New National Park Service Theme Study to Interpret, Commemorate Sites Related to LGBT History

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a new theme study, as part of the National Park Service Heritage Initiative that will identify places and events associated with the story of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans for inclusion in the parks and programs of the agency.

The theme study is part of a broader initiative under the Obama Administration to ensure that the National Park Service reflects and tells a more complete story of the people and events responsible for building this nation. The National Park Service has ongoing heritage initiatives to commemorate minorities and women who have made significant contributions to our nation’s history and culture, including studies related to the history of Latinos, women, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Secretary Jewell made the announcement outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City, the site of a riot in 1969 that is widely recognized as a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement in the LGBT community. It is currently the only LGBT-associated site that has been designated a national historic landmark by the National Park Service as a property having extraordinary significance in American history.

“We know that there are other sites, like Stonewall Inn, that have played important roles in our nation’s ongoing struggle for civil rights,” said Jewell. “The contributions of women, minorities and members of the LGBT community have been historically underrepresented in the National Park Service, and the LGBT theme study will help ensure that we understand, commemorate and share these key chapters in our nation’s complex and diverse history.”

Director David France talks How To Survive A Plague

By Drew Wilson

How to Survive A Plague, a documentary from journalist/filmmaker David France, tells the story of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) - whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.

With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

Dedicated to France's lover, Colorado native Doug Gould, who died of AIDS complications in 1992, the film has been getting rave reviews and premieres in Denver on Sunday, October 21.

Drew Wilson: David, How to Survive A Plague has been getting rave reviews. How does that feel and what have been some of your favorite responses to the movie?

David Francis: I am mostly surprised but also heartened by the way that younger audiences are responding to it. It’s such an historic story. It’s from my gay youth but people see an inspiration in it for the whole community, I think. The feedback I get from people is this kind of new or renewed sense of community and that’s really rewarding.

As a journalist, you’ve been covering HIV/AIDS and the gay community since the early days. What was that like?

I began covering it for Gay Community News which, at the time, was a well-respected weekly out of Boston and really the only paper doing true gay journalism at the time. The Advocate existed but they weren’t really doing reporting. Then New York Native came out and became the go-to paper for anyone interested in AIDS, the scientific community, the infected and affected communities. 

HIV and AIDS was so scary and coverage was so controversial back then. Did you encounter a lot of resistance to your reporting?

I was reporting in the gay presses so there was no resistance, only hunger for the information people needed to survive. By 1983 or 1984, half of the gay male population in New Yorkwas HIV positive. We were in constant crisis mode and we really couldn’t produce enough news to satisfy the need for information. I started covering the crisis in 1981 or 1982 and it wasn’t until 1987 that the first pill came out. What people were looking for was just some hope, something to hold onto that they could get through this. We were reporting on underground drug experiments and underground pharmacies across the country where people would go to get drugs illegally. If people died during the drug trials their friend and lovers would bring whatever drugs they had left to these underground pharmacists so there was a real network of stuff that was happening - none of which produced any good results, but without it the prognosis was certain death.

And that feeling of having nothing to lose was a big part of the reason why ACT UP came bursting out of the “underground.”

Yes, they came from the underground with the realization that the underground wasn’t going to save them. They had to go above ground. They had to go to Big Pharma and the FDA and convince them and direct them into the proper way to fight this epidemic. And that’s the trajectory of the characters in the film as they ultimately invade the halls of science and force themselves into partnerships with doctors and scientists. They weren’t being welcomed, they had to knock the doors down.

And in addition to resistance from “above ground” establishments, ACT UP faced a lot of resistance and condemnation even from segments of the GLBT community.

It was so controversial, what they were doing. They were breaking laws, they were engaging in civil disobedience. They were shouting down politicians and disturbing the peace and many GLBT organizations opposed them officially. But their strength was that they had thousands of people worldwide who became part of the ACT UP movement and the could show up at any place and any time with thousands of people arguing a single point and that showed that they had grassroots support and that gave them the strength to pursue their points.

Looking back, what would you say is the legacy of ACT UP and AIDS activism?

AIDS activism changed everything. In declaring their rights to healthcare they first had to declare their rights to civil rights and that gave us the acceptance we see today for gays and lesbians. When the epidemic opened in 1981 we didn’t have any of that stuff. Nobody was talking gay marriage. There was nobody who even saw that as a possibility back then. Out of the ashes of this terrible plague came the modern gay rights movement and that’s pretty phenomenal.

Do you think ‘How to Survive A Plague’ will bring a renewed sense of urgency to the fight against HIV/AIDS?

Man, I hope so. Have you looked at the statistics of what’s going on out there? HIV rates of men who have sex with men are skyrocketing. It’s crazy, 58 percent of all new infections are young gay and bisexual men and those men only make up one percent of the population. It’s a growing epidemic in the community and people don’t talk about it. Young men are so disconnected from the idea of HIV that they don’t know if they are positive or negative.

As a community we need to embrace the idea of responsibility to one another and love for one another and oneself. That message, if we can get people to see it, is an infectious message. We need to be reminded that we are part of a community and that we have a burden and responsibility and opportunity and that, I think, is the message of the film.

What message do you have for readers of MileHighGayGuy and Denver’s gay community?

Everybody needs to know the inspirational quality of our history. The empowerment that we inherit from generation to generation, the shoulders that we stand on, and that we come from a line of heroes. This is a story about the heroes that made it possible for us to be alive today. This is our story.

Boulder's gay history

Boulder’s 150-year history holds stories of many groups, some well known and some relatively hidden from view. CU's GLBT Alumni group will make the hidden more visible when they discuss gay history in Boulder County at a colloquium on September 26 on the CU-Boulder campus followed by a reception at the Koenig Alumni Center.

