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Unity LGBT Community Father’s Day Card 20 Years
Publisher/Executive Editor David Vandygriff Dvandygriff @cityxtramagazine.com
'Cancer Profile' Change With HIV
Editor In Chief Dr. Harvey Carr hcarr@cityxtramagazine.com
By Jacob Raines
By Joseph McCormick
By Randy Dotinga
Stonewall’s Drag Queen Marsha P. Johnson By Jennifer Bennett
Is Provincetown ‘Too Gay’? By Jennifer Wilson
Jacksonville Passes LGBTQ+ Anti-Discrimination Law, Again By David Vandygriff Why June Is Gay Pride Month By Debi Johnson
LGBT Pride Month 2020: What To Know About Its History, Events, Parades By David Vandygriff Stonewall Where It All Began By David Vandygriff
Larry Kramer’s - ‘Faggots’ By Mark King
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people do not have a preference on gender but are attracted to both males Unity LGBT Community By Jacob Raines and females. Part of the The people who identify with problem with people the acronym ‘LGBT,’ and it’s misunderstanding the LGBT is other variations, are often community is some may not be misunderstood and categorized surrounded by people who into a stereotype often identify as such. It seems that accompanied with their identity. the more people who have Moreover, not every letter of others in their lives who identify the acronym is understood as LGBT are prone to be more equally even though the understanding. For example, community attempts to live by after I came out as a gay man, equality. our very close family friends It seems people who outwardly were influenced by my identify as gay or lesbian are discovered identity. Now, if more accepted by both the they were to meet more people straight community and the along the LGBT spectrum, it LGBT community than people would not be a mind blowing who identify as bisexual or issue to accept them. transgender. That being said, When people are comfortable, BuzzFeed recently posted a that’s when they are most video of questions the gay prone toward accepting others. community has for people who So when people are more identify as bisexual. surrounded by people in the “Is bisexuality even a real LGBT community, they seem to thing?” leaves no room for the be more understanding. question of whether bisexual That being said, before people are understood. Clearly experiencing college, I was they are not if even the never surrounded by many community that is supposed to people who identified on the support them, and equality, LGBT spectrum and for that doesn’t believe in them. reason, I was not as A few years back, I was culprit understanding of the other of this. I would have letters in the acronym. Even as conversations with my mother someone who is gay, it was about the validity of people difficult for me to accept others being bisexual. However, as at first. Yet, after moving away time progresses, one can learn from a small Cape Cod town, to to understand what was once the bustling city of Boston, it foreign to them. It is no longer was clear that I needed a new difficult the reality that some mindset. Not only was bisexuality
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something that was difficult to understand, but being transgender was very foreign and unknown. For most people, unless they are going through it themselves, it is difficult to understand being transgender. Even so, with time and education, one can learn to understand someone who is transgender. A main reason for the inequality of the acronym LGBT is that some of the community is more commonly talked about and taught. While Lesbian and Gay are widely known about and talked about, Bisexual and Transgender are put not the back burner and there is less of a spread of information about them. It’s almost as if they are more of a foreign subject than Gays and Lesbians. Because of this knowledge, it’s possible that people choose to identify with one attraction because it is more commonly talked about than being bisexual or transgender. Either way, they seem to be less taught and talked about which is setting them up for being less accepted. The more humans know about something, the more they understand it.
One way that people can influence future generations is by teaching the younger generations about the LGBT community. In this way, the education of the group could ultimately help them be more accepted. Such as the Civil Rights Movement being taught in schools and the history of Blacks, the LGBT community should be taught in schools as well. Keeping this in mind, hopefully equality can happen between the LGBT community as well as the straight community. Once the acronym can unite as one without discrimination within, then full equality is a possibility. Until then, we educate. One community, One Love!!!
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Father’s Day Card 20 Years By Joseph McCormick
This father has told the bittersweet story of how he received a Father’s Day card from his estranged gay son, more than 20 years after he died of AIDS-related illness.
