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Unity LGBT Community By Jacob Raines
‘Cancer Profile’ Change With HIV By Randy Dotinga
Father’s Day Card 20 Years By Joseph McCormick
SCOTUS Sides With Anti-Gay Baker By Drew Jackson
Stonewall’s Drag Queen Marsha P. Johnson By Jennifer Bennett
Why June Is Gay Pride Month By Debi Johnson
Larry Kramer’s—’Faggots’ By Michelle Sampson
Best International Cities For Pride By Michael McKinney
Stonewall Where It All Began By David Vandygriff
Publisher/Executive Editor David Vandygriff dvandygriff@cityxtramagazine.com Editor In Chief Harvey Carr hcarr@cityxtramagazine.com Director of Sales Adam Plante, Esq. aplante@cityxtramagazine.com Creative Designer Debbie Johnson djohnson@cityxtramagazine.com cityXtra Magazine is published by cityXtra Organization Inc . 2941 Plum Street Jacksonville, FL 32205 (904) 300-3320 www.cityxtramagazine.com Facebook/Twitter: cityxtra
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misunderstanding the LGBT is community is some may not be surrounded by people who UNITY LGBT COMMUNITY identify as By Jacob Raines such. It seems The people who identify with the that the more people who have acronym ‘LGBT,’ and it’s other others in their lives who identify variations, are often as LGBT are prone to be more misunderstood and categorized understanding. For example, into a stereotype often after I came out as a gay man, accompanied with their identity. our very close family friends Moreover, not every letter of the were influenced by my acronym is understood equally discovered identity. Now, if they even though community were to meet more people along attempts to live by equality. the LGBT spectrum, it would not be a mind blowing issue to It seems people who outwardly accept them. identify as gay or lesbian are more accepted by both the straight community and the LGBT community than people who identify as bisexual or transgender. That being said, BuzzFeed recently posted a video of questions the gay community has for people who identify as bisexual.
“Is bisexuality even a real thing?” leaves no room for the question of whether bisexual people are understood. Clearly they are not if even the community that is supposed to support them, and equality, doesn’t believe in them. A few years back, I was culprit of this. I would have conversations with my mother about the validity of people being bisexual. However, as time progresses, one can learn to understand what was once foreign to them. It is no longer difficult the reality that some people do not have a preference on gender but are attracted to both males and females. Part of the problem with people 06 www.cityxtramagazine.com
When people are comfortable, that’s when they are most prone toward accepting others. So when people are more surrounded by people in the LGBT community, they seem to be more understanding.
That being said, before experiencing college, I was never surrounded by many people who identified on the LGBT spectrum and for that reason, I was not as understanding of the other letters in the acronym. Even as someone who is gay, it was difficult for me to accept others at first. Yet, after moving away from a small Cape Cod town, to the bustling city of Boston, it was clear that I needed a new mindset. Not only was bisexuality 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.
‘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.
versity 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 Prostate, lung and liver cancer cases overall will dip to about are predicted to become the 6,500, with an especially large most common cancers in this decrease (to 710 cases) in the group, followed by anal cancer, number of AIDS-related which is linked to the sexually cancers. Cases of Kaposi transmitted human sarcoma are expected to drop papillomavirus (HPV). "They're but still remain higher than starting to look more like people normal in HIV-positive people, without HIV in a lot of ways, but Islam said, while non-Hodgkin the cancer risk will still be lymphoma and cervical cancer different," said Michael rates are expected to reach Silverberg, a research scientist normal levels in some age with Kaiser Permanente groups. Northern California. He was not Meanwhile, cases of other involved in the study. types of cancer are expected to 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 people with HIV and AIDS to live much longer.
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 In the new study, Jessica Islam, population." a graduate student at the UniAs for anal cancer, it should 08 www.cityxtramagazine.com
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 HIVpositive 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.
Back in 2015, Duane Schrock, who lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, told the heartbreaking FATHER’s DAY CARD 20 YEARS story of how he By Joseph McCormick got the surprise This father has told the of his life when he received a bittersweet story of how he card from his late son, Duane received a Father’s Day card Schrock Jr. from his estranged gay son, Six years later, Schrock Jr died more than 20 years after he died of AIDS-related illness. of AIDS-related illness. As Schrock Sr. had moved home Back in 2015, Duane Schrock, several times, the card spent who lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, over two decades lost in the told the heartbreaking story of postal service, before it finally how he got the surprise of his life when he received a card from his late son, Duane Schrock Jr. his 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 AIDSrelated illness.
