History
Newsom pardons LGBTQ and Black icon Rustin, stained by ‘historic homophobia’
It was a patch of blue in the dark storm stalled over the divided states of America. On Feb. 5, California Gov. Gavin Newsom parted the pall and pardoned Bayard Rustin, mentor to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Though President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Medal of Freedom in 2013, the gay civil rights icon still had the stain of a 1953 “morals charge” arrest in Pasadena on his lifetime of achievement.
“In California and across the country, many laws have been used as legal tools of oppression, and to stigmatize and punish LGBTQ people and communities and warn others what harm could await them for living authentically,” Newsom said in a statement. “I thank those who advocated for Bayard Rustin’s pardon, and I want to encourage others in similar situations to seek a pardon to right this egregious wrong.”
Excerpt of the pardon certificate
Rustin’s pardon launches a new clemency initiative for people who were prosecuted in California for being gay. In 1970, after the Stonewall riots and the movement for Gay Liberation, Assemblymember Willie Brown introduced the Consenting Adult Sex Bill to repeal the sodomy law and decriminalize gay sex. Five years later, with help from San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, the bill was finally passed and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on May 12, 1975. But those convicted of engaging in consensual adult sexual conduct remained on the Sex Offender Registry until 1997, when a new law established a process enabling individuals to request removal. However, the original criminal conviction remained.
Newsom’s announcement acknowledges the systemic persecution of LGBTQ people and offers legal reparation.
“In California and across the country, charges like vagrancy, loitering, and sodomy have been used to unjustly target [LGBTQ] people. Law enforcement and prosecutors specifically targeted LGBTQ individuals, communities and community spaces for criminal prosecution. Now, as a proudly LGBTQ-allied state, California is turning the page on historic wrongs,” says the press release.
“There’s a cloud hanging over him because of this unfair, discriminatory conviction, a conviction that never should have happened, a conviction that happened only because he was a gay man,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, chair of California’s legislative LGBTQ caucus said Jan. 21 at a news conference with Assemblymember Shirley Weber, chair of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, formally asking for a pardon.
“I’m thrilled that Governor Newsom is pardoning Bayard Rustin and that he acted so quickly and decisively in response to our request. I also applaud the Governor for broadening this work to provide other criminalized LGBT people with a path to clear their records of wrongful convictions on homophobic charges. These actions are consistent with the Governor’s deep and longstanding support for the LGBT community,” Wiener said in a statement. “Generations of LGBT people – including countless gay men – were branded criminals and sex offenders simply because they had consensual sex. This was often life-ruining, and many languished on the sex offender registry for decades. The Governor’s actions today are a huge step forward in our community’s ongoing quest for full acceptance and justice.”
“On behalf of the Black Caucus, I want to thank the Governor for granting this posthumous pardon. The Arc of Justice is long, but it took nearly 70 years for Bayard Rustin to have his legacy in the Civil Rights movement uncompromised by this incident. Rustin was a great American who was both gay and black at a time when the sheer fact of being either or both could land you in jail,” said Weber. “This pardon assures his place in history and the Governor’s ongoing commitment to addressing similar convictions shows that California is finally addressing a great injustice.”
“Civil rights champion Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘The time is always right to do what is right.’ For our friend Governor Newsom, that time is today. We are grateful to the governor for demonstrating our California values by pardoning civil rights hero, Bayard Rustin — a trusted aide to Dr. King — and for creating a system for other LGBTQ+ people to seek pardon from unjust convictions, said Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur. “Today, Governor Newsom, and indeed the entire Golden State, did the right thing.”
That the pardon comes at the beginning of Black History Month is notable. On the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote on The Root: “I ask that if you teach your children one new name from the heroes of black history, please let it be Bayard Rustin.”
“For decades, this great leader, often at Dr. King’s side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay,” said President Obama, presenting Rustin’s medal to his longtime partner, Walter Naegle on Aug. 8, 2013. “No medal can change that, but today, we honor Bayard Rustin’s memory by taking our place in his march towards true equality, no matter who we are or who we love.”
Born in 1912, Rustin learned about racism early on learned from his a Quaker grandmother in his West Chester, Pennsylvania hometown. She was also a member of the NAACP and intellectual civil rights leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson were house guests.
Seventeen-year-old Bayard Rustin, 1929. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Estate of Bayard Rustin.
In high school, Rustin challenged the racially discriminatory Jim Crow laws by defying the rules to sit in the segregated balcony of a movie theater — for which he was arrested, as he recalled in the documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.
“I once went into the little restaurant next to the Warner Theatre, and—can you believe it?—there was absolute consternation. That was the first occasion in which I knew West Chester had three police cars. They surrounded the place as if we were going to destroy motherhood. I purposely got arrested, and then I made an appeal that all the black people and white people who were decent-minded should give 10 cents to get me out of jail. And I got out, because they took up a collection.”
February 7, 1986 issue of the Washington Blade, featuring Peg Byron’s interview with Bayard Rustin
Rustin knew he was gay in high school, he told Washington Blade reporter Peg Byron on Feb. 5, 1986. But he remained closeted until 1947 after an encounter with a child on a bus trip in the South:
“One of the reasons that I decided that I should no longer remain in the closet came from an experience I had as a black. One day, in 19…, way back as far as 1947, I walked into a bus in the South, all prepared to do what I had always done in the South. Take a seat in the rear.
As I was going by the second seat to go to the rear, a white child reached out for the red necktie I was wearing and pulled it. Whereupon its mother said, “Don’t touch a nigger.”
Something happened, and I said to myself, If I go and sit quietly in the back of that bus now, that child who was so innocent of race relations that it was going to play with me, will have seen so many blacks go in the back and sit down quietly that it’s going to end up saying, “They like it back there, I’ve never seen anybody protest against it.” That’s what people in the South would say.
So I said, I owe it to that child, not only to my own dignity, but I owe it to that child that it should be educated to know that blacks do not want to sit in the back, and therefore I should get arrested letting all these white people in the bus know that I do not accept that.
Now, it occurred to me shortly after that that it was an absolute necessity for me to declare homosexuality, because if I didn’t I was a part of the prejudice. I was aiding and abetting…
Peggy Byron: Sitting in the back, yeah…
BR: … the prejudice that was a part of the effort to destroy me. And that in the long run the only way I could be a free whole person was to face the shit.
But from my own experience I know how long it can take till you free yourself. Thirty-four years is a long time to free yourself.”
Bayard Rustin demonstrating in late 1940s Washington, D.C., to “Free Imprisoned War Objectors.” Credit: Photo courtesy of the Estate of Bayard Rustin.
During those closeted years, he organized strikes in college, advocated to free the Scottsboro Boys, in 1936 joined the Young Communist League which fought segregation but left disillusioned when they dropped fighting Jim Crow to fight to get the US into World War II. Rustin then found two other pacifists – A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and A. J. Muste, leader of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), who both became mentors.
By now Rustin was on FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s radar. Muste hired him to handle race relations. In 1941, the three pacifist socialists proposed a march on Washinton to protest segregation in the military and employment. After a meeting with President Roosevelt in the White House, FDR issued Executive Order 8802 (the Fair Employment Act) banning discrimination in defense industries and federal agencies. As an act of good faith in response, Randolph cancelled the march over Rustin’s objections. The military was finally desegregated in 1948 by President Truman, meaning black Americans fought racism and the Nazis and fascism, only to come home to Jim Crow.
Meanwhile, Rustin came to California to try to help Japanese Americans who were losing their property and their rights as the federal government imprisoned them in internment camps. He also foreshadowed the Freedom Rides by trying to desegregate interstate bus travel in 1942, for which he was arrested outside Nashville, beaten but never charged.
By 1948, the year after he came out, Rustin was well-known enough to be invited to India for an international pacifist conference.
“Mahatma Gandhi had been assassinated earlier that year, but his teachings touched Rustin in profound ways. ‘We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers,’ he wrote after returning to the States. ‘The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn,’” Prof. Gates writes.
The incident for which Rustin was pardoned happened in 1953. By now a respected organizer, Rustin traveled around the country giving speeches. After a speech one January night in Pasadena, police officers found him having sex with two white men in a parked car. Rustin was arrested, sentenced to jail for 60 days and was forced to register as a sex offender for the “morals charge.”
The arrest severely damaged his career in a country terrified by McCarthyism. He was forced to cancel speaking engagements and resigned from his leadership position with Muste’s Fellowship for Reconciliation.