Six years later, Schrock Jr died of AIDS-related illness. As Schrock Sr. had moved home several times, the card spent over two decades lost in the postal service, before it Back in 2015, Duane Schrock, finally made its way to him just who lived in Lynchburg, a few days after Father’s Day Virginia, told the heartbreaking 2015. story of how he got the surprise It reads: “Dear Dad, we haven’t of his life when he received a been in touch for quite a while, card from his late son, Duane I’m doing fine and am very Schrock Jr.
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happy in Richmond, I’d like to hear from you. Have a Happy Father’s Day, Love Duane.” The 87-year-old told ABC: “It was sure welcome, and it restores faith in the mail service. “Somebody picked up the ball and carried it and after all these years they must still have forwarded it. “I still kind of tear up when I think about it.”
'Cancer Profile' Change With HIV By Randy Dotinga
As HIV becomes a lifetime disease instead of a killer, researchers say these patients will likely start to mirror other Americans when it comes to the kinds of cancers they develop. By 2030, the total number of cancers in HIV-positive people is expected to decline dramatically, as fewer patients develop tumors linked to a ravaged immune system, the new report suggested. Prostate, lung and liver cancer are predicted to become the most common cancers in this group, followed by anal cancer, which is linked to the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). "They're starting to look more like people without HIV in a lot of ways, but the cancer risk will still be different," said Michael Silverberg, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente Northern California. He was not involved in the study. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, patients developed cancers such as Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma as their immune systems deteriorated, the researchers explained. But medical advances over the past two decades have allowed 10 www.cityxtramagazine.com
people with HIV and AIDS to live much longer. In the new study, Jessica Islam, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues sought to understand how cancer might affect people with HIV through 2030. The researchers estimated that almost 8,000 cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2010 in people with HIV: 2,720 were immune-related cancers that are common in AIDS patients, and almost 5,200 were other types of cancer. By 2030, the researchers predict, the number of cancer cases overall will dip to about 6,500, with an especially large decrease (to 710 cases) in the number of AIDS-related cancers. Cases of Kaposi sarcoma are expected to drop but still remain higher than normal in HIV-positive people, Islam said, while non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical cancer rates are expected to reach normal levels in some age groups. Meanwhile, cases of other types of cancer are expected to grow a bit, to almost 5,800 cases. "The aging of the HIV-positive population will result in certain
cancers occurring more frequently," Islam said. "For example, as more HIV-positive men reach an age where prostate cancer becomes more common, the number of cases diagnosed will rise in that population." As for anal cancer, it should remain common in HIV-positive people because it's linked to HPV, which can be sexually transmitted, Islam explained. Silverberg said the study findings reflect what physicians and patients have noticed: "They're seeing the typical HIV cancers on the decline, but more of the ones that you expect to see with older age." Although anti-HIV drugs are effective, the cancers linked to HIV will not necessarily disappear, Silverberg said. That's because some HIV-positive people don't know they're infected, and their immune systems may deteriorate before they are diagnosed and treated, he added. Dr. Gita Suneja, an associate professor with Duke University who's studied HIV and cancer, cautioned that HIV-infected people face cancer-related challenges, regardless of the
changing statistics. "Other studies have shown that people with HIV present with more advanced-stage cancer, are less likely to receive appropriate cancer treatment, and have worse cancer survival compared to uninfected patients," she said. "These important disparities need to be recognized." The study was scheduled for presentation Wednesday at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Research released at conferences should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Stonewall’s Drag Queen Marsha P. Johnson By Jennifer Bennett