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made its way to him just a few days after Father’s Day 2015.
It reads: “Dear Dad, we haven’t been in touch for quite a while, I’m doing fine and am very 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.”
What we do know is that the Colorado commission royally messed up, calling SCOTUS Sides With Anti-Gay Baker Phillips’ beliefs By Drew Jackson “irrational” and Everyone is going to say the “offensive.” Agree or disagree Supreme Court’s ruling in with that characterization, Masterpiece Cakeshop is a win passing such judgment is not for the Christian baker who the government’s business. refused to bake a cake for a That’s how Justices Kagan and same-sex couple. They’re Gorsuch were able to agree on wrong. This case was forfeited the outcome of this case. The by the Colorado Civil Rights First Amendment requires Commission. government officials to be neutral toward religion, and the In the Court’s 7-2 opinion, Colorado civil rights written by Justice Anthony commission was not. Kennedy, the Court decided the case on narrow, and “The Civil Rights Commission’s unusual, grounds: that the treatment of [Phillips’] case,” commission was actively Justice Kennedy wrote, “has hostile to the religious beliefs of some elements of a clear and the baker, Jack Phillips. As a impermissible hostility toward result, the Court’s opinion didn’t the sincere religious beliefs that reach the deeper issues motivated his objection.” underneath, and we know no It didn’t help that the more about them than we did commission also failed to before the case came down. explain why Phillips was being That’s why the vote was 7-2: treated differently from a baker because, in the end, this was who refused to bake a cake an easy case. The issues with an anti-gay message. underneath are hard: they are about the conflict between the First Amendment and rights to be free from discrimination. Is a cake “speech?” Did Phillips refuse to bake a generic cake for gay people, or did he refuse to bake a special gay-wedding cake? When does a sincere religious belief justify discrimination, and when doesn’t it? The answer is, we still don’t know. 12 www.cityxtramagazine.com
Justice Kagan, in her concurring opinion, actually set forth how the commission could have distinguished the cases: Phillips refused to serve gay people, whereas the other baker refused to bake that cake for anyone. But the commission didn’t do that. It just said that the anti-gay cake was offensive and the gay-wedding cake wasn’t. Even the Court’s opinion hinted at this point: “While the issues here are difficult to resolve, it must be concluded that the State’s interest could have been weighed against Phillips’ sincere religious objections in a way consistent with the requisite religious neutrality that must be strictly observed.” In other words, this would have been a hard case had the commission done its job right. But it didn’t, and so this became an easy one. If the Colorado commission was the big loser in Masterpiece Cakeshop, in a way the big winner is Justice Kennedy.
2:00am, but it's a testament to her lasting influence that so many Stonewall’s Drag Queen people Marsha P. Johnson still By Jennifer Bennett believe it. Marsha P. Johnson, trans icon Johnson joined the Gay and revolutionary figure in the Liberation Front in 1970 and movement for the liberation of later linked up with close all LGBTQ people, was found friend Sylvia Ramirez, another dead in the Hudson River on trans woman of color, to this day twenty-five years ago. create the Street Transvestite Her legacy as the "Rosa Action Revolutionaries Parks" of the LGBTQ rights (S.T.A.R.), a gay, gender movement lives on today, and non-conforming and has recently been reexamined transgender activist in a Netflix-acquired organization. The two also documentary of her life and founded S.T.A.R. House, the death. first shelter for gay and trans Raised in New Jersey by a youth in 1972, providing food, disapproving mother, Johnson clothing, housing and advice moved New York City in the to the kids who came through early 1960s to become "the their doors. They were a biggest drag queen in the visible presence at liberation world" and quickly became a marches and pride rallies, fixture in the vibrant queer fighting for the inclusion of scene of Greenwich Village. A trans people and draq queens sex worker and performer, in the movement and battling 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 14 www.cityxtramagazine.com
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."
