I only say this for the record, as it in a practical sense is irrelevant, since those you who want to leave HRC funds in their wills will not even be of an age that would think of those BEFORE Stonewall.
BUT, this movement started before Stonewall, in 1950 in fact, in Los Angeles, with the founders of early Mattachine, and continued with the members who moved on to ONE, Inc, etc.
So I think for accuracy it is important to say that your ad misleads information on just whose “shoulders of the pioneers of our movement” you mean. Apparently you ignore those who worked before the New York media discovered the movement at Stonewall. I would hope serious people (LGBT and non-LGBT) would know that this movement did not suddenly start that night.
It is irresponsible to ignore the pioneers who worked before Stonewall, just as it is nonsense to ignore people who served this nation in the military BEFORE WWII and in some cases after—I think of the silence on those who were in the Korean War.
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I find myself in the same boat as you. As I pointed out to you in an earlier e-mail, the fight for trans rights began as early as 1938, but just a couple of days ago a trans-woman told me that Jan Morris, the acclaimed journalist who covered the first successful ascent of Everest in 1953 for The Times of London, as James, then later released her autobiography, Conundrum, in 1974, as Jan, was irrelevant to the trans-movement becuase Jan's work was done "too long ago."
Truly queer thinking? We all know there were unknown people who did something to push our cause, and we should know and honor them. This person is known and work is on record! For any of us to decide who is or is not worthy is nonsense.
Even I tend to forget about the doctors who worked with the community, at the risk of being blackballed, losing their licenses, or getting a visit from Klan types. Even now, there are doctors right here in Caddo and Bossier Parishes, who are in the closet about their activities with the trans community.
Very good point.
Most people have no regard for history that predates their own lives - primarily because history in general is so poorly taught. And we have to remember that LGBT people have been written out of shared history. That is going to have an affect on their perceptions and values. That being said, no one's story is irrelevant. People who say such things are either so accustomed to being ignored by history that they don't find historic contributions worth remembering - or they are just plain stupid.
That is why I have asked why our LGBT journalists have not honored some allies (an early Christian Science Monitor person in L. A., etc)—and legal groups ignore attorney such as Eric Julber and Herb Selwyn, and those in other areas.
Here-Here, Billy!
Stonewall was nothing more than the ignition point of all the ingredients that were brought together by people like Harry Hay, Hal Call, Don Slater, Jack Nichols, Dorr Legg, Dr. Frank Kameny (who brought the first court action against the government for anti-gay discrimination when he sued to get his civil service job back), Dick Leitsch and so many more.
All these people fought like hell starting in 1947 and brought together the most energetic volunteers and “feet in the street” protesters that brought attention to the problem. Stonewall was just the flashpoint that happens in the point of any rebellion when the people say “We have had enough!” They take to the streets to tell the authorities that they will not yield and they will never allow themselves to be treated as they were before.
To say that there was no “movement” prior to Stonewall just shows how out of touch HRC really is and how greedy you are by denying 22 years of movement history that existed prior to June 27, 1969.
Billy Glover has every right to speak up because he IS one of those Gay Pioneers who selflessly worked at ONE/HIC during the late 1950s through the 1960s. He is a treasure trove of history and culture and it’s insulting for the HRC to stick their hand out now that we’ve caught that hand in the cookie jar after the DOMA case was resolved and the 33 states who can never get married and have no protections for their jobs or being evicted from their homes or harassed by the police asked Chad Griffin, “What about us?” And he had no answers for the 75% of this nation’s LGBT population that had donated to marriage equality and got nothing for their money!
Don’t you dare ask us for another penny until you pass equality with the money we already gave you for the full equality you should have already got for us!
Thanks. I really do wonder how much he and others at HRC and even The Task Force KNOW about our movement.
I guess you could work and sell Coca Cola without knowing the company's and drink's history, but it would seem to me you would make a lousy salesperson and not a good company person.
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