Marsha P. Johnson, trans icon and revolutionary figure in the movement for the liberation of all LGBTQ people, was found dead in the Hudson River on this day twenty-five years ago. Her legacy as the "Rosa Parks" of the LGBTQ rights movement lives on today, and has recently been reexamined in a Netflix-acquired documentary of her life and death. Raised in New Jersey by a disapproving mother, Johnson moved New York City in the early 1960s to become "the biggest drag queen in the world" and quickly became a fixture in the vibrant queer scene of Greenwich Village. A sex worker and performer, Johnson was a regular at the Stonewall Inn and called herself one of the "Stonewall Girls." It's been long rumored that Johnson helped start the Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1969, with people claiming to this day that she threw the first brick that shattered the bar's windows. Throughout her life Johnson denied this urban legend, saying that she didn't arrive at the bar until the riot was well underway at 2:00am, but it's a testament to her lasting influence that so many 14 www.cityxtramagazine.com
people still believe it. Johnson joined the Gay Liberation Front in 1970 and later linked up with close friend Sylvia Ramirez, another trans woman of color, to create the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a gay, gender non-conforming and transgender activist organization. The two also founded S.T.A.R. House, the first shelter for gay and trans youth in 1972, providing food, clothing, housing and advice to the kids who came through their doors. They were a visible presence at liberation marches and pride rallies, fighting for the inclusion of trans people and draq queens in the movement and battling the respectability politics of the emerging gay mainstream. More than simply an activist, Johnson was a cultural icon. She was photographed by Andy Warhol in 1974 for a series on draq queens, was a member of J. Camicias' performance troupe Hot Peaches, and famously told a judge when asked what the 'P' in her name stood for to "pay it no mind." Johnson continued her activism into the 1980s as a respected
organizer with ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Ten days before her body was found in 1992, Johnson revealed in an interview (seen in the documentary below) that she was HIV positive. Shortly after the 1992 pride march, Johnson's body was found floating in the Hudson River. Police quickly ruled her death a suicide, and though Johnson had a history of mental illness, her close friends were adamant that she was not suicidal. In 2012, trans activist Mariah Lopez successfully lobbied for the NYPD to reopen Johnson's case and examine it as a possible homicide. As this important Twitter thread points out, the consistently disproportionate rate of violence against black trans women makes Johnson's murder particularly suspect. (As GLAAD notes, 15 transgender women of color have been killed in America in 2017 alone). A new documentary by filmmaker David France, "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson," examines Johnson's murder and activist Victoria Cruz's efforts to solve it, as part
of a larger discussion about the challenges that still face the transgender community. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was recently acquired by Netflix. "Almost single-handedly, Marsha P. Johnson and her best friend Sylvia Rivera touched off a revolution in the way we talk about gender today," France told Variety. "Their names should be household words. But Marsha's life was cut tragically short and Sylvia died shortly thereafter, the victim of a broken heart. Getting to know their story through the investigation undertaken by Victoria Cruz, a seminal activist in her own right, has been one of the great honors of my career."
Is Provincetown ‘Too Gay’? By Jennifer Wilson
Is Provincetown too gay? Are the local drag queens too aggressive in accosting unsuspecting tourists? Is the Pilgrim Monument an appropriate town symbol?