were targeted by the police, and many were arrested because they were entrapped. Why June Is Gay Pride Month Because the By Debi Johnson legal system June marks LGBT Pride Month. was anti-gay, most lawyers The reasons that Pride Month would not defend the men who is so important to the LGBT were charged with crimes. community are many. The fight When a new mayor came into to earn civil rights has been power, the police entrapment hard and those who worked so campaign ended, but the bars diligently deserve to be had a remembered. But why is June problem getting liquor licenses. the chosen month? One The bars that did welcome incident, which occurred in gays were typically owned by 1969, is considered the official the Mafia, who did not treat the gay rights activism anniversary. regulars well, but did pay off It all started in New York City, the police to prevent raids. in a gay bar without water or a Stonewall Inn, owned by the liquor license. Genovese crime family, was During the 1960s, it was converted into a gay club in practically illegal to be openly which dancing was allowed. homosexual in the United There was no running water in States. Gays could be fired the place, & the bar did not from jobs, and many were. The have a liquor license. The legal system did not offer any family reportedly paid off the protection. Most establishpolice, but raids still happened. ments did not welcome gay During a typical raid, the police people. Greenwich Village in would line everyone up and Manhattan, New York, was check identification. Men home to a large population of dressed in drag or without ID homosexual men and women. would be arrested. Women had There was a subculture in the to wear at least three pieces of community, but New York City feminine clothing or face arrest. had many laws prohibiting On a Saturday night in June homosexuality in public and 1969, the police raided the Inn. private. Still, bars were about Instead of lining everyone up, the safest place for the police decided to arrest homosexual men to congregate everyone. While waiting for the without being harassed. wagons to arrive, more people NYC Mayor Robert F. Wagner, arrived at the Inn and the Jr. campaigned to remove gay scene exploded. Violence bars in the city. Liquor licenses broke out, but the police were were revoked. Homosexuals outnumbered. A riot ensued. Those who were there believe 16 www.cityxtramagazine.com
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 NYC, LA & Chicago. The following year, seven more major cities, including Boston, Dallas, London &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 & 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.
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 pitchblack 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, &, 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 . And two decades after their 18 www.cityxtramagazine.com
star-crossed initial 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, charming & 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 & 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. “So, David,” I asked, a bit sheepishly, “is it true what Larry says in Faggots? Did he actually—“ “Ransack my leather gear collection while I was out of my apartment?” he interrupted. “Go through my file cabinets? Punch me in the face?” David blurted this all out incredulously, but his grin was mischievous. “The man is crazy!” Larry smiled broadly at David’s feigned injury, “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 and ask for a signature. Larry took the book graciously and then asked, “What did you think of it?” “I read it when it came out in 1978, when I was 17 years old,” I told him. “I was horrified.” I was a baby gay who was shocked by the phantasmagoric sex in Faggots and the seeming impossibility of committed love. “I remember wondering, Is this me, is this what I am going to be? And 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, “& 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.
transgender Pride flag, setting the scene for another epic Pride Toronto. The Best International Cities For Pride celebration is By Michael McKinney already well underway, but The Pride movement has gone the main event is still on the global, with parades, marches, horizon, with the festival and and parties taking off all over parade taking place June 22the world. And while we wish 24. Attendees of the festival will we could attend every Pride, be treated to more the truth is, some are at the top entertainment than in previous of that bucket list. years, with more than 200 artists, including Brandy and Here are the upcoming international Pride events you Kehlani, performing on 14 should get pack your bags for, stages. While there will be plenty of fanfare as usual, this because they are, simply put, year will also include a heavier, next level. more poignant moment, as the Tel Aviv Pride: Tel Aviv Pride parade, set for June 24 at 2 boasts one of the world’s pm, will be followed by a largest parades, with hundreds moment of silence to honor of thousands of locals and those believed to be victims of tourists alike celebrating the alleged serial killer Bruce LGBTQ community in the McArthur. beautiful city in Israel. This year’s procession will be led by Paris Pride: No city is more Andy Cohen, appointed as the synonymous with romance and love than France, so it only official International Ambassador. It starts at 10am makes sense that it should find on June 8, at Meir Park, travels its way onto this list. Paris Pride, also known as Marche through the city streets and des Fiertes, lives up to the ends up at Charles Clore reputation, bringing hundreds beach, where a party is held featuring live music, performers, and a whole lot of dancing, all while surrounded by unmatched views. Parties and events have already started, and will continue through June 10. Pride Toronto: Toronto kicked off Pride month by raising the rainbow Pride flag and the 20 www.cityxtramagazine.com