Bayard Rustin (right) and Walter Naegle, 1986. Credit: Photo courtesy of Walter Naegle/Estate of Bayard Rustin.
He struggled to find work, resorting to manual labor as a furniture mover, Naegle said later.
“I know now that for me sex must be sublimated if I am to live with myself and in this world longer,” he wrote in a March 1953 letter.
In 1955, Rustin secretly wrote “Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence.“ In 1956, he found his way back into the civil rights movement, traveling to Alabama to advise Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on how to organize his Montgomery Bus Boycott using Gandhi’s principles of non-violence. The two were introduced by Rustin’s friend Coretta Scott.
Bayard Rustin and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Credit: Photo by Monroe Frederick courtesy of the Estate of Bayard Rustin.
“King really had a very, very limited idea about nonviolence,” Julian Bond, who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, told Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. “It is Bayard Rustin who really tutored him, who said, ‘This is what you have to do.’ Rustin was horrified to see these pistols in King’s home, you know, and these armed guards around King’s home, because it just went against everything he believed in about nonviolence. If it hadn’t been for Bayard Rustin, Dr. King wouldn’t have had any understanding, I don’t think, of nonviolence. And Rustin tutored him and made him into the person we know he became.”
But that arrest record and the “open secret” of his homosexuality haunted him. Rustin was forced to resign from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference he co-founded after the powerful New York Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. threatened to tell the press that he and King were lovers.
Gay historian, John D’Emilio author of “Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin,” told Amy Goodman:
“Bayard himself was very aware that given social attitudes towards homosexuality and gay men and lesbians, he couldn’t wear it on his sleeve. He couldn’t, you know, be out there with the rainbow flag. This was before gay liberation. So Bayard himself was perfectly happy to keep this in the background and to move out of the way, if that was going to be good for the movement.
What made him unhappy and what made him feel like he had been done wrong was when people disavowed him. And there was a point, in 1960, when Rustin and Mr. Randolph and Dr. King were part of organizing major demonstrations at the presidential conventions, Republicans and Democrats, and at that point Representative Adam Clayton Powell from Harlem didn’t like the fact that these radicals, someone like Bayard Rustin, was getting so much attention and moving into his sphere in the Democratic Party.
And he put out the word to Dr. King that if you don’t distance yourself from Bayard Rustin, I am going to claim that there is something going on between the two of you. And that scared Dr. King, and Bayard made the decision to resign from his position. But he also expected at that point that he would be defended. And when he wasn’t defended, it was—it was painful. It was very painful. And he spent a couple of years, mostly—in the early ’60s, mostly involved in the peace movement rather than in the civil rights movement because of that rupture. And it’s the March on Washington that brought him back into the center of things.”
“That was around 1962,” Rustin told the Washington Blade via the special Making Gay History podcast. “And, naturally, I took the position that if people feel that I am a danger to some important movement, I would leave. But the thing which distressed me was that if… if Martin had taken the strong stand then that he took a year later, in ’63, vis-à-vis Strom Thurmond, he could have overcome it and kept me. But I understand his doing it, and I hold no grief with him about having done it. I just wish that he had shown the strength in ’62 that he showed when he backed me completely in ’63. But he was a year older and had another year’s experience.”
Rustin in his role as deputy director of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, pointing to a map of Washington, D.C., as he explains the route to march marshals on August 13, 1963. Credit: Everett Collection/Alamy Stock Photo.
A. Philip Randolph brought Rustin back into the fold to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom but NAACP’s Roy Wilkins saw Rustin as a liability and forced him to take a deputy position.
But then FBI Director J. Edger Hoover slipped Rustin’s arrest record to rabidly anti-gay South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond – who had secretly fathered a child with his African-America maid. Three weeks before the march, Thurmond went public, trying to destroy the unprecedented event by denouncing Rustin as a gay communist and placing his arrest record in the congressional record.
Rustin told the Washington Blade:
“Now this became very clear to me in 1963, when I was organizing the March on Washington. And Strom Thurmond stood up in the Senate of the United States and for three-quarters of an hour, attacked me as a draft dodger, which was untrue, because I was a conscientious objector and well known as being a Quaker opposed to all violence. He attacked me as a former member of the Young Communist League, which was true. I had been. He attacked me as a homosexual. Which of course I was.
PB: You were the original commie-pinko-fag of the day, I suppose.”
BR: Yeah, exactly. Now, there were 10 leaders of that march. One of the most important Jews, the most important Catholic, the most important Protestant, Walter Reuther representing the trade union movement, and six black civil rights leaders.
When he attacked me, I had absolutely no basic apprehension and for a very good reason, because I had spent a great deal of my life defending prejudice against Catholics, against trade unions, against Jews, against blacks, against Protestants, and therefore I inwardly knew that those leaders, knowing of my history, had to come to my defense. And they did. And the important thing was that they voted that only one person should speak, and that was the founder of the march, Mr. A. Philip Randolph.”
For what spans five pages in the Congressional Record, Thurmond not only submitted the arrest record but the news articles about the arrest and conviction.
“The article states that he was convicted in 1953 in Pasadena, California, of a morals charge. The words ‘morals charge’ are true. But this is a clear-cut case of toning down the charge. The conviction was sex perversion,” says Thurmond.
“The senator is not interested in me if I were a murderer, a thief, a liar or a pervert. The senator is interested in attacking me because he is interested in destroying the movement. He will not get away with this,” Rustin said.
Sen. Strom Thurmond (Photo via the Equal Justice Initiative)
King and the other Big Six backed Rustin up this time because the attacks came from one of the worst Southern white supremacists. But after the march, Rustin was quietly denied his role as the seventh in the Bix Six group of civil rights leaders who called for the march: A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Jim Farmer, Whitney Young when the chief organizer of the march was disinvited to the White House to celebrate with President John F. Kennedy.
And yet, according to an extensive CNN report commemorating the 50th anniversary of the march, it was Rustin who saved the march for the organizers – from a Kennedy take over.
“The Kennedys were almost morbidly afraid of this march. They understood there’d been nothing like it,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-District of Columbia, who helped plan the march, told CNN.
“The Kennedy administration was afraid that if there was violence on the march, it would mean that the Civil Rights Act, which John F. Kennedy had just introduced, would never get passed,” said march planner Rachelle Horowitz. “When we first began planning the march, there was a concerted effort by the Kennedy administration to get it called off and to not let it take place.”
“They kept a watchful eye on the planning of the march,” said John Lewis, the 23-year-old elected to lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. “They stayed in touch with the (march) leadership,” which had been broadened to include four white leaders, representatives of the Protestant, Jewish and Catholic faiths, and civil rights advocate and United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther.
Reuther was recruited by the White House “to infiltrate the march and steer it away from radical rhetoric and direct action,” wrote Charles Euchner in his book “Nobody Turn Me Around,” about the historic march. “And so he did.”
President John F. Kennedy, right, with his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, in May 1963, via CNN.
Though JFK had come around to the idea of the march, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s office inside the Justice Department’s room 5110 “was the command center,” Jack Rosenthal, who was the department’s assistant press officer at the time, told CNN.
“There was a proposal on the table that Kennedy speak to the March on Washington,” march planner Courtland Cox told CNN. “And Bayard knew this would have been a disaster because it would’ve been taken over by (Kennedy) just because he’s president. It would’ve been Kennedy’s march.”
From CNN:
“So, Cox said Rustin and he excused themselves from that particular meeting and took a walk to the bathroom. Clearly flummoxed about the problem, Rustin took a sip from his back-pocket flask and came up with an idea on the fly.
“And Bayard got back into the meeting and he literally made this up,” Cox recalled. “He said that he heard … if the president spoke the Negroes were going to stone him.”
After that, the idea of Kennedy speaking at the march was never considered.”
None of the feared outbreaks of violence occurred.
“After the March on Washington was over, President Kennedy had invited us back down to the White House,” Lewis said. “He stood in the door of the Oval Office and he greeted each one of us. He was like a beaming, proud father. He was so pleased. So happy that everything had gone so well.”
Kennedy told King: “And you had a dream,” added Lewis.
Bayard Rustin, deputy director of the March on Washington, speaks to the hundreds of thousands of marchers surrounding the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, 1963. Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images.
Rustin’s role was overshadowed – as were his remarks at the march that August 28, 1963:
“We demand that segregation be ended in every school district in the year 1963! We demand that we have effective civil rights legislation—no compromise, no filibuster—and that include public accommodations, decent housing, integrated education, FEPC and the right to vote. What do you say? We demand the withholding of federal funds from all programs in which discrimination exists. What do you say?”