writes. “Sometimes it’s overly gay here.” Waters focuses on the abundance of drag queens who can be seen Those are a few of the on Commercial Street and questions raised by one of other parts of town. “There are Provincetown’s most famous many great drag queens seasonal residents, gay appearing here (Dina Martini is filmmaker and writer John my favorite), but I’m still Waters. In a new book of scarred from the awful ones essays, Mr. Know-It-All: The from the past that seemed like Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth the Amos and Andy of gay Elder, Waters devotes a culture in Provincetown when I chapter to the town where he’s first got here,” he writes. spent his summer vacations for “Would any gay man really 55 years. want to be Arthur Blake, the He extols many of the insult comic who had been in charming and quirky qualities Bette Davis movies but spent that keep him coming back, his later years in Provincetown such as the “cinematic” views drinking and giving all gay at his “favorite beach in the people bad reputations by whole world,” Longnook, and performing in hideous Tallulah bodysurfing in the ocean there Bankhead drag? (“complete bliss.”) But he also “Worse was potbellied drag doesn’t hold back in listing queen Sylvia Sidney, who what he calls his “summer played here for years and gripes.” horrified passing tourists every One of them, and perhaps the afternoon when he’d ‘bark’ his act out front of the club as drag most surprising one queens are still contractually considering the source, is a obliged to do today. ‘You ugly concern that the town, which c*suckers,’ he’d yell to families has become known as a through his missing teeth, welcoming destination for dressed in a Clarabell red wig LGBTQ vacationers, may be and ill-fitting tacky gowns.” too gay. “Here’s what’s really going to get me in trouble,” he Waters noted one time when he was “minding my own gay 16 www.cityxtramagazine.com
business on the street” and “a big lug of a queen” addressed him with: ‘Hi, girl.’ “I’m not the butchest thing in the world, but I’m pretty obviously a man,” he wrote. “Too familiar or too gay? You be the judge.” Waters’ observations about drag queens are surprising because he has played a key role in introducing drag queens to mainstream America, by featuring the transvestite actor Divine in Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Hairspray, among other films he made. In addition, Waters has a large and devoted gay following, and business owners in Provincetown promote the town as a gay mecca. But that’s not Waters’ only gripe about Provincetown. He’s also not a fan of dogs on the beach. “Provincetown has been named the Most Dog-Friendly Town in America and I’m afraid to tell you it’s true,” he writes. “I live on the beach, and every day while I’m trying to write, I hear, ‘Fluffy, stop it!’ “Fluffy, stop barking.’ ‘Heel! I want to shout about a hundred times
a day – that’s the only word a dog understands.” He dislikes the trolley tour buses that are “too wide for our little streets and block foot traffic every time they stop to announce obvious facts.” And he points out that Provincetown isn’t easy to get to, especially by water. “You can take the ferry, but a lot of times the whole boat is filled with pukers,” he warns. “It can be rough out there in that two-hour ocean ride from Boston. Once I picked up a friend who had taken it and the whole side of the boat was covered in vomit.”
pretty great, and right outside is a popular spot for gay weddings and receptions…It may be ‘ridiculous’ as my friend innocently commented, but it’s ours.”
lack of any mental meltdowns, “You are going to reinvent the market for LSD,” he quotes one of his dealers as saying. Waters, who lives in Baltimore, has launched a national tour to Published by Farrar, Straus promote Mr. Know-It-All, with and Giroux, Mr. Know-It-All is stops in New York, Water’s ninth book and came Philadelphia, Baltimore, out on May 21. Washington, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles The book is part memoir, part advice book and part celebrity and New England. tell-all, with anecdotes about Despite his critical observations many of the actors with whom in the book, Waters plans to Waters has worked over the spend the summer in years, including Kathleen Provincetown again this year. Turner, Tracey Ullman, Johnny In fact, according to his Depp, Tab Hunter and Divine. representative at FSG, There are also chapters on a Lottchen Shivers, he asked to wide range of non-cinematic move up the publication date in Then there’s the 252-foot-tall subjects, from Yippie protests large part so he could finish his Pilgrim Monument, the tallest to Brutalist architecture. book tour in time for his annual building in town. “All these getaway. years in Provincetown, I can’t Provincetown is one of many decide if I love it or hate it,” subjects that come under fire in Waters confesses. He writes Waters’ book. He’s also critical that a “smart art-collector of the Catholic church, friend” of his once visited and pretentious restaurants, called