Tim Fuller--a closeted gay city councilman who was recalled in 1974 in an angry election reacting to the council’s granting protections for gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens--will keynote the event. The Saturday afternoon colloquium will feature Fuller and a panel of close observers of the history of gayness in Boulder County that includes the city, the University, the school district and state.

The colloquium and reception are sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender chapter of the CU-Boulder Alumni Association with the support of a grant from The Open Door Fund and assistance from IBM Boulder and the CU-Boulder Office of Counseling and Psychological Services.

19 years of gay history on video

Andy Humm of the Gay City News reports that New York University's Fales Library has acquired over 19 years worth of gay-related video footage from the Gay Cable Network for their archives.

What a treasure trove that must be.

Follow this link to a Gay Cable Network Archive promotional spot on YouTube to find out more about the GCN.

And Colorado's got our own treasure trove of gay history in the form of thousands of hours of footage from the old Lambda Report - later Colorado Out Spoken - which was, at one time, the longest running gay public access show in the country.

Last I heard Colorado Out Spoken was still on hiatus but hopefully they'll make it to the airwaves again sometime soon.

The history of gay marriage

AGUYNAMEDWAYNE over at World of Wonder has dug up some interesting information about the history of gay marriage.

Oldest gay bookstore closing down

Are we losing our desire to read, to support gay businesses, or both? The oldest gay and lesbian book store in the country, the Oscar Wilde Bookstore in New York, is closing its doors. Here in Colorado, we lost Relatively Wilde (formerly Category Six), the Book Garden, and, finally, Word is Out in Boulder--all within a matter of a couple of years. Times are tough, folks, and sometimes independent stores have to charge a little more than, say, amazon.com, but what happens to our community when our culture disappears? - via Washington Blade

From Stonewall to Prop. 8

This month in GLBT history

Dec. 1, 1988: the World Health Organization sponsors the first World AIDS Day.

Dec. 9, 2004: Canada's Supreme Court says that the government can legally extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Dec. 15, 1973: the governing board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to recommend that homosexuality no longer be classified as a mental illness. Four months later, the association's full membership approves the recommendation by a vote of 58 percent to 42 percent.


Dec. 18, 1984: the New York Film Critics' Award for best documentary of 1984 goes to The Times of Harvey Milk.
From the Crawford Barton Collection (1993-11)

Dec. 28, 1986: conservative activist Terry Dolan dies of AIDS at age 38 in Washington, D.C.

Dec. 31, 1990: the Centers for Disease Control reports that the death toll from AIDS has just topped the 100,000 mark.

Gay History Month: Colorado Climax wins gold

October is Gay History Month and Colorado's got lots of it (gay history that is).

Why, it seems like only yesterday that members of the then newly formed Colorado Climax hockey team won the gold medal at the 2000 Friendship Tournament in Toronto.

But it wasn't - it was in 2000.

Here are some pics of the Colorado Climax in action over the years:





And here are members of the 2002 Colorado Climax making their entrance at Aussie Stadium at the 2002 Gay Games:

This month in gay history

Sept. 1, 1975: Time magazine features gay Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich on its cover under the headline, "I AM A HOMOSEXUAL."

Sept. 5, 1982: the closing ceremony is held for the first Gay Games, which took place at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and opened on Aug. 28.

Sept. 6, 2005: the California State Assembly, the lower house of the state legislature, approves landmark legislation allowing same-sex marriage. On Sept. 7, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announces his intention to veto the bill.

Sept. 9, 1980: the Leonard Matlovich case comes to a close when a federal judge orders the Air Force to reinstate him with full back pay. To avoid having him reenlist, the Air Force offers Matlovich a $160,000 settlement, which Matlovich accepts, after having fought the case for more than five years.

Sept. 17, 1979: the nation's first openly gay judge, Stephen M. Lachs, takes the bench in Los Angeles Superior Court after being appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown.

Sept. 18, 1977: The Naked Civil Servant, the autobiography of English gay author Quentin Crisp, goes on sale in the United States, nine years after appearing in bookstores in Great Britain.

Sept. 20, 1980: The Saint, a legendary New York disco, opens and almost immediately has 3,000 members--each of whom paid $250 to join--and a long waiting list.

* via GLBTHistory.org

This month in gay history

August 2, 1981: PFLAG is founded in Los Angeles by Adele Starr. Today PFLAG has 200,000 members in 500 affiliates nationwide.

August 2, 2005: the California Supreme Court rules that businesses must treat the state's domestic partnerships in the same way they treat ordinary marriages.

August 3, 1982: Michael Hardwick is arrested in his Atlanta home while having sex with another man. The arrest led to Bowers v. Hardwick, the 1986 Supreme Court decision which held that private, consensual sex between gay men was not protected by the Constitution. This decision was reversed in 2003, when the court ruled, in Lawrence v. Texas, that adults had a fundamental right to engage in private, consensual gay sex.

August 8, 1973: the American Bar Association calls for the repeal of state laws barring homosexual acts between consenting adults.

August 12, 2004: the California Supreme Court rules that the 3,995 same-sex marriages that took place in San Francisco earlier that year are illegal and void.

August 15, 1981: The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo's groundbreaking book about gays in film, appears in bookstores.

August 22, 1966: The first national convention of gay and lesbian groups gathers in San Francisco. Originally called the National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations, it later became the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations.

August 22, 2005: the California Supreme Court rules that gays and lesbians who are non-biological parents of their children have the same legal rights as heterosexuals who are non-biological parents.

August 28, 1981: The Centers for Disease Control announces that cases of Kaposi's sarcoma are inexplicably increasing across the United States, and more than 90 percent of the cases affect gay men.

August 28, 1982: The first Gay Olympics (changed later to Gay Games, after a lawsuit) opens in San Francisco.

* Information courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society