part of the largest annual grassroots event in the world. The San Francisco event often drew thousands of marchers each year. Also in 2000, he helped open a recovery-based social space in San Francisco that continues to serve many hundreds of at-risk individuals each week. He helped lead the "United Against United" campaign, forcing United Airlines to extend health benefits to the domestic partners of its workers. He also volunteered at times with the Healing Alternative Foundation, an AIDS Buyer’s Club, as well the Shanti Project, an organization providing practical support to People With AIDS in the earliest days of the epidemic. He was a frequent freelance contributor to the Bay Area Reporter’s HIV/AIDS newspaper column that at one time reached over 40,000 people each week