it ridiculous. first-class accommodations on “She wasn’t being snarky,” he certain airlines, and other targets. In a recent interview, writes. “I guess unlike most tourists here she had seen the he said he’s isn’t writing to be ironic or to mess with readers. original Torre del Mangia, in Siena, Italy, from which ours is “It’s not really told ironically,” he completely copied. Neither said of the book. “I believe monument has anything to do everything I say in it. But I with the Pilgrims or Provincehoped to write a humorous town. It is kind of ridiculous. A book at the same time.” Boston architect complained, ‘If The chapter that critiques all they want [in Provincetown] Provincetown is actually one of is an architectural curiosity, two that feature the town at the why not select the Leaning tip of Cape Cod. The second is Tower of Pisa and be done with a chapter in which Waters, 73, it?”’ took LSD with two friends in After weighing the pros and Provincetown, to see what it’s cons, Waters says, “I guess I’ll like to take LSD after 70. agree with all the locals today (Spoiler: it was “f-ing fun.”) and love the Pilgrim MonuGiven the positive reaction and ment, too…The gift shop is
Jacksonville Passes LGBTQ+ Anti-Discrimination Law, Again By David Vandygriff
The Jacksonville City Council passed a revised anti-discrimination bill that amends the city’s existing Human Rights Ordinance, according to News4Jax. An earlier version had been overturned in court following a challenge from the conservative Liberty Council, an SPLC-designated hate group. Republican Mayor Lenny Curry is expected to sign the bill into law which was approved on a resounding 15-4 vote. “The LGBT community thought this was a battle that we had won three years ago,” Jimmy Midyette, legal director for the Coalition for Equality, is quoted by News4Jax. “So when the ruling came down, there was a lot of fear and uncertainty. The new revisions passed by the city council remove those uncertainties. Both the earlier version and the one just passed sought to amend existing law by adding sexual orientation and gender identity “wherever categories are listed.” Following Curry’s signature, sexual orientation is now defined as “an individual’s actual or perceived orientation as heterosexual, homosexual, 18 www.cityxtramagazine.com
or bisexual,” while gender identity “shall mean the gender-related identity, appearance, or expression of a person.” The two-term Republican Curry had let the earlier version of the bill become law without his signature. Safely re-elected, though, he told others he intends to sign the new version. The city council currently has 13 Republicans and only six Democrats, so the passage was a bipartisan event. The Orlando-based Liberty Council had filed suit against the bill as originally passed, claiming state law requires publishing the revisions in advance. The earlier law only listed the ordinances to be amended and the definitions rather than the full text of the revised sections. Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal narrowly agreed by noting the purpose of the requirement is to prevent statutes passed “in terms so blind that legislators themselves were sometimes deceived in regard to their effect” and that providing the full text in advance “is required because that alone provides adequate notice of the legal change being made.”
Liberty Counsel Assistant Vice President of Legal Affairs Roger Gannam made clear the real intent of his organization’s efforts when he misrepresented the efforts following the earlier court victory. “The fair and honest people of Jacksonville should not be forced to participate in others’ celebrations of same-sex relationships under threat of fines or loss of their businesses, and Jacksonville’s women and young girls should feel safe from predatory men in their own restrooms and facilities,” he said in a statement at the time. Midyette, meanwhile, welcomes the re-passage of the changes, noting the earlier law had brought about real change and greater tolerance. “It’s not just a feel-good measure,” he said. “It does actual good.”
Why June Is Gay Pride Month By Debi Johnson
The first of June marks LGBT Pride Month. The reasons that Pride Month is so important to the LGBT community are many. The fight to earn civil rights has been hard and those who worked so diligently deserve to be remembered. But why is June the chosen month? One incident, which occurred in 1969, is considered the official gay rights activism anniversary. It all started in New York City, in a gay bar without water or a liquor license.
