Had an amazing dialogue with a historian these past few weeks that brought me back to the 1970s and brought me an incredible revelation that shows how far this community has come.
The facts in fast order: The historian differed with our Gay History Project article that asked “Was Lincoln gay?” He disagreed with the points in the story, but in doing so made what some historians would label errors. When I pointed that out, he stated that he had a degree in history. Kevorkian had a degree in medicine. But that is not the point.
Here is the point, from my email to him:
“Of course we can agree to disagree, but the tone of your email, not to my surprise, was a little arrogant and elitist. I don’t believe having a history degree gives one an almighty key to enlightenment. In the 42 years I’ve been fighting for equality, I have seen similar views from many professionals.
“During the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis, medical and government institutions were slow to act since they thought it was a gay disease. People like me had to learn very quickly the correct symptoms, treatment, pharmacology and sift through health and human services protocol, city and state budgets, not to mention a plethora of research. Without a doubt we were more informed than most doctors in this country because we couldn’t afford to look the other way. My favorite line from most in the American Medical Association and government at the time was that this was a ‘gay disease’ and would not cross over. People like me said that was wrong and time has proven that correct. And from our work has come new procedures that have led to new medical research and speedier delivery of drugs to patients of almost all illnesses. I have no medical degree, yet I have helped advance medicine by standing up and forcing the medical community to pay attention.
“In 1970, LGBT people did not appear on TV, not in news nor in programming. It’s similar to the limited representation or censorship of historians today. At that time, I decided that TV censorship had to be broken. Again I had no broadcast or communications degree, but I led a campaign to change the networks that was started by a group I started called the Gay Raiders. You might have noted the change while viewing the tube. All networks eventually signed agreements, and presently I serve on the national Joint Diversity Council of Comcast to continue that progress at the Comcast-owned networks, including NBC and Universal Studios.
“A third. I’ve written laws into the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia home rule charter. I have no legal degree.
“In order to achieve those national changes in media, medicine and government takes a lot of research and study. As someone who has won national awards for my writing, I believe I can say that I do it well. We in the LGBT community had to do it because professionals like you would not — not in medicine, government or broadcast. Yes, it’s called homophobia.”
In the 1970s, doctors and even lawyers created LGBT organizations that were somewhat in the closet since their professions discriminated against them and they would not be promoted. Our community has changed that. Now, it’s time to change that in the history field so our community, our heroes, can take their rightful place and be honored with national pride.
<i>Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. He can be reached at <a href=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>.</i>