Rustin died of a perforated appendix on August 24, 1987, survived by Walter Naegle, his partner of 10 years.
One last thing, Julian Bond told Amy Goodman:
“I could not think of anybody else who at the time would have stepped forward, taken hold of this March on Washington, pull together all these hundreds of thousands of peoples, the buses, the trains. You know, I saw something just recently: They made 800,000 sandwiches. Imagine that. And it was all done at Bayard Rustin’s desire.
One thing I think we’re not hearing about Bayard Rustin is his sense of humor. He once said that Dr. King couldn’t bring vampires to a bloodbath. That was the kind of organizer Dr. King was not. But Bayard Rustin knew he was an organizer and was just wonderful at getting people to do things that they didn’t think they could do or didn’t know they wanted to do. He was just a great, great person….
I think those of us who were there in 1963 didn’t immediately realize how significant this was. As you said during the program, we didn’t see many people there early in the morning. The crowd grew and grew and grew. But even when they were all there, you had no idea how many there were. You know, you can’t look out at this mass of people and say, “This is 250,000 people.” You just have no idea who they are. And I think, for me, driving back to Atlanta later that day and then reading newspapers the next day in Atlanta and hearing what other people had to say about it, only then would we began to understand the significance of this thing—the largest gathering ever at a civil rights protest.
People came together to demand civil rights in America, and that was tremendously significant. But, as you say, if you compare these demands that Bayard read at the march with where we are today, you can see that clearly most of these things have not been achieved, and we still have a long, long way to go.”
While Rustin didn’t attend the White House meeting, he and A. Philip Randolph did make the cover of LIFE magazine.
Bayard Rustin (right) and A. Philip Randolph on the cover of LIFE magazine, September 6, 1963, after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Credit: LIFE magazine.
“Rustin was one of the most important social justice activists in the U.S. in the 20th century,” says historian John D’Emilio.
Bayard Rustin’s Presidential Medal of Freedom. Credit: Photo courtesy of Eric Marcus, creator of Making Gay History.
That 1953 arrest record hung like an invisible chain around Rustin’s neck. Now he is really, finally free.
If you think you are eligible and would like to seek clemency, you can apply for a pardon and receive updates and information on the clemency initiative at www.gov.ca.gov/clemency
Top photo: 1950s publicity photo of Bayard Rustin. (Via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-38045, courtesy Making Gay History)
History
Preserving the past: Robert Kesten on Stonewall & storytelling; LA Blade joins at the Abbey, Tuesday, October 6th at 6 pm
Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library’s Focus on the Future series: how exploring LGBTQ+ history can help shape a more inclusive tomorrow
For folks like Robert Kesten, the story of our community is composed of the very stories that we choose to preserve and pass on. As the president and CEO of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library, Kesten has dedicated years to protecting a history that is often threatened by political backlash and erasure. The institution was created in the spirit of resistance that followed the 1969 Stonewall uprising, when, at 17 years old, Kesten witnessed a community that stood up for themselves and demanded to be treated with dignity and respect. Today, Kesten continues to witness this struggle while we continue to fight for our rights and representation. He also sees an extraordinary opportunity.
This intersection of history, media, and community is the foundation of the Stonewall National Museum, Archive & Library’s Focus on the Future series. This new series will bring together journalists, community leaders, performers, and more to consider how LGBTQ+ folks can foster solidarity and trust in increasingly troubling times. In our interview, Kesten discusses the continuously evolving representation of the LGBTQ+ community in media, the perils of letting division and distrust take root, and why preserving our collective story is so essential to ensuring a promising tomorrow.
The series kicks off at the Abbey in West Hollywood on Tuesday, October 6th, at 6 pm. LA Blade publisher Alexander Rodriguez joins the panel.
What was the initial inspiration for the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library, and how have you seen its mission evolve over the decades?
The 17-year-old boy who started it did so because of the Stonewall Inn uprising, and because the community was visibly standing up and demanding to be treated like other Americans. Over the years, it has become clear, through AIDS and marriage, for example, that the struggle never ends for marginalized groups; how do we, as an institution, get people to understand our rightful place in the world?
The LGBTQ+ community is unique, as we include people from every other community on a global scale; we are uniquely positioned to be the world’s unifiers in a world filled with dividers because everyone can live under the rainbow tent. It is key to our mission of collecting and sharing the history and culture of this community.
From your point of view, how have you seen the relationship between our LGBTQ+ community and the media change over the years, especially in our current political climate and at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are increasingly at risk?
One way the relationship has changed is that there are so many out journalists and media professionals. The number of out actors, entertainers, authors, and executives is staggering. They may have always been there, but now they can be more of who they really are. In our political climate, those relationships and the security members of our community feel in their jobs are uncertain, and that comes out in the work and in the way you deal with your own community.
If you are working under the hammer of Bari Weiss, an out lesbian, you know that it can be unpleasant. Her views and execution of her job are often at odds with the community and support some of our most strident enemies. The examples of this behavior run throughout history; it doesn’t make it easier, but it makes it understandable and gives us something we know we can fight back against successfully.
The worst part is that the media and government have tools they use to divide us, and marginalized and minority communities that are fractured are not strong and able to take bold, sustainable action. That is the worst of what we see right now: the success of fostering divisions and members of our own family selling out. We have been here before; we should learn and never be here again.
The “Focus on the Future” series brings many folks – journalists, performers, community leaders, etc. – into the same space. Why was it important to encourage these voices to connect in one collective conversation?
Government officials, business leaders, and others have been working assiduously to cast doubt about the truth, to foster distrust of the media, our schools, our banks, our world. Facts have become “alternative,” and the notion of a figure like Walter Cronkite (for those who remember) has become quaint and folkloric. It is essential that we come together, discuss ways to reinforce trust, and develop a dialogue where distance is often maintained between the public and the professional media world.
These conversations give us a shared language and a way to voice our concerns and hear from professionals about their work and why they believe they have earned our trust and how to maintain it. The 4th Estate is expected to be the voice of the people when we alone cannot hold officials accountable; well, it does no good when many of us think the media is part of the problem because so much of it is owned by the corporations who hold so many political figures in their pockets. This needs to be flushed out, and a relationship has to be restored between the public and its informational source.
The event that will be held at the Abbey this October 6th will be focusing on the responsibilities and representation of journalism. What does this representation look like to you, especially at a time when the media is so polarizing?
It has to remind us primarily of the fact that we are all human beings with a desire to live a better life in a better world. If there is no way to rely on the words and deeds of others, we pull back. These events in LA, Rancho Mirage, and Fort Lauderdale give us a way to see people up close and understand how and why they do what they do, and they give media professionals an opportunity to hear from the public, a public interested in making things better, since none of us can afford for them to get worse. A polarized media represents a polarized public…the old understanding that a house divided against itself cannot stand still holds true, and these conversations, we hope, will be the start of that happening.
Queer history has often been lost, purposely excluded, or left out of mainstream narratives. Can you provide us with one account of the Stonewall combatting this silencing?
Here is a simple and recent one. When the Trump administration came back a second time, we received an email from the government telling us not to apply for grants from the NEH or the NEA. DEI organizations (by whatever standards they have) are not eligible. That was followed up by an email stating that all grants would have to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the USA. So we submitted a grant on the life of Baron von Steuben, a Prussian soldier “forced” to leave Europe and playing a major role in George Washington’s army.
We got the grant and the exhibit, which, after being presented in Fort Lauderdale, will now move to Washington, DC, and I hope to other cities and states. LGBTQ+ history is American history, and one man, one of us, played a vital role in securing freedom for every American who has come after him. We are happy to tell that story loud and clear and use a small grant from the US government to do so.
How do you see the functioning of museums at a time when younger folks are increasingly relying on social media and other online platforms for exposure to history and information?
My first response is to visit www.heroeslgbtq.org and see some of the amazing people who came before you and made life better for you in ways you cannot even imagine. Then I say, visit our YouTube channel and meet people you might never have met. We know we have to meet people where they are. Museums and libraries are not what they were and will continue to evolve and transform themselves for the times we live in. We are a living and breathing entity and respond to human beings and the way they learn, feel, and see.
The museum is also collaborating with the Human Rights Campaign on an upcoming project. Without divulging too much, what can you share with us about this project and what it aims to accomplish?