Jr. campaigned to remove gay bars in the city. Liquor licenses were revoked. Homosexuals were targeted by the police, and many were arrested because they were entrapped. Because the legal system was anti-gay, most lawyers would not defend the men who were charged with crimes. When a new mayor came into power, the police entrapment campaign ended, but the bars had a problem getting liquor licenses. The bars that did welcome gays During the 1960s, it was were typically owned by the practically illegal to be openly Mafia, who did not treat the homosexual in the United regulars well, but did pay off States. Gays could be fired from jobs, and many were. The the police to prevent raids. legal system did not offer any Stonewall Inn, owned by the protection. Most Genovese crime family, was establishments did not converted into a gay club in welcome gay people. which dancing was allowed. Greenwich Village in There was no running water in Manhattan, New York, was the place, and the bar did not home to a large population of have a liquor license. The homosexual men and women. family reportedly paid off the There was a subculture in the police, but raids still happened. community, but New York City During a typical raid, the police had many laws prohibiting would line everyone up and homosexuality in public and check identification. Men private. Still, bars were about dressed in drag or without ID the safest place for would be arrested. Women had homosexual men to congregate to wear at least three pieces of without being harassed. feminine clothing or face NYC Mayor Robert F. Wagner, arrest. 20 www.cityxtramagazine.com
On a Saturday night in June 1969, the police raided the Inn. Instead of lining everyone up, the police decided to arrest everyone. While waiting for the wagons to arrive, more people arrived at the Inn and the scene exploded. Violence broke out, but the police were outnumbered. A riot ensued. Those who were there believe that riot just occurred spontaneously. There was no organization, but it was more like the last straw. The gay community was not going to accept oppression any longer. The rioting went on for many nights. Stonewall Inn was destroyed, either by the police or the rioters, no one was really certain. The riots at Stonewall Inn mark a change in the attitude of the LGBT community. Other groups across the country were led to peacefully and not-sopeacefully demonstrate for gay rights. The first anniversary of the riots marked the first Gay Pride marches. In 1970, marches were held in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. The following year, seven more major cities, including Boston,
Dallas, London and Stockholm held Gay Pride parades. The Stonewall Riots were pivotal to the activism of the gay community. For years, gays had allowed police treatment to go unchecked and unchallenged. Those who stood up at the Stonewall Inn were heroes to many in the community. The incident has been compared to the Boston Tea Party or to Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the back of the bus. That Saturday night in June at the Stone Inn made a lasting difference in the civil rights of the LGBT community, and it should be remembered.
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LGBT Pride Month 2020: What To Know About Its History, Events, Parades By David Vandygriff
Every summer in the United States, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community comes together for a monthlong celebration of love, diversity, acceptance and unashamed self-pride. Here's everything you need to know about LGBT Pride Month. What is LGBT Pride Month? The commemorative month is meant to recognize the sweeping impact that LGBT individuals, advocates and allies have on history in the United States and around the globe, according to the Library of Congress When is it? LGBT Pride Month is celebrated every year in June. The month of June was chosen for LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the riots held by members of the LGBT community against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn in New York City on June 28, 1969. The so-called Stonewall riots were a "tipping point" for the 22 www.cityxtramagazine.com
gay liberation movement in the United States, according to the Library of Congress. The uproar also paved the way for the modern fight for LGBT rights. Previous U.S. presidents have, on several occasions, officially declared June as LGBT Pride Month. How do people celebrate LGBT Pride Month? LGBT Pride Month events draw millions of participants from around the world each year. Typically, there are monthlong celebrations and in-person gatherings that take place across the nation, including pride parades, marches, parties, concerts, workshops and symposiums. Memorials are also often held for members of the LGBT community who have lost their lives to hate crimes or HIV/ AIDS. The rainbow LGBT flag is prominently displayed throughout the month. Gilbert Baker, an American artist, gay rights activist and U.S. Army veteran, created the flag in 1978 as a new symbol for the
gay and lesbian political movement at the suggestion of his friends and colleagues, including Harvey Milk, a San Francisco city supervisor and the first openly gay elected official in California. Milk was assassinated later that year. According to Baker's website, the colors of the LGBT flag each have a meaning: red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for harmony and violet for spirit. Baker died at the age of 65 on March 31, 2017, though his rainbow flag remains an iconic, powerful symbol for LGBT pride. This year's LGBT Pride Month will be celebrated differently due to the coronavirus pandemic. All 50 U.S. states have started to lift stay-at-home orders and other restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, but LGBT Pride Month parades and marches planned for June were -- and remain -- canceled. The LGBT community and allies will still be able to
