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FRMeyers
Frank Meyers


Gender and Age:		Male, 63
Location:		Tallahassee, Florida
Country of Residence:		United States
Country of Birth:		United States
Languages:		English



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About Me

I was born and raised in paradise: South Florida in the 1950’s. (Actually, I was born in ’45, but I do not remember much before the early 50’s.)

The sun almost always shone, (it rained every afternoon during the summer, predictably between 3:40 and 4:05), the fish seemed to always be biting, I never wore a shirt, and seldom wore shoes…rode my bike everywhere, never locked any doors at home and overall life was pretty damn good.

I never went to bed hungry. I don’t ever remember missing a meal…unless I wanted to. While I had two brothers and a sister, they were all ten plus years older, so I was in reality raised as an only child. But without other kids around, it always seemed I was more of a little adult than a child really. Without realizing it, I was probably spoiled.

I had it made.

Six days after graduating from High School in 1963, I began classes at Palm Beach Junior College. Planning on a career in marine biology, I had taken a heavy course load. Too heavy. College Algebra & Trig (in one semester) along with Chemistry that summer. I struggled, and did poorly.

Quite a blow to my self-esteem.

While in high school, I had joined the US Naval Reserve, during my senior year. I remember sitting in an advanced trigonometry class and watching missiles being transported by railroad to the Florida Keys during the Cuban Missile Crisis, two weeks after I was sworn in! I knew my ass was gone!

But, somehow I was not called up.

On my entry application to the military, I did not check the box. The question asked was “Do you now or have you ever had any homosexual tendencies?”. I said “No.”

My father was with me to sign me in. No way was I going to check that damn box!

However, during my two and a half years in Reserves, I found that I could no longer lie to myself.. So I began checking the box.

I did not have any problems while on active duty each summer but two years later, while in advanced fifth year college Spanish class, I was forcibly ‘escorted’ from class on by two Naval Intelligence officers and interrogated.

Not once, but three times.

Not questioned. Interrogated.

I was taken to a motel room, which was darkened save a single desk lamp shinning in my eyes, while I was questioned whom I had been intimate with during the past five years! I was 19 years old for Christ’s sake! Everyone I had ever been with since age 14! Names, addresses, descriptions…everything.

I flunked that Spanish class.

Shortly thereafter, I dropped out. of college. It was more than five years before I finally returned and received my associate arts (AA) degree. I graduated with a 2.000 average. It was the absolute minimal score possible to have and still graduate.

I had no plans of where to go for my Bachelors, so like any hot blooded twenty something guy, I followed my love, or rather my lust. The guy that I was hot for at the time was going to the University of South Florida in Tampa. That was a good enough reason for me.

While at USF, I earned a GPA of 3.85, a significant improvement from my 2.0 earlier. I took classes not to get a job, but to get an education.

I remember a Russian literature professor, Juri Jacomik, with whom I spent many an evening (he and his wife and a fellow student) talking about his life in Poland, where Juri had been the head of the Theatre Department at the University of Warsaw. He had been arrested and incarcerated in a Soviet camp for smuggling John Steinbeck’s books into Poland. We talked about his interment, and his life, and how he escaped. (All the while drinking cognac and eating caviar on crackers!) It was quite an education for me. But that is how I got my education. I found people from whom I could learn and milked them for all of their knowledge of life that I could get.

A similar thing happened with my Afro Studies professor. We talked (outside of class) for hours on end about life and its meaning.

That summer, I was the Executive Director of the Tampa Urban League’s Save-A-Youth ’71, campaign. (Titles were cheap, I was not paid!) We hired ghetto kids and placed them into jobs coached and mentored by fellow University students. It was a great experience, and as an independent study project I earned six hours of 4.0 credit! The same thing happened in another class that I took. I was able to turn another independent study project into a gold mine of educational experience and real world education.

As a 1971 graduate of the University of South Florida, majoring in speech-communications, with a minor in bio-chemistry. My lifelong dream was to go into marine biology, food production/research, but ended up changing my major when I realized I would be unable to do so due to my sexual orientation and open lifestyle. (All jobs in research at that time were either for large industry or the government, neither of which were options for openly gay people.)

During my University years, I was the regional director for Southeastern United States for the Unitarian Universalist Church's student youth group, Student Religious Liberals.