We want to remind people of those who changed our nation and our community. We want people to think about those things as they go to the polls on November 3rd, remembering that our Constitution starts with “We the People”; the responsibility begins and ends with us.
How does the Stonewall National Museum decide what is added to the archive? Are there particular criteria that you are looking to meet?
We see history in its broadest sense. Every piece of fabric is made of threads, and each thread is a human being. If you want real history, you have to account for every thread. That is how we collect, protect, and share. To do that, you collect as much as you can and let the history and the culture tell the tale. If you are too selective, you are telling a biography or selective history. We need real history; we need to know the relationships between people, workers and owners, men, women, children.
If we want to know America, we need to know the uncomfortable truths of how we got here and how we are moving forward. History isn’t pretty, and it is pretty messy, but that is how we learn. Lifelong learning will give us the better world we all seek; denying the truth will lead us to failing again and again. No one really wants that.
In your opinion, what role do LGBTQ+ folks play in shaping historical record? In the era of social media and “if you don’t post it, it never happened,” is the understanding of the definition of “archive” in flux?
Change is constant. Music, theater, film, books, podcasts- all are telling and recording the historical record. Then historians and other social scientists look at that information and find ways to present it and share it, and it changes again. Your lens versus someone else’s lens can see the same thing, but see it differently. The historian bridges those two worlds, while giving us insight into both. It all changes, yet it is always the same because as the world changes, human nature largely stays the same…it is a mystery, and it makes life ever so exciting.
What do you hope folks who attend the October 6th conversation at the Abbey take away?
My greatest hope is that they begin to understand just how important being engaged in the world is. No matter what they do, it makes a difference because everything impacts something else. Our contract with America is to be good citizens, to be informed, to speak out, to be decent human beings, and to do all we can to make our world better.
I hope people will both listen and speak out, recognizing that their voice matters and that their elected officials are not leaders; they are the leaders, and the officials are elected to represent them. When we don’t have the time, the media will hold those officials’ feet to the fire and keep them honest so we can all be proud to be Americans and human beings again.
For more information on the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library, click here.
History
10 explosions of queer history not to miss at this year’s Circa Festival
The fourth edition of America’s only LGBTQ+ heritage fest illuminates LA in October
LGBTQ+ history comes alive again in October with the return of Circa: Queer Histories Festival to greater Los Angeles, bringing a solid month of diverse and lively events covering everything from the Cooper Do-nut uprising and the Biltmore invasion to gay rodeo and homemade fetish porn.
Presented by One Institute, this fourth edition of America’s only queer history festival kicks off with an opening plenary by historian Jules Gill-Peterson, and continues throughout October with performances, screenings, exhibitions, conversations, comedy, presentations and parties at venues across the city.
Here are our picks for the ten historical happenings not to miss at this year’s Circa.
ACTION = LIFE
October 2
STORIES: The AIDS Monument, West Hollywood
More than a dozen queer performers, both veterans and emerging artists, present a marathon of soapbox-like five-minute performances at West Hollywood’s AIDS Monument, organized by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) and the Performance Art Museum (PAM).
October 2
Human Resources, Chinatown
Leather/kink club Cruise LA celebrates its 10th birthday with a multimedia exhibition, and its monthly party takes over Chinatown’s Human Resources Gallery for an immersive opening night featuring their resident DJ, go-go dancers, BDSM demonstrations, and artist activations.
Visible and Vibrant: LGBTQ+ Artists in LACMA’s Collection
October 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mid-Wilshire
Every Friday afternoon at 4pm throughout October, docents lead guests on a tour highlighting LGBTQ+ artists within LACMA’s permanent collection. Museum admission is free for LA County residents after 3pm.
50+ Years of Gay Rodeo Archives
October 3
One Gallery, West Hollywood
Celebrating a half century of gay rodeos, this traveling exhibition includes memorabilia from the full 50 years, and features a strong presence of LA rodeo artifacts. The exhibit runs the entire month of October at One Gallery, with an opening reception on the 3rd.
Chocolate Babies
October 7
Vidiots, Eagle Rock
Newly restored in 4K, the groundbreaking 1996 film Chocolate Babies follows an underground band of radical queer HIV+ activists and drag queens of color as they expose political corruption surrounding the AIDS epidemic. Director Stephen Winter will be in attendance.
LA Queer History: A Conversation with Gay Liberation Front Activist Carolyn Weathers
October 9
One Gallery, West Hollywood
In 1970, activist Carolyn Weathers led the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front in its “invasion” of the Biltmore hotel and interruption of the American Psychiatric Association’s convention, triggering the eventual declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness. Weathers discusses that historic moment and its connection to our current anti-LGBTQ climate.
The First Jew in Canada: A Trans Tale
October 19
One Gallery, West Hollywood
S. Bear Bergman narrates the incredible true story of Jacques LaFargue, an 18th century trans Frenchman who became the first Jewish person to set foot in Canada. Bergman interweaves parallel narratives from his own life into the solo storytelling performance, which challenges perceptions of transgender history and identity.
Queer (Porn) Histories from Rural California
October 24
Vidiots, Eagle Rock
Screened together here for the first time are four steamy documentaries from directors Ryan A. White and A.P Pickle, whose works have covered themes like forgotten cruising sites and homemade fetish flicks, and highlight pornography’s vital role in gay history.
An Intergenerational Dialogue with the LA Black Trans Community
October 25
Gleicher/Chen Health Center Annex, Baldwin Hills
Despite their contributions to social movements and cultural life, Black trans leaders have often been excluded from mainstream archives and narratives. Building on the success of Circa 2024’s Stories from the Los Angeles Black LGBT Community, this live dialogue focuses on trans and gender non-conforming identities and addresses critical gaps in historical representation, intergenerational understanding, and community cohesion.
Cooper Do-nuts: A Living Archive of Los Angeles After Dark
October 26
Zoom
Downtown’s Cooper Do-nuts was one of the few places queer and trans people could gather openly in mid-20th century LA. In 1959 its patrons pushed back against police harassment in one of the world’s earliest LGBTQ+ uprisings. This virtual presentation traces that history through the people who lived it and the family who ran Cooper Do-nuts.
For the full Circa schedule, go to 2026.circafestival.org/calendar.
Arts & Entertainment
A Night of legacy, love, and liberation: Inside the 2025 April Fool’s Ball
Ballroom culture continues to thrive among Black and Latin American queer culture
Late last month, the West Coast Ballroom Community lit up Los Angeles for one of the most anticipated events of the year — the April Fool’s Ball — produced by Legendary Father Markus Tisci. Now a staple of the L.A Ballroom calendar, the annual event is known not only for its high-caliber talent and unforgettable battles but for the legacy, love and chosen family it uplifts.
But let’s be clear: when we talk about “Ballroom,” we’re not talking about waltzing under chandeliers, we’re talking about the underground queer subculture birthed from the genius and resistance of Black and Latin American queer people — especially trans women and drag queens — in New York City.
Ballroom has since shaped and influenced mainstream culture, as seen in moments like Madonna’s “Vogue,” Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” and shows like “Pose” and “Legendary.” Today, that legacy continues to evolve and flourish far beyond New York, thriving in cities across the West Coast and beyond.
Markus Tisci has been a part of that movement for over 18 years and his roots trace back to the House of Rodeo — one of the West Coast’s most iconic original houses. In 2018, he founded the April Fool’s Ball with a simple but powerful goal: to bring laughter and creativity back into a space that was becoming, ‘a bit too serious.’ Conceived, produced and largely self-funded by Tisci, the ball is still known for its playful, pop culture — inspired categories that encourage imagination and joy.
Highlight the reel from the night of the House of Gorgeous Gucci.
This year’s April Fool’s Ball was filled with emotion, celebration, and remembrance. Just a few days earlier, the community laid Icon Devine to rest. The passing of the Queen of the West Coast Ballroom Scene and Legendary Mother of the West Coast Chapter of the House of Gorgeous Gucci left a deep void. For Ballroom Icon Jack Mizrahi, one of the night’s emcees and a foundational figure in Ballroom culture — as well as the father and founder of the House of Gorgeous Gucci — the event became a moment of both grief and healing.
“Seeing my house assembled, having each other to lean on, and the love we got from the whole West Coast Ballroom scene — it meant everything,” he shared.
In a powerful moment during the Legends, Statements and Stars (LSS) call — a time at the beginning of every ball when individuals are recognized and honored for their influence and impact — Mizrahi invited all trans women, whether they were walking or not — to step forward.
