May - July 1999: Ka-boom!

Well, as you near Gay Pride, things get very busy, and between my workplace disintegrating on a weekly basis, and the demands of LGNY increasing, I found my diaries had to be put on hold. Also, my laptop sort of exploded, and that forces me to spend a lot more time in the office. Ewww.

And my computer screen blew up, making updates a bit more difficult. Here's an overview of what's happened.

May 1999

Well, in the news, Police Officer Justin Volpe actually admitted to sexually assaulting the Haitian immigrant Abner Louima with a broom handle, but won't squeal on his compatriots in the assault. Yet the Mayor acts like there is no "blue wall of silence." He's in complete denial. Way to go, Rudy.

In mid-May my penpal from Yorkshire arrived and we spent a day up at the Cloisters, and later on, an evening in Chinatown. He put me in touch with a penpal in Poland who lives in Katowice, Poland. While discussing Poland and the war with Tony, who was recently in Poland, he said, "I don't know how they could have lost 3 million in World War II and still have a housing shortage."

Late in the month I visited T & D in Jersey City, which is a little gay mecca. I went to a party that turned out to be a party held by a realtor. The men were stereotypically Chelsified, but there were a lot of nice lesbians to hang out with, so I did. Apparently, this realtor likes to stack the neighborhood with gay people. In terms of the men, they must be more than gay; they have to look good.

June 1999

This is the busiest month for any gay or lesbian organization in New York City. I had a lot of stories this month. First, I met and spoke with author and spiritualist Christian de la Huerta, who recently wrote the very interesting Coming Out Spiritually. This led to my having a spontaneous conversation on an uptown IRT train with a fundamentalist. It was an interesting talk. The goodlooking young man actually leapt at my suggestion to get off the train and continue talking until the next uptown local came. I had the upper hand. I told him flat out, after I answered his question about the book, that I figured he must be a fundamentalist Christian looking to get me to a Bible meeting. He was shocked and said, "Yes." I said that I respected him but would do no such thing, but that I would be happy to talk with him, because I think a lot of folks need to talk more and make fewer assumptions about each other. He told me, "I would love it if everyone agreed with me, but I know that's not possible."

Tony says that he's an unusual "Christer" and that there's probably some hope for him after all.

After my interview with Christian the next day, I was walking around tony, beautiful Beekman Place and heard a lot of bird activity in the tree. I stopped for a while and looked up and saw that all that noise was coming from just two huge blackbirds, crows or ravens. They were, I kid you not, having a conversation with each other. I wondered what they were saying.

Later in the month I covered a Radical Queer Speak Out, a Sex Panic! town hall meeting, and a forum on Marriage Equality.

Stonewall 30

Not much happened for Stonewall 30. I wound up, no surprise, marching the whole parade route with LGNY, handing out papers to the spectators. I must've personally handed out about 3000 copies of the paper. My arm was inky black by day's end. I noticed that women and minorities, and old folks of any sexual orientation, grabbed at the paper, where as Shirtless Wonders -- topless party boys -- refused it with disdain.

Later, I discovered that the Mayor's arrival in the parade's People of Color section led to some of the POC groups not getting into the parade, and that an overzealous police officer down near the Stonewall itself personally intimidated two groups -- Stonewall Veterans and Sex Panic! -- from completing the parade route! The irony of being right near Stonewall is too much. SVA stopped for a moment of prayer, and were told to move on. After a brief sit-out, they moved along, and then at Seventh Avenue South had their vehicles removed. Then, Sex Panic was singled out for dressing up an old police squad car into an anti-mayoral float with some suggesstive participants on the car, along with protest signs.

July 1999

After all that hoopla, and having to write about it, I was pretty exhausted. Plus we had a heatwave looming. It was a perfect time to get away from it all...

Next entry... I See London, I See France

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Copyright (c) 1999, Seth J. Bookey, New York, NY 10021, sethbook@panix.com