Protesting and marching
& outed by The Pittsburgh Press
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1988: On the first page of the Metro News section of The Pittsburgh Press, I can be seen protesting with fellow members of GALA, Carnegie-Mellon's Gay & Lesbian Alliance (is now fortunately called LGBTQIA+ social and support group), after police raided a gay after-hours club. (I am the one right in the middle.) This march was organised by Dave Stewart and Mike Franzini of "Cry Out!" Our favourite slogans were "Two, four, six, eight; all the Steelers aren't so straight" and "Two, four, six, eight; how do you know your town is straight?"
I was passive in my activism. I would participate if others asked me to do things like walk along in a demonstration, hand out flyers, or put up posters. But I wouldn't take initiative myself. The main reason was that I was somewhat nervous and needed to be "pushed." After all, it still meant confronting the straight world or what Mark Gevisser calls crossing the Pink Line. And I was a bit of a chicken. If there was no permit for a demonstration, then I was continuously checking for police presence and a possible quick exit route. Looking back I am ashamed I didn't have more courage and didn't do more for gay rights and AIDS and was so focused on work and circuit parties. Least I can do now is to honour the AIDS and gay-rights activist heros, such as René van Krimpen, Hans-Paul Verhoef, Bobbi Campbell and of course those in ACT UP: David Barr, Gregg Bordowitz, Michael Callen, Spencer Cox, David Feinberg, Garance Franke-Ruta Robert Garcia, Keith Haring, Mark Harrington, Larry Kramer, Derek Link, Connie Norman, Ann Northrop, Sarah Schulman, Peter Staley (former LSE student), Maxine Wolfe, John Weir, and many others. On this page, I describe and provide links (also in the icons) to what moved me deeply, affected me massively, either positively or negatively, and/or impressed me immensely. Regarding the latter, one of the best has to be the action to put a condom on the house of senator Jesse Helms which was pulled off by Peter Staley and his fellow Treatment Activist Guerrillas. I want to stress that this page reflects my own personal experience and is obviously incomplete and biased. To get a more comprehensive overview of the many different types of people involved in AIDS activism, I would recommend to watch the superb documentary "United in Anger" . |
| 1992: My first Gay Pride, marching with University of Minnesota students who I had met while visiting the Minneapolis Fed over the summer. What a joy! And so much nicer than a protest march although demonstrating was and remains part of every gay pride. In those days, only queer people would go to Gay Pride marches, either to march or to watch. But we would get local media attention. |
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| The Netherlands had its first on June 25th 1977 (as a protest against Anita Bryant); it started in Amsterdam, but was then held in a different city each year. Amsterdam's annual pride only got started in 1996! Pittsburgh had its first Pride March in 1973 but they were discontinued when I was living there. But I do remember going to a Pride type event in a local park. What I (sort of) remember is something low key, perhaps a couple hundred attending. And no speeches or performers of any type. But my recollection is very fuzzy. Interestingly, I do know who I went there with and who I met. Fortunately, Gay Pride was a big enjoyable event in San Diego and Mama's Kitchen was always getting a lot of applause. | |
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| 1993: March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation with 800,000-1million participants. One of the best weekends of my life. Proudly facing the always present religious bigots with my friend Ray. NY Times coverage |
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1994: San Diego Pride. You can see a cool video at
Youtube of the 1990 Pride (one year before I arrived in San Diego). The video shows how I remember San Diego Pride. You can also (briefly) see the massive rainbow flag with which Mama's Kitchen collected donations. Applause for Mama's Kitchen was always massive. More on my volunteer work for Mama's Kitchen at How AIDS affected me.
Watching and showing off 
and after the march hanging out in Baboa Park. 
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