LGBT POV

Mark Thompson, my friend and former editor at The Advocate, sent me this wonderful news about historian Stuart Timmons:

Longtime friends of author and community activist Stuart Timmons gathered last week to celebrate his remarkable recovery from a major stroke two-and-a-half years ago. Timmons, 53, is still wheelchair bound, but is now fully mentally alert and with the ability to speak and move about with assistance. He is expecting a return to his research and writing about GLBT history and is especially delighted with the invitation to participate in Centennial celebrations honoring the life and work of gay movement founder Harry Hay.

A two-day conference at City University New York and a major exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library are in the planning stages, with other cities soon to be included. Stuart wrote the award-winning biography on the legendary gay rights leader, The Trouble With Harry Hay, in 1990.  Harry Hay was born on Easter Sunday, April 7, 1912, in Worthing, England, although he lived many decades of his life in Los Angeles.

HRH Lee Mentley added:

Stuart is doing amazing well…, had a great lunch at “The Coffee Table” and he was alert with full memory correcting us on our history and although speaking slowly was participating in the conversation. Well on his way to full recovery! He spoke with Joey Cain on the phone and will be on the planning committee for the 100 Year Celebration for Harry Hay in San Francisco and New York City. It was a joy to be with him!

Actually, Harry Hay and John Burnside lived down the street from me in West Hollywood so I hope this city will be added to the tribute, perhaps at the new WeHo library with an event co-hosted by ONE Institute. Just a thought. I’d be happy to loan my video and photos of Harry and John.

Pictured in the photo are: (left to right) Mark Thompson, Stuart Timmons, Robert Croonquist and Lee Mentley.

Had he lived, the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk – one of the first openly gay elected officials in America – would have been 80 years old on Saturday, May 22. But he was assassinated Nov. 27, 1978, along with Mayor George Moscone, and became a martyr whose life and accomplishments are being marked in California by the first-ever Harvey Mild Day. LGBT POV has posted a number of stories and videos to commemorate Milk, starting with a video in which Milk talks about defeating the antigay Briggs Initiative.

According to Cleve Jones, who considered Milk his mentor, and the Bay Area Reporter – which revisited some of the columns Milk wrote for the gay paper – Milk stressed visibility, building coalitions, and getting out the vote. And if the plethora of events listed here commemorating Milk’s life are any indication, he has left an important legacy – including one felt by the first openly gay Speaker of the California Assembly John A. Perez, who is being honored by the Harvey Milk Foundation at Madame Tussauds Museum in Hollywood and by West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem John Duran (pictured rehearsing on a soap box), who is starring as Milk in the Dustin Lance Black-written story/concert by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles at Fairfax High School.

Here’s a quick list of events. Please click inside for details and information about each event:

10:00am – 3:00pm – Equality California has a HUGE roster of events – including Marriage Equality Canvass in EAST LA.

10:00am – 3:00 – LA Gay & Lesbian Center’s Vote for Equality Harvey Milk Day Canvass in the Valley!


10:30 am — 12:30 pm — The ACLU is also hosting a “coffee and discussion” featuring Mark Thompson and Mia Frances Yamamoto.

12:00p.m – The City of West Hollywood and Equality California will also host a celebration at West Hollywood Park.

3:00 – 4:00pm – Equality California fundraiser hosted by Sharon and Kelly Osbourne at the Osbourne family estate in Hidden Hills.

3:00-6:00pm – Equality Across America has organized a march and rally starting at Father Serra Park.

7:00 – Harvey Milk Foundation – “Red Carpet Celebration of Harvey Milk with Laughter and Music in Hollywood” on the Rooftop of World Famous Madame Tussauds Museum.

7:00 – Gay Men’s Chorus: The Harvey Milk Schools Project! – a concert performed at Fairfax High School Auditorium.

Midnight – Toast for Equality at bars and restaurants around LA.

This is the face of pure joy! This is Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool moments after being ordained the Episcopal Church’s second openly gay bishop on Saturday, May 15, 2010, in Long Beach. The ordination of the church’s first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, seven years ago – plus the official blessing of Rev. Malcolm Boyd and Mark Thompson by Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno in the headquarters of the L.A. Archdiocese – caused such pandemonium the church is on the verge of a possible schism with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Glasspool, who will serve in Los Angeles, is on of the first two female bishops in the Diocese’s 114-year history. In this photo, Glasspool is hugging Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce of San Clemente, who was also ordained before an audience of 3,000, according to the Associated Press.

Of course nothing gay – including an historic religious ceremony – gets to be just pure joy without some sort of antigay reminder. And that’s what apparently happened at the Long Beach Arena when first a man and then a child shouted about the need to “repent” with a sign reading “Do not be deceived, homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Security escorted them out without no further incident.

Please click inside for more of the story and a personal comment.

This afternoon from 4:00-6:00pm, Roots of Equality is hosting a panel discussion on the Gay Press, featuring yours truly and author Mark Thompson, who has a new book out on his days as an editor at The Advocate.

In fact, Mark was my editor when I wrote for The Advocate under the late editor-in-chief, Richard Rouilard in the early 1990s. And boy, do we have stories! This was also the time of ACT UP and Queer Nation – and it was a time when LGBT people of color were rightly pressuring local gay publications such as Frontiers and the Lesbian News to be more inclusive. We will also discuss the future of the LGBT press now that blogging is so ubiquitous. Hope you can join us. Please click inside for more info, including places to park.

Got some time tonight and want to do something supportive of LGBT youth – while also being entertained? Check out “Rise Up and Shout! Voices of the Next Generation” at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood. Click inside for more information about the event and why it’s important to the LGBT movement.