of thousands out into the streets to call for LGBTQ rights and celebrate diversity. The parade is on June 30, at 2pm, and will be followed by parties, balls, and more, most going down in the gay district of Le Marais. For three weeks leading up to Pride, The Quinzaine des Fiertés will highlight the LGBTQ community with a series of debates, shows, exhibitions, and parties. It is in its second year, with more than 50 events planned, including Paris Fashion Week. Madrid Pride: Madrid Pride hosted World Pride and EuroPride last year, and while it will be hard to top those festivities, if anyone is up to the challenge, it’s the organizers of Orgullo Gay de Madrid, as it’s said in Spanish. Unofficial parties will begin on June 28, to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. The parade will take place on July 7, with events wrapping up the next day. Pride In London: Pride in London events have already begun, but the main event, the parade, is yet to come, set for July 7, starting at 12pm. It is
one of the biggest and most well-attended Pride events in the UK. In addition to the parade, events will include parties, art exhibitions, a prom, sporting events, and more. Expect tons of visitors from all over Europe and abroad to hit the streets and fill the bars and event spaces. Berlin Pride: Berlin Pride, also known as Christopher Street Day Berlin (CSD Berlin), in honor of the Stonewall Uprising, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. A march will take place on July 28 at 12:30pm, under the banner ” “My body—my identity— my life.” Organizers have published 11 demands for LGBTQ rights and visibility, including criminalizing operations on intersex children, increased education about the LGBTQ community, and raising awareness for diversity in the workplace. Other events will include parties, art exhibitions, lectures, and more. Pride Amsterdam: Pride Amsterdam is a unique experience, with the city making fantastic use of its legendary canals to create a spectacle like none other. Float-like boats drift along the water, while attendees look on from the sidewalks and bridges. The parade will take place August 4, and events will begin on July 28, with the annual PrideWalk to Vondelpark, where Pride will officially kick off, with performances.
people back in the 1950s and 1960s, but tempers reached the boiling point during the 3:00 am Stonewall Where It All Began raiding of the By David Vandygriff Stonewall Inn. Police began As the nation remembers the arresting Stonewall employees, most horrific attack towards before starting to escort LGBT people in history f patrons into paddy wagons. A ollowing the Orlando shootings, crowd gathered outside, and as it is important to remember how the police attempted to force far we, the LGBT community, three drag queens and a have come. Through lesbian into a paddy wagon, discrimination and hardships, the crowd became a riot, from micro-aggressions to flinging bottles and fought back mass shootings, it can be easy against the police. to forget the many victories that The #riots spilled into other LGBT activists have fought for neighborhoods. Protests and and won. The progenitor to demonstrations sprung up over these victories in the courts, the following days. The prisons, marriage, and soon beginning of a social bathrooms, happened June 28, movement for gay and trans only 48 years ago, at the justice and new lawmaking Stonewall Inn. gave birth to the Gay Liberation It started on a warm Saturday Front and Street Transvestite morning, but the real heat Liberation Front. Founded by came from the anger and f Stonewall veterans, Marsha P. rustration in the hearts of the Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, LGBT community of Greenwich these groups carved a path for Village, New York. Oppression countless more LGBT and discrimination had become advocacy organizations to routine, particularly for the most follow. Within only a few neglected members of the weeks, the trans and gay community: the drag queens, communities banded together trans people, and homeless to form safe spaces where youth. Mafia-owned clubs and people could be open about bars became some of the few their genders and sexualities havens the LGBT community without fear of arrest. A sign could go to, as most business reading,� We homosexuals owners turned them away from plead with our people to please their legal establishments. help maintain peaceful and Police routinely raided the few quiet conduct on the streets of bars that accepted openly gay the Village� hung in the window of Stonewall. 22 www.cityxtramagazine.com
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.
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Today, Harvey's dream of a world that celebrates human diversity Stoli Harvey Milk continues through the Limited Edition Bottle award-winning Harvey Milk became the first programs of the Harvey Milk openly gay elected official in Foundation. This limited edition California making headlines bottle commemorates the 40th internationally and providing an anniversary of Harvey taking enduring message of hope to office in 1978 and is inspired by all in 1977. Milk encouraged a mural created by LGBT citizens to live their lives Paraguayan artist Oz openly. He believed coming Montania. out was the only way they Stoli has a long history of could change society and actively supporting the LGBT achieve social equality. community and is a proud Milk is revered globally as a partner of the Harvey Milk pioneer of the LGBT civil rights Foundation. To learn how you movement for his can also support global exceptional leadership, equality, please visit coalition building and MilkFoundation.org. dedication to equality.
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