June 1989

24 June 1989 Saturday

 Today was one of the most important days of my life.  I was able to participate in a re-enactment of the first Stonewall Riot at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street which led to a second "riot/celebration" in and of itself alone! Sequence of events:  I was up by 5:30 this morning.  I kept waking up early for some reason. Anyway John Reeves and I wanted to be down at the Greyhound bus terminal in Boston by 7:30 a.m. to catch the 8:00 bus, which we did.  It was a four and a half hour bus trip into New York City.  The NYC terminal was located at about 42nd Ave. and 8th Street. We were pretty weary from the bus ride but John wanted to drag me around to see some of the sights. I suggested that we get our rooms first.  We planned on staying at the Sloan YMCA which was located on 34th and 7th street and although it was big and dirty, it was also cheap.  A single room with  shared showers was about $33 with a $5 key deposit.  For New York City this was mega cheap because most rooms are $75 or more a night. The Sloan YMCA is an international youth hostel and in the lobby all types of Americans and hundreds of foreign students traveling abroad were swarming about, bustling about their business with backpacks in tow.  It took what seemed forever to check in, about 45 minutes, but with that taken care of I was relieved to get on with things.           We ate a bite and made our way to Central Park. We originally started on down towards Greenwich Village but I saw a poster stating that the Gay Pride Day Rally was being held in Central Park.  We made an about face and I took my first "real" subway ride up to 60th Ave and 7th Street at the end of Central Park.   Central Park was huge and we had no ideal where the Great Lawn was.  The Great Lawn was where the rally was being held.  I was more single minded in purpose than John and it slightly annoyed me that he wanted to stop and listen to the different musicians in the park and such, while I had this pressing feeling of urgency to get to the rally.  I felt something was going to happen tonight which I needed to be a part of.  The rally was half over by the time we finally found it but it was still huge and yet not what I really expected.  I thought there would be more of a carnival atmosphere but there wasn't.  There was a large stage with a huge rainbow of colored balloons surrounded by thousands of people sitting on the grass and listening to the speakers.  We stopped and listened to a woman's comedy team who was really funny, along with a Lesbian singer before we realized that Harry Hay was going to address the crowd.  I was amazed that the founder of the modern Gay Liberation Movement had identified himself with the Radical Faeries and addressed the crowd while wearing a pink tutu!!  Harry Hay gave a brief history of the Mattachine Society but mostly dwelt on the topic that Gay people collaborate in their own oppression by their silence!  I had come to hear Harry Hay and after he was finished, fatigue caught up with both of us.  We were tired, hungry, and perhaps even exhausted from walking so much yesterday in Boston, so John and I decided to take the subway back to our rooms, take a nap, get some dinner, and then head on down to the Village. However back at the YMCA, I was too keyed up to sleep so I went and took a long shower in the communal bathroom.  I wanted to wash the New York slime off of me and check out the view.  It's so humid in NYC and dirty.  I feel sticky all the time but one does kind of get use to it. Anyway after I finished my shower and John awoke from his nap, we ate at TAD's, which is a steak place.  Since I'm a Summer vegetarian I just had corn on the cob and some New York Cheesecake.  Yummy.  After eating we caught the subway train down to Christopher Street on 7th Ave and as we emerged from the NYC intestines we saw thousands of people milling around in the warm evening air.  It was electrifying!  I spotted the faded black and white STONEWALL sign in front of Sheridan Square and saw that the area was surrounded by a large crowd of fifty people or more.  I hurried John over to see what was going on.  It was about 8:30 p.m. by now and some one in the crowd said that a mock re-enactment of the raid that set off  the Stonewall Riot was taking place.  By now hundreds were jammed along the front sidewalk and in the street in front of what was the Stonewall Inn and they were yelling at the fake cops who were pretending to haul off patrons and drag queens.  From the steps of the old Stonewall Inn my adventure began! The crowd was handed foam yellow bricks to throw at the cops while calling them names like "Pigs!"  I, remembering a scene from the Black Cat cafe in San Francisco, began yelling "God Save the Nelly Queens!"  A magical combination of high energy levels and the spirit of Gay Liberation worked its way through the crowd of taunting and booing Gays and Lesbians.  Its seemed like a time capsule to me.  It was magical and somewhat intoxicating and I felt so fortunate to be here where it all began, acting out my own Gay Liberation in front of the very building that twenty years before had seen a true miracle.  