“Let the world know they deserve to be safe, protected, loved, and respected,” Mizrahi declared.
As the crowd cheered, those women (including the author) took their place with pride, their presence a radiant tribute to Icon Devine’s legacy and the enduring spirit of trans brilliance that Ballroom has always celebrated.
Fem Queen Parade at April Fools Ball 2025
The crowd erupted during the “Overall Face” final battle, where Jozea Flores — an up-and-coming Ballroom Legend in the House of Gorgeous Gucci — took home the grand prize of $1,000. In the “Face” category, contestants are judged on their natural beauty, expression, and how well they can ‘sell’ their face.
“When two stunning faces battle, you have to see who’s selling it more. That night, I sold it.” For Jozea, it’s about more than cash or trophies, though. “The energy from the crowd is my favorite part,” he shared. His message to the queer community: “Keep being true to yourself. Live boldly. Live loud.”
Royal Telfar Tisci, a fierce presence in “Gender Non-Conforming Runway,” also left their mark.
“It felt like old-school Ballroom energy,” they shared. “It was my first time walking at 5 a.m. — wild, but so worth it.” Royal walked with pride, earning their 10s and winning three battles.
“Runway is where we should shine. And that night, I did. But it raises the question — why aren’t GNC folks being included more consistently?”
As both a performer and advocate, Royal knows what’s at stake.
“There are forces trying to erase queer people, Ballroom, and especially the trans women who built it. We have to stay resilient, come together, and stay proud.”
Though Royal never lost to a competitor, the final battle and $3,000 grand prize was won by their chosen family member, Legendary Envy Tisci, the Bay Area Father of the House of Tisci.
“The night was long, but I enjoyed creating moments,” said Tisci. “I don’t get wrapped up in winning — I focus on the memories.”
Even as the night stretched into the early morning, the energy never faded. Destiny Ninja, Princess of the West Coast Chapter of the Iconic House of Ninja, delivered a voguing performance that closed the night with intention. She won “Women’s Performance” and after winning three battles, made it to the final battle in “Overall Performance.”
“I had so much to express and the runway was the perfect place to release it all,” she said.
The April Fool’s Ball continues to hold space for legacy and liberation. In the wake of Devine’s passing, the night became a reminder of the community’s strength.
“[Tisci] deals with applause, scrutiny and everything in between,” said Mizrahi. “And he still shows up. We need to stay united. Devine fought hard for visibility and respect. The West Coast needs to honor that — not with division, but with love.”
Tisci reflected on the night.
“Devine was a trailblazer—our Queen of the West Coast. Her impact still shapes the next generation. She’ll always be in our hearts. Tonight was about growth, legacy, and keeping the energy alive.”With the next major event — The Legacy Ball scheduled for June 1 — the community is already looking ahead. In a time of uncertainty and political hostility, the April Fool’s Ball re-affirmed what Ballroom has always been: not just a scene but a sanctuary. A home. A lifeline.
History
Los Angeles Blade celebrates 8 years!
SoCal’s LGBTQ+ news source celebrates 8 years of news catered to the LGBTQ+ community in print and online
March 24th marks the 8th anniversary of our newspaper. Even as the political attack on the queer community wages on, we continue the legacy that Los Angeles Blade founder Troy Master began. Our promise to the LGBTQ community is to continue to bring you the latest in political, social, entertainment, nightlife, and activist news, for and by the community. Our voice will stay steady and strong and remain the leading news source for and by the queer community.
In addition to bringing you the latest in news, we will continue to highlight leaders from the community from the social and political world. Our initiative to build bridges with the Latinx community continues through our close relationship with CALÓ NEWS with weekly reporting on issues that affect both groups. This year we will be kicking off Pride season with the return of our Best in LA Awards show, coming back bigger and better than ever.
Among our new initiatives this year, we are returning to the community with a series of free panels and discussions, covering important issues that are affecting the community, queer and beyond. We will be working with our power partners from the non-profit world, government offices, and social organizations to remain active and visible in an effective way.
We are also growing our local writing team to better reflect the diversity that exists around us.
We continue to be Los Angeles’ only LGBTQ bi-weekly newspaper and the City’s largest, most frequently distributed media in print and online. Our sister newspaper, The Washington Blade, is the nation’s longest-running LGBTQ newspaper founded in 1969. It is also the only LGBT media member of the White House Press Corps.
As the new publisher of the Los Angeles Blade, I will work hard to honor the brand of The Blade and the work that Troy, our previous journalists and editors, and our community partners did to make us who we are today. A very heartfelt thank you to our readers and advertisers who continue to support our efforts.
Despite what is going on socially and politically towards the queer community, we will continue to thrive.
Alexander Rodriguez, Publisher
Please consider supporting the continuing efforts of the Los Angeles Blade with your financial contribution. For just dollars a month, your support makes vital LGBTQ journalism possible at a time when clear, concise news is needed more than ever.
For advertising opportunities, please contact Alexander Rodriguez at [email protected]
Today marks our 8th anniversary as SoCal’s LGBTQ+ news source and we want to thank you all for the support through the years. The Blade was founded in 2017 by Troy Masters, two years after he moved to Los Angeles in search of community and a fresh start for the next stage in his journalism journey.
He founded the Los Angeles Blade, because he saw the overwhelming need for accurate and unbiased news reporting for the LGBTQ+ community during a time where many other mainstream news outlets were overlooking the stories that affected our communities, such as the AIDS crisis.
In our everyday work since then, we aim to cover the issues that not only affect us, but that also inform us and spotlight our amazing talents, skills and ability to unite. We always aim to be a beacon of light, education and information for our communities because under this current administration, Trump has seemingly vowed to take us back into the dark ages and erase any and all progress we have painstakingly made throughout time.
My goal as editor is to include voices that make up our community and continue building trust with those voices, so that our work can serve you and everyone else under the LGBTQ+ and QTBIPOC umbrellas.
It’s true, Democracy dies in darkness and as members of the media, we must double-down in our efforts to provide accurate, informative and relevant news to our communities now more than ever.
The Blade has seen leadership shifts within the last six months, including myself, and we hope that these changes encourage you to support us and see how we continue growing.
Please reach out to us to discuss how we can better serve you or our communities. Don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and donate to the Blade Foundation if possible.
Thank you all so much for your trust and support during these particularly difficult times.
Gisselle Palomera, Editor
Contact me at [email protected].
History
LGBTQ+ History Archive Gains Momentum: Personal Stories Project Partners with George Takei
Increased Awareness Through Social Media Reach
The LGBTQ+ History Archive Personal Stories Project is experiencing a surge in submissions. This decade-long effort documents LGBTQ+ history through personal narratives. Its success stems from a new partnership with actor George Takei and the .gay domain provider.
Charles Chan Massey co-founded and directs the Personal Stories Project. He credits the partnership’s success to Takei’s vast social media following. Takei, a vocal LGBTQ+ rights advocate, encouraged his 3.3 million X followers to share their stories.
Takei posted: “Each of us in the LGBTQIA+ community has a powerful coming-out story to tell. I want to hear yours. Head over to personalstories.gay today. Fill out the form to be featured on the Personal Stories website. I’ll be sharing some throughout the month to inspire others.”
Amplifying Community Voices
Logan Lynn is the creative director of .gay Domains. He emphasizes the partnership’s role in amplifying vital LGBTQ+ voices.
“Pride is about honoring and celebrating the depth of our communities,” Lynn said. “What better way to showcase this than through stories from people living LGBTQIA+ lives?”
Preserving Everyday Stories for Future Generations
Massey founded the LGBTQ+ archive project in 2012. His mission: preserve narratives of ordinary LGBTQ+ individuals, not just prominent figures.
“I wanted to archive our community’s history,” Massey explained. “Not just prominent members, but regular people who needed a platform. Regular people can identify with regular people. It’s important to see someone just like you.”
Massey maintains an online archive. This ensures accessibility of these oral histories for the LGBTQ+ community.
“As long as the internet exists, it can archive our stories,” Massey said. “We’re preserving stories for future generations. We’re also helping people find others with similar journeys.”
From Facebook Page to Registered Charity
The LGBTQ+ History Archive Personal Stories Project started as a simple Facebook page. It has evolved into a dedicated website and registered charity. It now supports LGBTQ+ organizations across the US and Canada.
Many participants share how LGBTQ+ organizations helped them. The Personal Stories Project encourages donations to these charities. Massey reports raising $15,000 to $25,000 annually for over 20 non-profits.
