There won't be any parades or festivals this year, but I still need to have a little Pride this month.
So I offer some of my all time favorite music selections for your listening pleasure - if you are as old as I am these will "bring you back" to a time that, for me at least, was as exciting and joyous as I have ever experienced. (See the excerpt from my memoir below.)
Here's an excerpt from "Did You Ever See A Horse Go By? - A Coming Out Memoir: “Well, I’ll tell you about the first time I went to Backstreet Café down on that industrial road in the Westville section. The road was rarely used in the daytime and even less so after dark, unless you were going to the club. I hadn’t been out long and I’d only been to the Chez Est a few times—which is mostly an S&M bar, you know, which is what the guys do a lot of there.”
“I just love those Stand and Model types,” Bobby J. said, in case someone didn’t get the S&M reference.
“But Backstreet was different,” I continued. “It was the first big disco club I’d ever seen. And the location was like a secret that only we gays knew about. I remember seeing this big, plain, one story brick industrial building without any signs or bright lights. Nothing on the outside to let you know it’s a popular gay nightclub and disco on the inside.” ...
“I was with Joel, you know, Joel Comeau, my first and only ex. After paying our five bucks and getting our hands stamped, we walked past the bouncer into the main bar and I felt like Alex in Wonderland. It was like walking through some enchanted portal into a world invisible to most earthlings... It was like Dorothy going from a black and white world to Oz, which was suddenly in Technicolor and stereophonic sound.”
Carl said, “I’ll tell you, Backstreet was nothing next to the big clubs back in the seventies, especially down in the City, and I’m not even talking about Studio 54. Sorry, Fran, go on with your story.” ...
“Well, I had nothing to compare it to,” I said. “There had to be hundreds of pulsating bodies on the dance floor and plenty of guys without shirts... The DJ was playing It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls, which was already a classic. I think the whole building was vibrating. You could feel the thumping base of the disco music and the energy of the crowd on the dance floor. And everyone was just letting it all hang out, as we used to say, and everyone was echoing Martha Wash, ‘It’s Raining Men! Hallelujah!’” ... “Dancing among that crowd was such a thrill, such an exciting feeling. And knowing that we were all frickin’ gay and that there were thousands more like us in gay clubs everywhere, it was like being let out of solitary confinement. Like, for the first time in my life I could say ‘fuck you’ to all the straights in the world, whether they deserved it or not. Like there was solidarity in our numbers and we were really fucking special!”
“Yeah, Fran,” Carl kidded. “They gave that coming out party just for you.”
Bobby J. thought that Carl’s comment was a hoot and gave out an audible “hoot” for emphasis. I gave it back. “Fuck you, too, guys. It was just so great. And the feeling of being free to just let go! It was amazing. I took to being out on the dance floor like it was second nature. Shit, who needs booze or drugs, I can get high just dancing my buns off to High Energy and You Spin Me Round. Yeah, remember that one, ‘like a record baby,’ you know?”
“Yeah, Fran, like a record, you’re still spinning ’round,” Lee said with a knowing smile. We all laughed. But I couldn’t resist adding, “Well, we should be thankful we have places like Backstreet and the Chez Est. There are, no doubt, poor, disadvantaged homosexuals in rural areas of North Dakota who have never seen the inside of a gay disco.”
“Deprived homos,” Bobby J. said, “or should I say, depraved homos?” We all laughed again, even though it wasn’t that funny. Bobby J. hooted again.
To Anyone, especially any LGBTQ Americans who are even thinking about voting for the Republican Presidential Candidate, DT or X, as I will call him, if you have any senses, come to them. If the endless list of horrendous deeds, words and unspeakable evils he has perpetrated are yet not enough, consider that as George Will has speculated, the worse is yet to come.
(NOTE: I have deleted the last name of the current imposter in the White House and replaced it as necessary with the letter X as I refuse to see it in print on my blog.)