to connect virtually, though, thanks to a slew of online events. What LGBT Pride Month events will take place this year? A number of official events that would normally be held in various cities across the nation throughout the month will now be taking place online. Here are some of the more prominent celebrations. Boston Pride will host a series of virtual events throughout the month, including the raising of the rainbow pride flag on June 5 at 12 p.m. ET, a talk on June 5 with Eric Cervini, author of "The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America," the annual Pride Lights on June 9 to commemorate those affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as a pride festival and c oncert on June 13. Los Angeles' first-ever virtual pride parade will air as a 90minute primetime special exclusively on Los Angeles ABC station KABC on June 13 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. PT, with an encore presentation on June 14 at 2 p.m. PT. The first-ever virtual Trans March will kick off on June 26 at a to-be-decided time. The New York City Pride Rally will take place virtually on June 26 at a to-be-decided time. San Francisco Pride will host an online celebration and rally on June 27 from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. PT and on June 28 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT. The virtual event will feature live and
prerecorded performances, greetings from LGBT community members, elected officials and celebrities as well as speeches from thought leaders, drag and dance performances, DJ sets and more. Seattle Pride will hold a series virtual events from June 26 through June 28, with specific times and more information to come. How else will this year's LGBT Pride Month be different? The LGBT community has fully mobilized to support the real-time efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement and to amplify the voices of protesters marching for justice for George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died on May 25 in Minneapolis shortly after a white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes as three other officers stood by. Last week, more than 100 LGBT and civil rights organizations signed an open letter condemning racism, racial violence and police brutality while calling for action to combat those scourges. "The LGBTQ community knows about the work of resisting police brutality and violence. We celebrate June as Pride Month, because it commemorates, in part, our resisting police harassment and brutality at Stonewall in New York City, and earlier in California, when such violence was common and expected,"
the letter states. "We remember it as a breakthrough moment when we refused to accept humiliation and fear as the price of living fully, freely, and authentically." "We understand what it means to rise up and push back against a culture that tells us we are less than, that our lives don't matter," the letter continues. "Today, we join together again to say #BlackLivesMatter and commit ourselves to the action those words require." Sarah Kate Ellis, president of Los Angeles-based LGBT advocacy group GLAAD, told "Good Morning America" that it's important to remember the 1969 Stonewall riots were spearheaded by many people of color. She went on to explain how this year's Pride Month will undoubtedly be completely different. "We’ll be centering and lifting up the voices of queer people of color, whose struggles are shared by the entire LGBTQ community," Ellis said. "There can be no pride if it is not intersectional. We are Together in Pride.�
Stonewall Where It All Began By David Vandygriff
As the nation looks back on the most horrific attack towards LGBT people in history following the Orlando shootings, it is important to remember how far we, the LGBT community, have come. Through discrimination and hardships, from micro-aggressions to mass shootings, it can be easy to forget the many victories that LGBT activists have fought for and won. The progenitor to these victories in the courts, prisons, marriage, and soon bathrooms, happened June 28, only 48 years ago, at the Stonewall Inn. It started on a warm Saturday morning, but the real heat came from the anger and frustration in the hearts of the LGBT community of Greenwich Village, New York. Oppression and discrimination had become routine, particularly for the most neglected members of the community: the drag queens, trans people, and homeless youth. Mafia-owned clubs and bars became some of the few havens the LGBT community could go to, as most business owners turned them away from their legal establishments. 24 www.cityxtramagazine.com
Police routinely raided the few bars that accepted openly gay people back in the 1950s and 1960s, but tempers reached the boiling point during the 3:00 am raiding of the Stonewall Inn. Police began arresting Stonewall employees, before starting to escort patrons into paddy wagons. A crowd gathered outside, and as the police attempted to force three drag queens and a lesbian into a paddy wagon, the crowd became a riot, flinging bottles and fought back against the police. The #riots spilled into other neighborhoods. Protests and demonstrations sprung up over the following days. The beginning of a social movement for gay and trans justice and new lawmaking gave birth to the Gay Liberation Front and Street Transvestite Liberation Front. Founded by Stonewall veterans, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, these groups carved a path for countless more LGBT advocacy organizations to follow. Within only a few weeks, the trans and gay communities banded together to form safe spaces where
people could be open about their genders and sexualities without fear of arrest. A sign reading,” We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village” hung in the window of Stonewall. One year later, June 28, 1970, the first Pride parades marched in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago, to commemorate the riots. President Obama designated the Stonewall Inn as the first ever LGBT national monument, a reminder of where the fight for liberation and equality started. Still to this day, the fight isn’t over. Queer and trans people, especially those of color, are harassed and discriminated by the same institutions, such as police, legislature, and incarceration, that the Stonewall riots rebelled against. Today, even going to the bathroom means risking ridicule, harassment, rape and violence. Queer and trans people still face punishment for being homeless. Choosing to go to a gay nightclub, some might never leave.