“95% of our budget goes to other 501(c)(3) organizations,” Massey said. “We support large and small community-based groups. A $200 donation can make a significant difference.”
A Diverse Collection of Experiences
The Personal Stories Project has a vast collection of LGBTQ+ stories. Massey is often struck by the depth of experiences shared.
“I met Peter, who was 85 at the time,” Massey shared. “He served in the Air Force, modeled in the 1940s, started an ad agency, and lived through the AIDS crisis. His story shows the power of these narratives.”
The project seeks submissions from all parts of the LGBTQ+ community. This includes people of various ethnicities and generations.
“People often think their story isn’t interesting,” Massey said. “But when they share, it’s captivating! Someone will identify with your story. Sharing is a powerful gift and a responsibility.”
Share Your Story
Do you have an LGBTQ+ story to share? Visit personalstories.gay to contribute to this important historical archive.
Image from Personalstories.gay website
History
The world-changing decision by psychiatrists that altered gay rights
December 15, 1973, was hailed by gay rights activist Frank Kameny as the day “we were cured en masse by the psychiatrists”
WASHINGTON – Fifty years ago this past Friday, on December 15, 1973, a decision by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) at its annual convention was hailed by gay rights activist Frank Kameny as the day “we were cured en masse by the psychiatrists.”
The board of trustees of the APA voted to remove homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders.
Washington Post writer Donald Beaulieu noted in an article published on the 50th anniversary that newspaper stories the next day mostly treated it as a technical change rather than a seismic shift that would transform the lives of gay people. But for gay rights activists Barbara Gittings, Kameny, Paul Kunstler, Jack Nichols, Elijah ‘Lige’ Clarke, Lilli Vincenz, and Kay Tobin Lahusen, it was groundbreaking.
Kameny and Nichols in 1961 had formed The Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., that the others were actively engaged in with the purpose of conducting gay rights protests at the White House, the United States Civil Service Commission, and the Pentagon. By the late 1960’s the group also focused on efforts to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness.
Kameny and Gittings were determined to get the APA to act. Nichols, Clarke, Gittings and Lahusen would create some of the earliest gay themed content, stories and columns in early gay national publications.
Nichols with his partner Clarke, wrote the column “The Homosexual Citizen” for Screw magazine, a pornographic ‘straight’ tabloid publication in 1968. Lahusen’s photographs of lesbians appeared on the cover of The Ladder as Gittings worked as its editor. The Ladder, published by the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), was the first national lesbian magazine.
In the August 1964 issue of The Ladder, Gittings’ editorial blasted a medical report that described homosexuality as a disease, writing that it treated lesbians like her more as “curious specimens” than as humans.
In 1971, some seven years later at the annual meeting of the APA, Gittings, Kameny and fellow gay activists stormed the meeting and Kameny seized the microphone, demanding to be heard. The Washington Post reported:
Kameny, who had lost his job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service in 1957 because he was gay, grabbed the microphone from a lecturer at the convention and addressed the room. “Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate,” he told the shocked audience. “Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you.”
For the APA’s annual meeting in 1972, Kameny and Gittings organized a panel on homosexuality. When no gay psychiatrist would serve on it openly for fear of losing his medical license and patients, Gittings recruited Dr. H. Anonymous (John E. Fryer, M.D.), who appeared masked and using a voice modulator.
Gittings, Kameny and Dr. Anonymous asserted that the disease was not homosexuality, but toxic homophobia. Consequently, the APA formed a committee to determine whether there was scientific evidence to support their conclusion.
The Post noted: “This is the greatest loss: Our honest humanity,” Fryer said. “Pull up your courage by your bootstraps and discover ways in which you and homosexual psychiatrists can be closely involved in movements which attempt to change the attitudes of heterosexuals — and homosexuals — toward homosexuality.” Fryer received a standing ovation. He would not reveal his identity until 1994, 22 years later.
“In 1973, with Gittings and Kameny present by invitation, the APA announced its removal of the classification. Kameny described it as the day “we were cured en masse by the psychiatrists.” At the time, the “cures” for homosexuality included electric shock therapy, institutionalization and lobotomy. With the APA’s retraction, the gay rights movement was no longer encumbered by the label and its consequences.”
A symposium to address the issue occurred at the APA convention in Honolulu in May 1973 the Post reported. Panel members would represent both sides of the argument. There were those who fought the reclassification including one speaker who advocated retaining the homosexuality diagnosis, Charles Socarides, who received mostly boos from the crowd. Socarides asserted during the discussion, “All of my gay patients are sick.” According to Lawrence Hartmann, a psychiatry professor at Harvard University who served as APA president in the early 1990s, another panelist replied, “All of my straight patients are sick.”
According the Post, the last to speak was Ronald Gold, media director for the Gay Activists Alliance and the only panelist who was not a psychiatrist. Gold, who as a child was subjected to aversion therapy by a psychoanalyst, told the packed ballroom, “Your profession of psychiatry — dedicated to making sick people well — is the cornerstone of oppression that makes people sick.” Gold’s speech got a standing ovation, just as Fryer’s had the year before.
The legacy of that December decision fifty years ago continued when in 1998, the APA announced that it opposed any psychiatric treatment, such as “reparative” or conversion therapy, which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or that a patient should change his/her homosexual orientation.
In 2005, the APA established The John Fryer Award, which honors an individual who has contributed to improving the mental health of sexual minorities. The award is named for Dr. John Fryer, a gay psychiatrist who played a crucial role in prompting APA to review the scientific data and to remove homosexuality from its diagnostic list of mental disorders in 1973.
Out gay psychiatrist Amir Ahuja, who serves as president of the Association of LGBTQ Psychiatrists, told the Blade at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the historic speech by then closeted Fryer, that the positive outcome from Fryer’s efforts has had a direct impact on his own career.
“I would say I think John Fryer opened the door for me to have a career and many of my colleagues who are LGBTQ+ psychiatrists in order to work in a field where we’re not stigmatized as having an illness,” Ahuja said. “Because we could have lost our job. That’s what happened to John Fryer multiple times,” according to Ahuja. “Before he gave that speech, he had lost two residencies at least. Because of his sexuality, people were discouraging him from continuing in the profession.”
“John Fryer’s courageous actions were a watershed moment for psychiatry, the APA, and the LGBTQ community,” said Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., CEO & Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association. “Every day we work to honor the legacy of Dr. Fryer and the activists who fought alongside him to achieve freedom, equality and acceptance for LGBTQ people in America.”
Additional reporting by Lou Chibbaro Jr.
History
Don’t ask – don’t tell, a Veterans’ Day reflection
On Sunday, Nov. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on MSNBC, and streaming on Peacock, ‘Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ will air
LOS ANGELES – On December 18, 2010, the U. S. Senate overturned the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy by a 65-31 vote, which President Barack Obama signed a few days later.
As LGBTQ veterans mark Veterans’ Day 2023 today, the Los Angeles Blade takes a look back at a series of policies that marginalized and persecuted the LGBTQ community’s military service, and the activists who successfully pushed the government to repeal them.
Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010
During World War II, the U.S. Armed Forces established a policy that discharged homosexuals regardless of their behavior. In 1981, the Defense Department prohibited gay and lesbian military members from serving in its ranks with a policy that stated, “Homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” In the decade following, 17,000 service members were discharged from their duties for being homosexual.
This spurred a new policy called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during the Clinton Administration. In November 1993, the Defense Authorization Act put “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into effect, allowing gay and lesbian citizens to serve in the military as long as they did not make their sexual orientation public. Commanders were prohibited from inquiring about a service member’s orientation provided that they adhered to this condition. Additionally, the policy forbid military personal from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual service members and applicants.
By 2008, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged from the military for publicizing their homosexuality. On December 18, 2010, the Senate overturned the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy by a 65-31 vote, which President Barack Obama signed a few days later. The repeal allows gay and lesbian military members to serve openly in the armed forces.
Left: (using walker) Dr. John Cook from Richmond VA and his assistant; SLDN Board Chair Tom Carpenter; Mattachine Society of Washington DC founder Frank Kameny; retired Marine Sgt. Tom Swann; unidentified tall guy: Pat Kutteles, mother of murdered infantry soldier Barry Winchell; politico David Mixner; and SLDN attorney Aaron Tax.