After about twenty minutes of enthusiastic yelling and taunting I was the first to shout out "GAY POWER!"  I wanted to agitate the crowd and focus the circus like atmosphere into what this night was truly about!  Then others raised the chorus of Gay Power and some one yelled out, "Let's take back 7th Avenue and almost spontaneously a crowd of several hundreds including myself converged into the intersection of Christopher Street and 7th Ave.  Myself along with about seven others lifted up the police barricade, holding it aloft, so that the crowd could move on down to the next intersection.  Almost immediately the NYC police arrived on the scene but just cautiously watched as the crowd almost magically swelled to over several hundreds.  We all started shouting to the police which became a chant "Arrest US! Just Try it! Remember Stonewall was a Riot!"  Tonight Years of Gay oppression and frustration over AIDS was letting off steam and the NYC police had the common sense to keep a respectful distance as we danced in the streets, chanting our slogans "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Homophobia's got to go!", "We're here because we're Queer!", and "Gay Power!".  The crowd was now more than a thousand strong and with the increased numbers the playfulness of the earlier revelers turned more serious. There was a completely different air about us now. The thousands of marchers now in the street were basically saying "this is OUR night and we are going to howl!" I stayed up front with the young radicals who were carrying the confiscated police barricade, stopping traffic, and working up the crowd.  Definitely the event was taking on an life of its own.  Young and old, Gay and Lesbian, taking to the streets to scream, "Gay Liberation!"  What a trip! At one intersection, which was blocked off  by our marching, this rich, macho dude (probably to impress his rich cunt), tried to run down some of us in his car.  I witnessed it and some of the others who did also were so outraged that a chase began.  Someone copied down his license number (RWR349) which became our rallying chant as thousands more streamed over to the 6th Precinct Police Department, angry that the police had let this guy get away.  People demanded that the police do something.  The crowd had turned militant at this point, angry at the police for not doing anything .  Some of the hot heads began jumping on the police cars parked out front and banging on the police station's front doors which the cops had locked in case the crowd really turned ugly.  Several American flags were set on fire in front of the police station and finally the cops came out with a bull horn to address the crowd that had filled the street.  Some self appointed spokespersons stated that Gays in the Village were also outraged over the recent killings of  two Gay men but when the police officer said that the murders were not Gay related, a chorus of "Bull Shit!" interrupted him.  The crowd began to shout "No  more lies!" but finding that they were getting no where with the police, they retreated after pelting the police station with condom packages.  We left the Sixth Precinct then and headed for West Ave which runs along the Hudson River down to the area where the Gay men were murdered.  Practicing civil disobedience we sat down in the middle of the Highway and blocked Saturday night traffic along this major thorough fare.  We declared our sit down space "Queer Nation" and we sang out "hey, hey Ho, Ho Patriarchy has got to go!" and "Not the Church! Not the State! We alone decide our fate!" and "Keep your laws off my body!"  The police came out in full force for the sit down demonstration and while I was slightly fearful that  I was going to get arrested for disturbing the peace, the police faced with a volatile situation, just re-routed traffic rather then  take on a crowd of Gay Radicals who were screaming and taunting, "Arrest us just try it Remember Stonewall was a riot!"  I have to praise the New York Police on how swiftly they redirected traffic and took the wind out of our sails. With no more traffic to hold up we left the West Highway and went back to the streets where the Gay Bars were located.  As the crowd surged back into the village we made a pilgrimage to each of the bars where we pounded on the windows,  yelled through the open front doors and encouraged the bar patrons to join us by singing "Out of the Bars and Into the Streets". As bar patrons emptied into the streets, cheers and applause broke out.  Most quickly joined us but  a few just smiled and shook their heads in mild timidity.    The woman's bar and a Yuppie bar were the only bars not having a large amount of people respond.  However those of us who were in the streets were at least 10,000 strong and our one voice was shouting "Gay Power" which echoed down the narrow streets of the Village. As we slowly and aimlessly walked along the streets of the village, cars on cross streets were immobilized by the endless procession.  Most people sat in their cars smiling and waving, being very supportive but some looked very bewildered by it all, even scared and some really mad.  