Storme DeLarverie RIP

One of the pioneers of equality who helped us all achieve the rights we have today died on Saturday morning. Storme DeLarverie lived to be 93 years old and was 49 years old during the Stonewall Riots in 1969, an event that sparked what we now know as The Gay Liberation Movement.

When the police raided the bar her scuffle with them spurred patrons to fight back.

DeLarverie, dubbed by some ‘the gay community’s Rosa Parks,’ was born to a black mother and a white father in 1920 in New Orleans and in the 1950’s and 60’s was a drag king in a traveling drag show called the Jewel Box Revue.

In her later years she worked as a bouncer in bars well into her 70s.

You can read more here. For photo attribution click the photos.

Russian Olympics: John Fennell

An Olympic luger, John Fennell, came out to his teammates during the Russian Olympics in February, and recently came out in public during an interview with the Calgary Herald. It’s actually a two fold interview because he talks about his fears during the Russian Olympics and his fears about coming out in a sports oriented macho world.

 ‘The thing that scared me the most is our Canadian Olympic Committee debriefing that said any information in Russia is subject to being seen by the government,’ Fennell said.

 ‘I didn’t travel with my phone or my computer when we went there, which was a testament to how nervous I was going in.

 ‘I was a basket case going to Russia.’

The piece also goes on to mention how Fennell struggled with coming out prior to the Olympics, and how he dated girls to cover his tracks.

There’s more here.

HBO Gay Drama “Open City” Follows Normal Heart

The Normal Heart was so successful that HBO is now developing a new drama series that is set in the 1960’s. It will be directed and produced by Adam Shankman best known for directing the film version of Hairspray and as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. I’ve never seen either, so I’m totally unfamiliar with him.

Open City is set also set in New York but in the late 1960s, nearly 20 years before The Normal Heart which is about the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Open will tell tell the story of characters from various corners of Manhattan who are navigating a cultural revolution at a time of great political turmoil.

It should be interesting to see how they do this. I still have a lot of good friends who are/were gay and around during the 1960’s and I love listening to their stories…even when they repeat them a little too often (smile).

Frankly, I would have preferred another Queer as Folk series, but it’s too soon to tell about this one. The retro/historical angle could be interesting. And none of the characters have to deal with condoms or safe sex.

You can read more about this here.