(Photo courtesy Tom Carpenter)
On the anniversary of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal in 2018, former SLDN Board Chair Tom Carpenter wrote a reflection for the Los Angeles Blade:
“Many in our community never understood why any LGBT citizen would ever want to become part of a military that proclaimed “Homosexuality is incompatible with military service,” often sending LGBT service members to prison because of who they loved. The hard-core anti-war/military crowd wanted no part in the fight to lift the ban on open service. Bowing to these objections, many large LGBT organizations paid nothing more than lip service to this effort.
As a candidate, Bill Clinton promised to lift the ban. Clinton had no idea the forces that opposed this change in policy. Those of us, who had served, knew better. The military and Senate leadership blocked him, including members of his own party. Instead of a policy, in 1993, we ended up with a federal law—“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (DADT). This law proved almost as bad for LGBT service members as the outright ban.
Shortly after the law went into effect, two young lawyers, former Army Captain Michelle Beneke and Dixon Osburn, established Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). They realized other LGBT organizations had neither the desire, nor expertise, to take on the task of providing legal assistance to those who would likely run afoul of the law. Their ultimate goal was to repeal the law in its entirety, allowing for open and honest service.
I joined the board of SLDN in 1994 and served as its co-chair for 7 years. It was clear to us that it would be another 10-20 years before Congress would be willing to take up this hot-button issue again. During the administrations of George W. Bush from 2000-2008, we felt as if we were in the wilderness. Thousands of service members were being discharged as the military asked, and some LGBT service members told. SLDN provided legal assistance to many and saved numerous careers.
Our arguments of how unfair the law was, and how much it was costing taxpayers to train replacements for highly skilled service members who were discharged, gained little traction. Sadly, it was the brutal murders of a sailor, Allan Schindler, and a soldier, Barry Winchell that finally focused attention on why this law was counterproductive to military readiness, unit morale and discipline. Both these young men were brutally beaten to death because one of their fellow service members merely thought they were gay.
These two tragedies captured the attention of the country. At SLDN, we recognized it was personal stories that would humanize this fight for equality. The mother of Schindler, as well as the parents of Winchell actively participated in SLDN’s lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. Their emotional appeal to members of Congress was powerful. But it was not enough.
Our strategy was to have veterans in the forefront of the lobbying and media effort. Especially effective were those who had been discharged, resigned their commissions, or did not reenlist because of their sexual orientation. The most compelling personal stories came from Arabic linguists, medics, pilots, and infantrymen who had been on the front lines in the Global War Against Terror. Many of these veterans appeared on television and had their stories reported by the press. Through these efforts, it was becoming ever more clear to the public, the law was not working. These veterans made the case by revealing the simple truth—the law was contrary to the core values of the services. It required them to live a lie.
It was not until Barack Obama was elected in 2008 that we started to see an end game. With a Democrat in the White House and a more friendly Congress, we continued our strategy of telling personal stories. By this time over 12,000 patriots had lost their careers. There was much foot dragging from the White House during the early part of President Obama’s first term. The memory of what had happened to President Clinton’s effort, sixteen years earlier, clearly impacted the willingness to spend political capitol on this issue.
By 2010, SLDN marshaled Congressional allies and helped draft a bill to repeal DADT. It was becoming clear SLDN”s media and lobbying efforts had changed public opinion. Most Americans now favored repeal of DADT. Further, the Pentagon was being threatened by a series of lawsuits that challenged the law. The turning point was when the Senate held hearings and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified he favored repeal. In contrast to 1993, the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed.
In the lame duck session of the 111th Congress, notorious for inaction, a true miracle occurred. In a stroke of legislative brilliance, led by Army veteran, Congressman Patrick Murphy, DADT was repealed. On Dec. 22, 2010, President Obama signed the repeal law.
With the repeal of DADT, the first leg of institutional bias had collapsed. As predicted, in 2015, after a tremendous effort by LGBT groups, the Supreme Court ruled all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, had a fundamental right to marry.
The only institution remaining in the way of equality is ministry. “Religious liberty” is now the rallying cry of the opponents of freedom for all Americans. While progress is being made, many battles still lie ahead. Never give up!”
(Photo by Karen Ocamb)
On Sunday, Nov. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on MSNBC, and streaming on Peacock, ‘Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ will air:
In 1970, Tom Carpenter graduated from the Naval Academy ready to follow his family’s lineage in the military as a US Marine Corps attack pilot. Then he met Courtland Hirschi. Tom and Court fell deeply in love, keeping their illicit relationship a secret. At that time, homosexuality – if discovered – resulted in being kicked out of the military with a dishonorable discharge, a court martial, jail time, or worse… Tom and Court’s story would be no exception. ‘Serving in Secret’ features leading voices in politics, historians, civil rights activists, and retired military personnel telling the story of LGBTQ discrimination in the military, and the controversial compromise known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Tom’s work towards its repeal along with many others was the Turning Point for LGBTQ+ rights, a fight that continues today.
‘Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ (Link)
History
Hate: The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church remembered
Sixty years after four little girls were killed in the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church, at 10:22 a.m., the church rang its bells
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It was a quiet Sunday morning in Birmingham—around 10:24 on September 15, 1963—when a bomb made from dynamite exploded in the back stairwell of the downtown Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Minutes before a white man was seen placing a box under the steps of the church.
The blast killed Addie Mae Collins, 14; Carole Robertson, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 14; and Denise McNair, 11 injuring 20 more and left the sister of Addie Mae Collins, 12-year-old Sarah Collins Rudolph, suffering from not only the loss of her sister, but her eyesight as well.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation notes in the agency’s history of the event that the bombing was a clear act of racial hatred: the church was a key civil rights meeting place and had been a frequent target of bomb threats.
(Photo Credit: Photographic collections of the Library of Congress)
Addressing the American people on Monday, September 16, 1963, President John F. Kennedy said:
“I know I speak on behalf of all Americans in expressing a deep sense of outrage and grief over the killing of the children yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama. It is regrettable that public disparagement of law and order has encouraged violence which has fallen on the innocent. If these cruel and tragic events can only awaken that city and State–if they can only awaken this entire Nation–to a realization of the folly of racial injustice and hatred and violence, then it is not too late for all concerned to unite in steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost.
The Negro leaders of Birmingham who are counseling restraint instead of violence are bravely serving their ideals in their most difficult task–for the principles of peaceful self-control are least appealing when most needed.
Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall has returned to Birmingham to be of assistance to community leaders and law enforcement officials–and bomb specialists of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are there to lend every assistance in the detection of those responsible for yesterday’s crime. This Nation is committed to a course of domestic justice and tranquility–and I call upon every citizen, white and Negro, North and South, to put passions and prejudices aside and to join in this effort.”
The FBI’s account of the aftermath and investigation
At 10:00 p.m. that night, Assistant Director Al Rosen assured Assistant Attorney General Katzenbach that “the Bureau considered this a most heinous offense…[and]…we had entered the investigation with no holds barred.”
And we backed that promise up. Dozens of FBI agents worked the case throughout September and October and into the new year—as many as 36 at one point. One internal memo noted that:
“…we have practically torn Birmingham apart and have interviewed thousands of persons. We have seriously disrupted Klan activities by our pressure and interviews so that these organizations have lost members and support. …We have made extensive use of the polygraph, surveillances, microphone surveillances and technical surveillances…”
By 1965, we had serious suspects—namely, Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr., all KKK members—but witnesses were reluctant to talk and physical evidence was lacking. Also, at that time, information from our surveillances was not admissible in court. As a result, no federal charges were filed in the ‘60s.
It has been claimed that Director Hoover held back evidence from prosecutors in the ‘60s or even tried to block prosecution. But it’s simply not true. His concern was to prevent leaks, not to stifle justice. In one memo concerning a Justice Department prosecutor seeking information, he wrote, “Haven’t these reports already been furnished to the Dept.?” In 1966, Hoover overruled his staff and made transcripts of wiretaps available to Justice. And he couldn’t have blocked the prosecution and didn’t—he simply didn’t think the evidence was there to convict.
For its part, the FBI noted that in the end, justice was served.
Chambliss received life in prison in 1977 following a case led by Alabama Attorney General Robert Baxley. And eventually the fear, prejudice, and reticence that kept witnesses from coming forward began to subside. We re-opened our case in the mid-1990s, and Blanton and Cherry were indicted in May 2000. Both were convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison. The fourth man, Herman Frank Cash, had died in 1994.
Marking the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, 60 years later
Birmingham NBC News affiliate WVTM-TV 13 reported that the 16th Street Baptist Church rang its bells in honor of bombing victims 60 years later at 10:22 a.m. and read the victims’ names out loud in remembrance.
