September 24, 2004
Serving the Carolinas Since 1979
Volume 25. Number 20
Local: Man Sues Over Web Photo, p.18 Opinion: Battle HIV With Science, Not Ideology, p.12
Pride Weekend
Schedule of Events
October
1 - 3,2004
www.ncpride.org
Friday, October 1
Durham
All weekend - Pride Prizes - Drawings for
Prizes at sponsor and select businesses during
the pride weekend. Sign up for Pride Prizes at:
Madhatter's Cafe, Bakus/Club 9, Craven
Allen Gallery, Nancy Tuttle May Gallery, Joe
& Jo's Grill, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream,
Fowlers Food,, Regulator Books, Elmo's Diner,
Dog Star Tattoo, Specs on 9th, Blue Korn
Cafe, Cinelli's Italian Cafe, and Books do
Furnish a Room.
6:00 pm - 11 First Annual Pride Promenade
on Ninth Street & Broad
Activities at local businesses in Durham with
entertainment, prizes, drawings and more. Art
Gallery shows and displays.
6 pm - Shabbat Potluck for queer Jews and
friends in Durham. Contact:
rachelanna@exchangefamilycenter.org
7 pm - 9 pm "The Body Show ", 25 artists
interpret the human form at Craven Allen
Gallery, 1106 Broad Street. Refreshments and
special art event.
7 pm - 9 pm "Preview of New Works - Nancy
Tuttle May", sneak preview of her fall art
show at Nancy Tuttle May Gallery, 806 Ninth
St.
7 pm - 11pm Women's Acoustic Showcase
w/ Emcee Annette Warner, Someones Sister,
Jamie Anderson, Annette Warner and Jess
Pironis perform at Bakkus/9 on Ninth St in
Durham.
10 pm - 3 am Infusion Dance Party at Sirens
Lounge, With DJ Tony Lopez - No Cover - All
inclusive. Comer of Broad and Markham St.
7pm - 4am - Offidal NC Pride Women's Party
at Visions featuring the Annual KING of The
Triangle Contest
continued on page 8
Telling Tales for History Month
By Jesse Monteagudo
Contributing Writer
When I came out 30 years ago, I
learned much of what it is to be
gay from older gay men, both
Latino and Anglo, who I met in
Miami's flourishing gay bars.
(There were more gay bars in
Miami in 1974 than there are in
2004, but that's another story.)
Some of those men told me tales
about being gay in the 1940's,
1950's and 1960's; in the United
States, Cuba, and other Latin
American countries. From them I
learned how difficult (but possible)
it was to be gay back then; how far
we have come since then; and how
far we still had to go. As the son of
heterosexual parents (like most of
us are), I did not learn about my
community's history from my par
ents; nor from my teachers or my
(heterosexual) peers. Thus my
education as a gay man had to
come from gay sources, from
books written by gay people and
from the stories told to me by other
crav men.
Thirty years later, I still remem
ber the lessons that I learned from
those men, many of who are no
longer with us. Now that I am
somewhat older myself I want to
continue that tradition and teach a
new generation of our past,
whether in person or through my
writing. I find this tradition to be
especially relevant in this month of
October, otherwise known as Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgendered (LGBT) History
Month. (There has been some dis
cussion lately about whether we
should use describe our communi
ty as LGBT or LGBT. Again, this is
a topic for another article.) LGBT
History Month began in 1994
when Rodney Wilson, a high
school teacher in Missouri, decid
ed to do something about the lack
of queer voices in history text
books. He organized other educa
tors and community leaders for
the purpose of educating students
and the general public about our
history; the-history that many of us
learned from older LGBT people
when we first came out.
After much discussion, October
was chosen as LGBT History
Month, being the anniversary
Annual pride events in North Carolina are the culmination of work that
began shortly after a man named Ron Antonevitch -- presumed by his
attackers to be gay -- was killed at the Little River, near Durham. This
resulted in a number of public protests including the “Our Day Out"
March in Durham in 1981, above. Organizers David Ransom and
Gloria Fahley can be seen onstage in this photograph. Since 1986,
NC Pride events have been held annually around the state. Counting
the 1981 event, the 2004 PrideFest is the 20th.
Photo by Marcie Pachina, courtesy The Duke Chronicle.
month of both the 1979 and 1987
National Marches on Washington,
DC for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
October 11, the anniversary of the
1987 March, is also Coining Out
Day, which is second only to LGBT
Pride Day (June 27, the anniver
sary of the Stonewall Uprising) as
a political holiday for our people.
Last, but certainly not least,
October 31 is Halloween, which
has been a day of celebration for
queers everywhere long before we
began to organize politically. The
advocacy group, Gay and Lesbian
Americans, one of the early orga
nizers of LGBT History Month,
hoped that it would "help educate
the public about the contributions
gays and lesbians have made in
the arts, sciences, politics and
sports.” Or a9 historian William A.
Percy put it, "specifying every
October as Lesbian and Gay
History Month is the first step in
reclaiming our heroes and hero
ines, and our past."
For a long time, what passed for
LGBT history was a roster of "great
gays in history " This was used by
many apologists to "justify" sexual
or gender variance: "It is not so
bad to be a gay man if
Michelangelo was one." But
Michelangelo's sexual orientation,
which is still debated, does not do
away with homophobia any more
than Albert Einstein being a Jew
did away with anti-Semitism or
Louis Armstrong being Black did
away with racism. For every James
Baldwin or Gertrude Stein there
were countless women and men
who struggled anonymously
against a hostile society and reli
gious, legal and scientific systems
that branded them sinners, crimi
nals or mentally ill. The fact that
many of them survived such a reg
imen to create loving households,
supportive social groups and
flourishing communities say a lot
about their survival skills. We are
here today because of them.
There are many books written
about Oscar Wilde and Natalie
Clifford Barney. What about the
"anonymous" LGBT women and
men who lived their lives as best as
they could? Since 1990, our histo
ries have gone beyond "great gays
in history" to study the lives and
times of our "ordinary" ancestors.
They include books like Comitig
Out Under Fire by Allan Berube;
continued on page 15
NC PrideFest on the web at www.ncpritfe.org