This month we remember our predecessors who took part in the Stonewall riots, and started a revolution that brought us a better, more accepting society. We remember the trans people, the drag queens, the lesbians, the bisexuals, the gays, and everyone else who took a stance and refused discrimination from the institutions that deemed hate to be lawful. Thanks to the brave people who first took charge in the Stonewall riots, we know it gets better. We know there is a light at the end of this tunnel, and that the fight is worth it.
Larry Kramer’s - ‘Faggots’ By Mark King
In the 1970’s, Larry wrote his outrageous novel, Faggots, a searing indictment of the relentless sexual pursuits of gay men, as a way of coming to terms with losing the man of his dreams in real life. That man, named Dinky in the book, is portrayed as a hot number with an overbooked dance card, hardly able to step away from the sling long enough to pay much attention to the main character, Fred — based on Larry, of course. The book does not end with the two of them walking into the sunset together. There are far too many sweets in the gay candy store for Dinky to focus on one alone. Say what you will about Faggots – and plenty of people have, holding up the pitch-black sexual satire as evidence of Larry’s moralistic stance toward gay men that the coming onslaught of AIDS would only cement – but the writing about Dinky is affectionate, hilarious, brutal, and, at times, terribly sexy. Late in the book, as Fred makes his final plea to Dinky for a relationship, At any rate, Dinky is a real person and his name is David Webster. And two decades after their star-crossed initial 26 www.cityxtramagazine.com
affair, Larry and David circled back to one another, fell in love and were married in 2013. Talk about a long tease.
David was nearby during my interview with Larry in their New York City apartment, finally settling in with us on the sofa as the afternoon progressed. He is a strikingly handsome man, witty and charming and flirtatious, if my radar for such things is still functional. He also dotes on Larry – a completely mutual trait – and offered occasional context or even defense of Larry’s views. The topic of Faggots eventually came up, of course and I couldn’t help but ask David how it felt to have the kinkiest details of his sex life in the center of the heralded, vilified novel. I had heard that David once considered the book a total invasion of his life.
for the umpteenth time. “Faggots was my love letter to David,” Larry tells me, still beaming at his husband. “He’s crazy!” David repeated. I knew the scene was being played for my benefit but it was adorable nevertheless. Their affection for one another was palpable, whether in spite of, or because of, their complicated romantic history. The time felt right for me to produce my copy of the novel “So, David,” I asked, a bit and ask for a signature. Larry sheepishly, “is it true what took the book graciously and Larry says in Faggots? Did he then asked, “What did you think actually—“ of it?” “I read it when it came out in 1978, when I was 17 “Ransack my leather gear collection while I was out of my years old,” I told him. “I was horrified.” apartment?” he interrupted. “Go through my file cabinets? I was a baby gay who was Punch me in the face?” David shocked by the blurted this all out phantasmagoric sex in Faggots incredulously, but his grin was and the seeming impossibility mischievous. “The man is of committed love. “I remember crazy!” Larry smiled broadly at wondering, Is this me, is this David’s feigned injury, as if what I am going to be? And hearing a favorite family story then,” I admitted to Larry,
“within a few years, that book was me…” Larry nodded knowingly. “But I read it again before meeting you today,” I added, “and the writing is hilarious. I couldn’t see that the first time.” I also could never have known I would be standing in the living room of the two main characters, together at last. Larry dutifully inscribed my copy and considered the gauntlet his character walked through in order to capture the man he loved. “This whole book,” Larry said, “was my way of saying to David, ‘This is how much I love you.’” And this time, David smiled back.