Once again, President X did not issue a Pride proclamation
to honor LGBTQ citizens, but that hasn’t stopped him from selling an “exclusive Make America Great Again Pride T-Shirt” on his campaign website.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee,
issued a thoughtful statement reflecting on the progress the community
has made and promising to repeal Trump’s numerous anti-LGBTQ policies.
X’s rainbow lettered campaign shirts have been available for months.
It’s hard to understand, considering X’s constant attacks on LGBTQ equality,
from banning transgender people in the military to expanding religious
exemptions for employers, business owners, and even doctors who want to
discriminate against LGBTQ people, to consulting anti-LGBTQ hate group
leaders on policy, to attempting to change the legal definition of “sex”
to erase transgender people.
“Show your support for the LGBT community and the 45th President with
this exclusive Make America Great Again Pride T-Shirt,” the website
advertises.
Biden, however, didn’t need to advertise support. While X
neglected the standard Pride proclamation, Biden stepped up to both
celebrate with us and decry X’s attacks against the community.
“We’ve made remarkable progress towards LGBTQ+ rights in the decades
since, from Harvey Milk’s historic election to the first openly gay
major presidential candidate,” Biden said in his statement.
“During the
Obama-Biden Administration alone, we signed the Matthew Shepard and
James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law; repealed Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell; addressed the epidemic of bullying in schools; established
the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality as a foreign policy priority; and the
White House beamed bright with the colors of the rainbow to mark the
U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision recognizing marriage equality.”
“It took hard work. It took acting up, organizing PFLAG moms,
developing student activists, and a tireless persistence that HIV/AIDS
be destigmatized and treated. Many paid a personal and a professional
price just for being who they are — risking their jobs, livelihoods, and
physical well-being. Many still do.”
“Despite our progress, much work remains.”
Biden also bluntly chastised the administration for their attacks on LGBTQ people and human rights in general.
“Donald X and Mike Pence have systematically used the power of
the White House as a literal bully pulpit to undermine LGBTQ+ rights,”
he said.
“They have given safe harbor to white supremacists and other
forms of hate. Predictably, we’ve experienced a rise in hate crimes
targeting LGBTQ+ people.”
“The (current) Administration has abdicated America’s global
leadership on human rights and walked away from our values, repeatedly
failing to speak out against the abuses of authoritarian regimes.”
“This is wrong,” Biden asserted. “We must send a clear message that
hatred and bigotry have no place in America or on the world stage. As
President, I will take swift action to reverse these odious policies and
advance our progress toward ending discrimination against LGBTQ+
individuals.”
“There are dark and challenging realities ahead that we cannot
ignore. Yet, I remain optimistic because I believe in who we are as a
nation. I believe in the story of this country and the LGBTQ+
community.”
INQUIRY: Does anyone have a comprehensive list of the lies, insults or outrageously STUPID comments the current president has made in the past 3+ years. If so, please let me know. AND ONE MORE:
I have not commented on the murder of George Floyd except to say when I saw the news coverage on that infamous day, tears came to my eyes. So much has already been said and my words would pale in comparison.
But I will share the words of three clergy who condemn the president's attack on peaceful protesters in front of St. John's Church in DC near the White House to obtain a "photo op" and the following day at a Catholic Basilica for another "photo op":
Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop who oversees St. John’s Episcopal
Church, which Trump used as a backdrop for a photo op meant to show
Americans that he was not a coward hiding in a bunker, slammed the
president in an interview with the Washington Post late Monday.
Said Budde: “I am outraged. I am the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese
of Washington and was not given even a courtesy call, that they would be
clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches
as a prop. Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence. We
need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.”
“Holding a bible, one that declares that God is love … when
everything he has said and done is to enflame violence,” Budde added. “I
am beyond. We need moral leadership and he’s done everything to divide
us and has just used one of the most sacred symbols of the
Judeo-Christian tradition.”
