Mike Salinas, a journalist who brought news of the gay community to the mainstream public's attention, died on June 15. Cause of death is unknown. Police have ruled it an accidental heroin overdose, but a preliminary coroner's report suggests it was a heart attack. Salinas was 46.
In the 1980s, Salinas wrote for the New York Native and the Village Voice. While he had a passion for theatre -- and was the founding editor of Theater Week magazine -- Salinas put most of his energies into covering issues of importance to the gay community. He investigated AIDS organizations he thought were corrupt, covered the Catholic Church sex scandal and published stories about the murder of a gay U.S. soldier.
In 1998, Salinas published a story in the Bay Area Reporter bearing the headline: "No Obits." It was the first time in 17 years that the San Francisco-based weekly newspaper did not publish an AIDS-related obituary.
Posted on July 19, 2003 10:59 PMMichael was my big brother, no one anywhere could have ever had such a wonderful brother.Mike was one of the lucky people to have touched all the lives he came in contact with, weather it was through love or laughter or or the care and concern he showed to people who were suffering.
Mike was a truly wonderful human being and I am proud I was his sister and his friend. I love him dearly and will miss him.
Mike hired me on as an intern at the Bay Area Reporter, while I was a journalism student at CSUSF. I was new to San Francisco and he taught me a lot about the city, gay politics and journalism. after i moved to southern california i got a job at LATimes Community News and my beat was Laguna Beach. I wrote about AIDS support groups such as Laguna Shanti and other gay organizations in the area. I e-mailed the stories to Mike when he was living in New York, just to let him know that I was able to use my experience and the compassion he taught me to have for others. He was a great guy, I will miss him.
Posted by claudia figueroa on August 20, 2003 5:43 PMMike was my editor at the BAR in San Francisco for 2 years. He was remarkable - intelligent, charming, witty and had a certain editorial style that was outrageous yet fun!
He was the best man I ever worked for.
Find peace my friend.
Posted by Dave Hetherly on August 10, 2005 10:53 PMI met Mike in the early -mid 80's. He was my agent.
To tell you the truth Mike gave agents a bad name! He was caring! He felt worse than I would if I didn't get a role. He was the best agent I ever had and whenever I would see him I'd tell him, "Mike, come on get back in the business!" I'd see a glint in his eye but he never did. I guess his writting was more important.
I hadn't heard from in a while and I couldn't find his phone number so I googled him and, well, read about his death! Felt like I was kicked in the stomach......
I miss him! Hope he finds peace!
sCOTT
Posted by Scott Geyer on September 8, 2005 9:32 AMMichael was my best friend and protector in Manhattan in the early 80's. We met in high school in Phoenix. I miss him. Sorry,I didn't know until a few months ago. I'll always think of you Mr. Salinas...
Love,
Miss Bennett