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the keynote speaker Friday during the commemoration service at 16th Street Baptist Church 60 years after the bombing that killed four girls.
In her remarks, Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, standing at the pulpit in the historic church told those gathered for the commemoration services,
“Today we remember the toll that was paid to secure the blessings of liberty for African Americans and we grieve those four children who were senselessly taken from this earth and their families robbed of their potential,” Jackson said.
”The work of our time is maintaining that hard-won freedom and to that we are going to need the truth, the whole truth about our past,” the Justice said noting that while the American nation should celebrate the advancements that have been made since 1963, there is still work to do.
Jackson said she knows that atrocities “like the one we are memorializing today are difficult to remember and relive” but said it is also “dangerous to forget them.”
“If we are going to continue to move forward as a nation, we cannot allow concerns about discomfort to displace knowledge, truth or history. It is certainly the case that parts of this country’s story can be hard to think about,” she said adding, “Yes, our past is filled with too much violence, too much hatred, too much prejudice, but can we really say that we are not confronting those same evils now? We have to own even the darkest parts of our past, understand them and vow never to repeat them.”
Related:
Birmingham church bombing survivor speaks out 60 years later:
History
‘Fagots Stay Out:’ Protest at Barney’s Beanery 53 years ago today
Rocco interviews Morris Kight, founder of the California chapter of the Gay Liberation Front and a young Rev. Troy Perry
By Paulo Murillo | WEST HOLLYWOOD – The Academy Awards Museum recently featured three short films by trailblazing Los Angeles-based filmmaker and gay rights advocate Pat Rocco (1934–2018) last week, courtesy of Outfest UCLA Legacy Project at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Films featured were “Sign of Protest” (1970), “Meat Market Arrest” (1970), and “We Were There” (1976).
The short film “Sign of Protest” documents a February 7, 1970, gay liberation march outside Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood, protesting a famous sign that read “Fagots [sic]–stay out” which hung proudly over the bar.
Rocco plays the role of neutral reporter on the scene in this activist interpretation of a newsfilm, interviewing the bar’s owners and patrons, as well as the protestors, and allowing their comments to speak for themselves.
Rocco is shown speaking with the daughter of the bar’s owner, who states nonchalantly that the sign has been up since 1959 and was originally accompanied by many more (since removed). She further states that the sign is part of the restaurant’s history and will not come down unless Barney’s is legally mandated to remove it.
Rocco then goes over to the sign posted above the bar and interviews customers about their opinion of it, which is largely positive.
Next, Rocco joins the 50 protesters outside and interviews Morris Kight, founder of the California chapter of the Gay Liberation Front, the organization that spearheaded the picket and a young Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church, who reiterates many of the comments heard from other protesters that the sign is offensive and should be taken down as a civil rights violation.
He also mentions a June 26, 1964, LIFE Magazine article about Barney’s Beanery and the controversial sign where the owner says homosexuals should be shot.
For those who missed on the big screen or wish to revisit it, the short film is available on YouTube, however, view at your discretion due to language some may find offensive.
Trailblazing Los Angeles-based filmmaker and gay rights advocate Pat Rocco (1934–2018) began his moviemaking efforts as a creator of queer male erotica in the late 1960s. When the public’s appetite shifted to hardcore, Rocco pivoted to documenting moments of LGBTQ protest and collective joy in his adopted city, often appearing on camera as an always gracious (and meticulously coiffed) interviewer of his many subjects.
Whether out in the streets capturing a demonstration of Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood against their defamatory anti-gay signage (Signs of Protest), on the scene of an escalating situation with law enforcement at a gay bar (Meat Market Arrest), or capturing LA’s energetic early Pride parades (We Were There), Rocco’s films always culminate in moments of hope and a spirit of liberation that feel akin to Varda’s own joyful yet always inquisitive Weltanschauung.
**************************************************************************************
Paulo Murillo is Editor in Chief and Publisher of WEHO TIMES. He brings over 20 years of experience as a columnist, reporter, and photo journalist.
******************************
The preceding article was previously published by WeHo Times and is republished with permission.
History
Marking slavery’s end, a historic event now marks a Federal holiday
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free”
GALVESTON, Tx. – In the early summer of 1865, on a clear crisp June morning, the lead elements of the Federal Army of blue-coated soldiers of the 13th Army Corps occupied the island city of Galveston, Texas on Monday the 19th.
Led by Union Army Major General Gordon Granger, who had recently taken command of the Department of Texas, the 13th Corps was tasked with enforcement of the emancipation of slaves in the former Confederate state.
The bloody civil war had ended officially with the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Robert E. Lee to Commander of Union forces, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on April 9, 1865.
The warfare between the last elements of the Confederate and Union troops however, dragged on for another month or so culminating in the Battle of Palmito Ranch, which was fought on May 12 and 13, 1865. The fighting occurred on the banks of the Rio Grande east of Brownsville, Texas on the Texas-Mexico border some 400 miles Southwest of Galveston.
It took approximately another two weeks for Confederate Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner to surrender his command of the Trans-Mississippi Department (which included Texas) to Union Major General Peter J. Osterhaus on May 26, 1865.
General Granger was then tasked with implementing the order to free enslaved African Americans.
Once Granger’s Federals had taken control of the port city, he and his command staff headed to Union Army Headquarters located at the Osterman Building, once located Strand Street and 22nd Street.
It was there that General Order No. 3 was first publicly read out loud to a gathering of now newly freed Black Americans and other citizens of the city.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
Sadly it would take nearly two years before all of the enslaved African Americans would actually be freed in Texas by white plantation owners and others who simply didn’t tell them or defied Federal authorities.
In 2014, the Texas Historical Commission placed a subject marker at the corner of 22nd and Strand, near the location of the Osterman Building, where General Granger and his men first read General Orders, No. 3.
While many Black Americans across the former Confederate States would celebrate their freedom granted by The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Sep. 22, 1862 during the height of the war, in annual celebrations still others yet would annually mark the date of passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by Congress on January 31, 1865, which abolished slavery in the United States.
Yet on Galveston Island, the tradition of marking their first learning of The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln with General Granger’s General Orders, No. 3, was the benchmark for ongoing annual celebrations and as the years went by as the Black Americans from the Lone Star state migrated ever Northward, it would be that seminal moment that ultimately would lead to the creation of a federal holiday and recognition some 156 years later.
One observer also wryly pointed out that the June anniversary was seasonally tied to better weather than the other two dates and more conducive to celebrations and large gatherings, hence its popularity in being established as the federal holiday.
Information and photographs provided by the National Archives, the City Of Galveston, Galveston Historical Foundation, the Library of Congress, and State of Texas, Texas Historical Commission.
Annual National Trans Visibility March takes place in Puerto Rico
A quick visitor’s guide to Palm Springs before the winter
New ‘Carrie’ attempts to reinvent a classic for new generation
Fortune Feimster has always taken representation through comedy seriously
Meet the voice of Palm Springs: an interview with KGAY 103.1’s John Taylor
Trans woman says Kyle Brazeal used anti-trans slur, threw purse at her in 2024
Making waves in the desert: How Brad Fuhr and KGAY keep the Coachella Valley connected
Victory Institute to honor Nancy Pelosi at D.C. conference
Lu Corporan on designing the darkroom
Here’s your Palm Springs look at the weekend: Oct 16-18, 2026
-
California3 days agoTrans woman says Kyle Brazeal used anti-trans slur, threw purse at her in 2024
-
Palm Springs1 day agoMaking waves in the desert: How Brad Fuhr and KGAY keep the Coachella Valley connected
-
Politics4 days agoVictory Institute to honor Nancy Pelosi at D.C. conference
-
Features4 days agoLu Corporan on designing the darkroom
-
Palm Springs3 days agoHere’s your Palm Springs look at the weekend: Oct 16-18, 2026
-
a&e features3 days agoHow Orville Peck healed his inner child through ‘Street Fighter (2026)’
-
Commentary2 days agoKey Midterm Election races as SoCal joins No Kings ‘Vote Early’ rallies on Saturday
-
Movies1 day agoFrom ‘La Bola Negra’ to ‘Coward,’ here are this award season’s must-watch queer films
-
Dance2 days ago‘Male Aesthetic’ challenges conventional tropes of masculinity through dance at Nickerson-Rossi Dance Company
-
Palm Springs6 hours agoMeet the voice of Palm Springs: an interview with KGAY 103.1’s John Taylor