Last year during the 50th Anniversary Gala and “State Dinner’ of the International Imperial Courts of the United States, Canada and Mexico held in Portland, Ore., gay rights advocate and Academy Award winner (best screenwriter for the movie Milk) Dustin Lance Black announced that his ABC TV eight-hour miniseries When We Rise about the LGBT Civil Rights movement in America would air in 2017.
Lance proudly announced that the beginning of the series would feature LGBT icon Jose Julio Sarria, the Latino-American World War II veteran and the first openly gay candidate for public office in 1961, and yes the founder of the International Imperial Court System, which now has chapters in over 68 cities in North America.
Last week, Dustin Lance Black gave me a call and we discussed the TV portrayal of “Empress Jose I” and then I had further discussions with the TV miniseries casting director and costume designer. I arranged the shipping of the crown which Jose wore and then crowned me as “Queen Mother I of the Americas” from the National LGBT Museum in New York to Vancouver, B.C. Canada where the TV miniseries is being filmed. Also, some “jewels” and other artifacts from Jose were sent from my collection, and the collections of Empress Sissy of San Francisco and Emperor Terry Sidie. The ABC LGBT civil rights miniseries is truly a labor of love from Dustin Lance Black and a long overdue historical spotlight on our LGBT civil rights movement.
Bill Beck: A true gay hero
When the history of the LGBT community of San Diego is written, it will certainly tell the story of Dr. William “Bill” Beck, who died last week. For over 30 years our community, and indeed our city could count on Bill for the leadership when it came to the issues of civil rights, charities and the fight against HIV/AIDS. Bill Beck was “the” man behind the election of San Diego’s first LGBT public official, Christine Kehoe, our city’s own “Harvey Milk.” Bill also played a major role in the political careers of Toni Atkins and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. Bill became a major political force to be reckoned with, not only in San Diego, but in the state. The National Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund stated: “Bill Beck was a giant in LGBT politics. He helped guide his community and the nation to a more equal future.” His passion was also in raising funds for countless charities and causes, especially during the early years of AIDS in the 1980s.
Our hearts go out to his husband, and activist in his own right, David Huskey who was with Bill for almost 40 years. Bill Beck is an inductee in the LGBT Community Hall of Honor at our Center. When I founded this wall it was so that our community would never forget upon whose shoulders we stand. No one had stronger or more prideful shoulders of leadership and love for his community than Bill Beck. Rest in peace in God’s hands my friend.
A Celebration of Life will be held Friday, April 15 at 2 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Hillcrest.
Heroes of AIDS crisis to be honored March 19
Every gay man should pack the San Diego Women’s Club (2557 Third Ave.) Saturday, March 19, at 12 p.m. when our community and city will honor about a half dozen women who were indeed heroines of our AIDS crisis. It is a long overdue recognition and acknowledgment of the most important and major role women played during the AIDS crisis, both by our lesbian sisters and heterosexual women. The event of the Lambda Archives, their annual “Heroines, Pioneers and Trailblazers” awards gala will also feature guest speaker Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the former surgeon general of the United States.
It is my sincere honor to join Katherine Stuart Faulconer, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and civil leader Jennifer LeSar as “honorary chairs” of this wonderful event. For more information: http://www.lambdaarchives.us/
Well that’s just great. What we need to rise above the crowd is an LGBT miniseries that reflects upon drag queens and their “importance” in civil rights. I don’t think so. If anything, it’s an embarrassment.
Actually, I think you are wrong. Dead wrong. That is exactly the type of stories we need to tell, loudly and celebrate who we are – in all our diversity, and differences ….
In the last decade or so, there has been an alarming move toward censoring any stories, that is not reflective of a mainstreaming, heteronormative, cisgender, athletic, moneyed, hyper masculine or hyper feminine version of “leave it to beaver..” – while that may reflect some of who we are…it does not and will not represent ALL of who we are.
Nor, in all honesty, did any of those have the guts to stand tall and proud and OUT with who they were, how they loved and how they wanted to love in the 1960’s or 1970’s or even into the 1980’s …..those paths were forged by our butch dykes, and drag queens and drag kings, and femme boys and buff girlz and trans sisters and brothers!
So, Yes. The are the Exactly the stories you need to be told, so that you can learn about, and maybe offer some gratitude toward those men and women who paid with their blood, for your right to sit back and judge them. To express your discomfort, at their stories being told, as some of them that are cornerstone to our amazing, strong, vibrant and diverse LGBTTQ*IA community.