Budde later tweeted: “We are followers of Jesus. In no way do we
support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving
nation. We stand with those seeking justice for the death of George
Floyd through the sacred act of peaceful protest.”
And from a Pastor in Maine, this firsthand account from an Episcopal rector in DC:
The Rev. Gina Gerbasi is the Rector at St. John’s, Georgetown, and was at St. John’s, Lafayette Square, DC, when this all went down this evening. If you are looking for a primary source account, here it is:
"Friends, I am ok, but I am, frankly shaken. I was at St. John's, Lafayette Square most of the afternoon, with fellow clergy and laypeople - and clergy from some other denominations too. We were passing out water and snacks, and helping the patio area at St. John's, Lafayette square to be a place of respite and peace. All was well - with a few little tense moments - until about 6:15 or so. By then, I had connected with the Black Lives Matter medic team, which was headed by an EMT. Those people were AMAZING. They had been on the patio all day, and thankfully had not had to use much of the eyewash they had made. Around 6:15 or 6:30, the police started really pushing protestors off of H Street (the street between the church and Lafayette Park, and ultimately, the White House. They started using tear gas and folks were running at us for eyewashes or water or wet paper towels. At this point, Julia, one of our seminarians for next year (who is a trauma nurse) and I looked at each other in disbelief. I was coughing, her eyes were watering, and we were trying to help people as the police - in full riot gear - drove people toward us. Julia and her classmates left and I stayed with the BLM folks trying to help people. Suddenly, around 6:30, there was more tear gas, more concussion grenades, and I think I saw someone hit by a rubber bullet - he was grasping his stomach and there was a mark on his shirt. The police in their riot gear were literally walking onto the St. John's, Lafayette Square patio with these metal shields, pushing people off the patio and driving them back. People were running at us as the police advanced toward us from the other side of the patio. We had to try to pick up what we could. The BLM medic folks were obviously well practiced. They picked up boxes and ran. I was so stunned I only got a few water bottles and my spray bottle of eyewash. We were literally DRIVEN OFF of the St. John's, Lafayette Square patio with tear gas and concussion grenades and police in full riot gear. We were pushed back 20 feet, and then eventually - with SO MANY concussion grenades - back to K street. By the time I got back to my car, around 7, I was getting texts from people saying that Trump was outside of St. John's, Lafayette Square. I literally COULD NOT believe it. WE WERE DRIVEN OFF OF THE PATIO AT ST. JOHN'S - a place of peace and respite and medical care throughout the day - SO THAT MAN COULD HAVE A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH!!! PEOPLE WERE HURT SO THAT HE COULD POSE IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH WITH A BIBLE! HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO STEP OVER THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES WE LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE WE WERE BEING TEAR GASSED!!!! I am deeply shaken. I did not see any protestors throw anything until the tear gas and concussion grenades started, and then it was mostly water bottles. I am shaken, not so much by the taste of tear gas and the bit of a cough I still have, but by the fact that that show of force was for a PHOTO OPPORTUNITY. The patio of St. John's, Lafayette square had been HOLY GROUND today. A place of respite and laughter and water and granola bars and fruit snacks. But that man turned it into a BATTLE GROUND first, and a cheap political stunt second. I am DEEPLY OFFENDED on behalf of every protestor, every Christian, the people of St. John's, Lafayette square, every decent person there, and the BLM medics who stayed with just a single box of supplies and a backpack, even when I got too scared and had to leave. I am ok. But I am now a force to be reckoned with."
And from the Catholic Archbishop of DC:
Said Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory in a statement: “I find it baffling and reprehensible that
any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused
and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles,
which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we
might disagree. Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the
rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to
that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other
deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo
opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.”
As George Will (a stalwart conservative) stated in a recent column in the Washington Post: "Those who think our unhinged president’s recent mania
about a murder two decades ago that never happened represents his moral
nadir have missed the lesson of his life: There is no such thing as
rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come." and "He must be removed."
