Tag Archives: LGBT History

A two-block stretch of Washington DC’s Dupont Circle is being renamed after gay civil rights pioneer Frank Kameny, seen above (with the sign) marching with the Mattachine Society in the 1970 NYC pride parade. A two-block section of 17th Street, N.W., in the heart of one of the city’s most visible gay neighborhoods was to be renamed this week as …

Generations HIV – A Video Story Telling Booth & New Media AIDS Quilt for the 21st Century will launch in San Francisco on June 16th at Under One Roof. Facebook event page here. The booth will be open until June 30th to share and record your life with HIV.

All that pressure from the Vatican was useless. Today Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva announced that he WILL ratify his nation’s marriage equality law, which was bound for approval whether he vetoed it or not. Interestingly, Silva’s decision comes on the International Day Against Homophobia. The head of state’s decision to permit the enactment of a bill passed by Parliament …

Today is the sixth anniversary of the day that Massachusetts because the first American state to legalize same-sex marriage. And somehow, the world kept revolving. Congrats, Bay Staters!

My mom’s 70th birthday today reminds me that she shares the date with Liberace, who would have been 91 today. Below are clips from Liberace’s famed appearances on Batman, where he played the arch villain pianist Chandell and his evil twin brother, Harry. Many of the show’s fans consider Batman and Robin’s escape from Chandell’s player piano sheet music machine …

In what appears to be a global first, Austria has issued a postage stamp commemorating gay pride. The special stamp was designed by Christian Högl, who works as a professional graphic designer in addition to his volunteer activities as HOSI Wien’s co-president. He also created the graphic designs for the Rainbow Parade for the last eight years. “Austrian Post will …

Washington DC’s venerable Washington Blade is back to publishing under its original name after six months as DC Agenda. The 40-year-old newspaper — founded as a one-sheet newsletter in October 1969 just months after the Stonewall riots in New York incited the modern gay rights movement — has published weekly editions under the name D.C. Agenda since Nov. 20, four …

Toronto’s oldest gay bathhouse, Club Toronto, has closed to become an “upscale swinger’s club,” the fancy name for a straight bathhouse. On April Fool’s Day, a hand-written note appeared on the red door of Club Toronto reading simply, “Closed forever.” It was no joke. After 37 years as a bathhouse, the large brick house at Mutual and Carlton streets is …

The Bay Area Reporter notes that two San Francisco-based AIDS relief agencies are sharing $140,000 in music royalties from the estate of the late disco diva Sylvester. Matthew Bajko reports: Twenty-one years after the death of Sylvester James, a flamboyant and openly gay disco superstar from San Francisco, his music is now profiting two local agencies that serve people living …

As I mentioned earlier this month, St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan’s West Village is set to close in bankruptcy very shortly. New York Magazine’s David France reflects on St. Vincent’s role in the early years of the AIDS pandemic. The obituary for St. Vincent’s, when it is finally written, will recall that the hospital’s greatest moment—and its darkest—came in the …

Stonewall Uprising is making the festival rounds and will open early this summer around the nation. Schedule here. Synopsis: “It was the Rosa Parks moment,” says one man. June 28, 1969: NYC police raid a Greenwich Village Mafia-run gay bar, The Stonewall Inn. For the first time, patrons refuse to be led into paddy wagons, setting off a 3-day riot …

Here’s a just-out documentary about Vito Russo, the famed film historian and ACT-UP activist who succumbed to AIDS in 1990. You should also check out The Celluloid Closet, the film based on Russo’s book of the same name.

St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan’s West Village voted to close itself last night after failing to resolve an estimated $700M in debt. The famed hospital served the gay community as a sort of ground zero during the early years of the AIDS pandemic. The exact timing for the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan, which has about 400 inpatient beds, …

Straight columnist Matt Katz laments the spiraling decline of the nation’s gayborhoods. Gayborhoods were in their prime when they struck the right balance of seedy and shiny, with porn shops, hourly motels and peep-show joints next door to home decor shoppes, vegan bakeries and restaurants serving foix gras and $15 cosmos. In this way, they became the vanguard of something …

San Francisco’s GBLT Historical Society has negotiated a deal with Walgreens to take over a new space in the Castro for the next five years. The Bay Area Reporter’s Matthew Bajko reports: The deal calls for the historical society to take over two-thirds of a defunct coin-operated laundry on 18th Street while Walgreens will expand its specialty pharmacy next door …

Tonight TV One’s Unsung series spotlights the late gay disco diva Sylvester. The below clip covers several of the series’ subjects including Sylvester. Go here for recap clip about tonight’s episode. The show airs at 9pm on Time-Warner channel 90 in NYC and repeats at midnight. Find TV One’s location in your area here. (And set your DVR, this is …

Berlin’s memorial to gay victims of the Holocaust is an austere concrete block with a small window that displays a “never-ending” video loop of two men kissing. Installed in 2008, original plans for the display called for the gender to the two people in the video to change every two years. But now that it’s almost time for the switch …

Teen actor Mark Indelicato notched some LGBT history last night when his Ugly Betty character had his first kiss with a boy. The scene was appropriately awkward, cute, and full of potential heartbreak. Head over to After Elton where Michael Jensen already has a recap up.

Seventies disco legend D.C. LaRue writes to let us know that he’ll be interviewing dance pioneer Tom Moulton tomorrow night on his internet show on Newtown Radio. March 13th my special guest will be the legendary record producer/re-mix genius TOM MOULTON. Tom’s work ruled the dance floors around the world for many, many years and even now he continues to …

Four gay couples legally married at Mexico City’s Municipal Palace yesterday in the first such event in their nation’s history. ¡Felicidades! The mayor was there. So were the protesters. Judith Vazquez wore an ivory wedding dress. So did her bride. Vazquez and Lol Kin Castaneda on Thursday became the first gay couple to marry in Mexico under a new law …