I was considering giving my views on the race for governor of Pennsylvania in this week’s column, but as you’ve noted by this edition of PGN, it’s a special issue — one of our largest ever to celebrate OutFest. It’s also been a historic week with the Supreme Court’s action (or non-action, as it were) on marriage equality, and hate-crimes legislation moving forward in Pennsylvania So, my views on the governor’s race can wait a week or two.
We need to stop for an instant, take a breath and take stock of the community we’ve built. There is no better way to do that than to welcome National Coming Out Day this weekend, which has become a national day to urge our fellow community members to come out, if they can. There’s a reason we do that and it goes back to 1969.
The first official NCOD was organized in 1988, but it is based on a slogan and policy developed in 1969 by Gay Liberation Front. We (yes, I am a proud member of that revolutionary organization) were the first LGBT organization to suggest that “if every LGBT person came out there would be no need for a gay-rights movement.” That was the line. The point is that we were the first OUT generation. Not taking anything from people like Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny who are also true pioneers, but they had a different agenda; ours was making people feel comfortable with being out. So what has happened to that first out LGBT generation?
Well, in New York City it seems they are about to be tossed out on their assess by the LGBT community center, a building that has the word “community” in it. Are LGBT seniors not a part of the community? Let alone the generation that made the building possible.
My friend and fellow GLF member Jerry Hoose, who has championed this issue, is about to undertake life-threatening surgery and thus is unable to fight the good fight. So this is my effort to help. If you need more details on this issue, another friend, Andy Humm, has done an incredible journalistic job of chronicling this situation in New York’s Gay City News. His article can be seen at http://gaycitynews.nyc/gay-seniors-win-fight-keep-room-center/.
To the center: Our seniors, part of the first OUT generation, sacrificed their lives for the freedoms you have today. It is time for our community to show them the respect that other communities show their seniors. It’s beyond age discrimination; it’s about visibility and respect. Please do the right thing. n