While at USF, I was a quasi-radical, politically. Following the Kent State riots, while USF students were conducting a class boycott and “teach-in” of the Viet Nam war, I was the liaison between the on-campus radicals and the local television, radio and print media. While this was going on, we had National Guard troops posted on virtually every roof top on campus with fully automatic rifles, aimed down on us! (Remember, the National Guard had already fired upon the students at Kent State.)

I became politically burned out (or stressed-out) during my senior year. I was one hour short of graduating when I dropped out. Some of my independent study credits were “lost” in the computer for over seven months!

During that time I hitchhiked around the US and Canada, trying to find some meaning and direction to my life, ending up living in a commune in the Mendocino Redwoods, 100 miles north of San Francisco. There, at age 27, I met my partner of the past 34 years.

Later, I returned to USF, and completed the one hour credit that I needed for graduation. (My “lost” credits magically appeared, eventually.)

Back in SF, with my new degree, I worked as a waiter, as I had while in college. I read about and had applied for a position with the health department as a peer educator to the gay community.

Due to a non-discrimination clause in the City’s Charter, I could not be hired.

It was against the law to hire a gay person!

It was illegal to hire or fire someone based upon their sexual orientation!

After some eight months, the health department found a job classification that allowed them to hire five gay peer educators, a requirement of a government grant. Now I was being hired by the same government that discharged me from the military (as undesirable) and refused to hire me in marine biology research because I was gay!

Go figure!

Finally, I was hired by the City & County of San Francisco as a peer counselor in venereal disease (VD) control. Thus began my career in public health.

Five years later, I was hired by the Centers for Disease Control as a public health advisor. I have been told that I was the first open gay ever hired by the CDC. (Many had been hired and later "came out." But, I was totally open prior to being hired. As a peer educator to SF’s Gay community, it was a matter of public record.)

I have worked in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Tallahassee (AIDS Program), New Orleans, Baltimore and again in Tallahassee during my 29 year career with CDC.

While primarily working in STD Control (syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes and Chlamydia), I also worked extensively on the Hepatitis B incidence/prevalence and vaccine trial studies.

In 1981, while working at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center, on the Hepatitis Vaccine Trial Study, I reported a case of GRID (gay related infectious disease) which ultimately proved it (now called AIDS) to be sexually transmitted infection. For doing this, and not following the chain-of-command protocols, I was officially reprimanded!

Throughout my working career, I have worked with disenfranchised, poor, inner city youth, prostitutes, hustlers, street kids and others affected by STDs but unable to afford medical care. Also, I have worked with some of the top echelon of society also infected and affected by these diseases.

This past November (2005), I concluded a two year board membership of GLOBE, the gay, lesbian, bisexual employees' association of the National Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

I have had a life-long commitment to public health as the best way to provide services to those in need, at a time when they have desperately wanted to totally avoid any responsibility beyond their own personal cure. I have worked with them, always ensuring the highest professional level of confidentiality for each person while assuring each that their sexual partners would be notified of their disease exposure anonymously.

In retrospect, I now wonder how much of this was due to my compassion for their situation based upon what I had gone through with those Naval Intelligence officers, many years earlier.

Additionally, on my own time, I have counseled many youth (and some adults) on-line on sexuality and coming-out issues, and through the aftermath of rapes and traumatic sexual misadventures. For two years, I was ranked #2 or 3 nationally on the STD & Coming Out boards of ASKME.com by those whose questions I answered. (Askme has since closed their public boards, unfortunately.)

My non-work interests include fishing. Especially salt-water fly fishing on the flats, and fishing from yaks and small boats. Also organic and hydroponic gardening, cooking, and online chatting.

Currently, I am on the board of the Florida Public Health Association. I have formerly served for two terms as the Chairman of the STD Section of that organization.

This past July, I received one of two FPHA President’s Citations for Outstanding Service given for 2005. Additionally, I am an honorary life member of the Florida Parent Teacher Association and a life member of the Marine’s Memorial Society of San Francisco, CA.

I am open, honest, forthright, (probably somewhat opinionated), but am willing to discuss any topic. Obviously, I have vested interests in discussing personal or sexual health or gay historical events, but I am open to any topic.

And, I am not afraid to tell you I do not know something, if in fact, I do not. I will not intentionally lie.

Can you handle honest dialogue?

Wanna talk?

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