At side street intersections I along with others acted as a human barricade, holding hands with other faggots, sort of like crossing guards and at one point I saw a line of drag queens doing a chorus line of high kicks and I felt the night air was full of enchantment. However at one particular intersection, as I was holding hands with this guy, a brand new red automobile had stopped in front of us.  It was full of young guys and they started yelling, "Faggots get out of the fucking way!" and immediately the car was surrounded by people pounding on his car to let him know we weren't taking heterosexual crap tonight.  The idiot driver then began flipping us off with the finger and all of a sudden ploughed right into the human barricade knocking down about five Gays before speeding away.  I was just feet away from being hit also.  Immediately a chase arose and through the narrow streets hundreds ran after the car with the punks inside.  I ran as fast as I could but kept getting passed up by younger and stronger ones who were intent that this one would not get away. It was bedlam as the car drove up on the sidewalk, hitting some more Gay people until cornered and surrounded, the punks couldn't get away.  The cops finally arrived to disperse the angry and frustrated crowd.  And rather then just getting the hell out of there, incredibly the punks backed the car up and tried to run down some more people.  The crowd was intent on revenge now, cops or no cops, and the car was surrounded and under siege by a tumultuous angry crowd of hundreds.  They began rocking the car back and forth, smashing windshields, tail lights, pulling off every bit of the car that was detachable.  Only after a squadron of cops put a stop to the melee were the visibly shaken and scared punks pulled from the car by the police.  The car was trashed.  Windshields smashed to smithereens, head lights and tail lights kicked out.  Someone even had taken the police barricade and smashed in the hood with it.  The mood of the crowd mellowed after seeing the punks arrested and that the car was totally destroyed.  The car really took the blunt of pent up rage.  Heterosexuals should be thankful that we are a gentle people because considering the oppression and years of emotional, physical, and spiritual abuse inflicted on us as a people, its a wonder that we haven't gone completely berserk. Meandering back down the street to get back to Christopher Street, this young Lesbian triumphantly exclaimed to me, "I use to be a Yuppie but I'm an anarchist now!" and she proudly showed off to me a section of the red plastic tail light that she had ripped off the car.  She held it like some trophy or treasured memento of a heroic battle.   I suppose it was. After the intensity of the destruction of the vehicle, the crowd kind of dispersed and drifted back to Christopher and 7th Ave.   It was late and I was thinking that anything else tonight would be pretty anti-climatic however I was wrong.  Faerie magick was not through with me yet.           Exhausted I sat down in the middle of the intersection of Christopher Street and 7th Ave along with this Gay man I met named Michelle.  He was the first one hit by the car but he said he was okay.  We sat in the middle of the street with our arms around each other and just drank in the scene of thousands milling around on this warm June night.  Michelle looked about 30 but must have been closer to 40 because he echoed the same sentiments that I was having at the moment.  We both felt lucky and grateful to have taken part in the Second Stonewall Riot and able to re-enact the magick of 1969.  It was like being given a second chance to be apart of the most significant event in Gay History.  Michelle said he was living in the Village in 1969 having just arrived from Minneapolis.  However he also said he was too young at the time to appreciate the importance of the riots of 1969.   I was living in Garden Grove California, having just graduated from Rancho Alamitos High School and in love with John Cunningham.  Now here we are 20 years later, two strangers locked in each others arms united in a Gay brotherhood. It was better than any 20th high school reunion. Michelle also informed me that he just went off AZT because it wasn't doing him any good and as he spoke I reflected on my life and thought that here it is midnight and I'm sitting in my white shorts on a dirty New York City intersection, holding a Gay man who is dying of AIDS, and extremely grateful for every minute of it.  Eventually Michelle wandered off into the night and I began to look for John who I had lost in all the hubbub. As I was drawn again to Sheridan Square I saw that the Radical Faeries had a wonderful poster on a wall which had a picture of a screaming, in your face, drag queen with the caption: We're Revolting! Stonewall Rebellion 1969.  The poster went on to say that the Radical Faeries were hosting a tour of the Stonewall Inn to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the riots.  I went over to where the Stonewall Bar use to be and found out that the Radical Faeries had rented the basement of the building that once housed the Stonewall Inn and they were hosting a walk through guided tour of 20,000 years of Gay History in 5 minutes.  It was wonderfully farcical.  They started off by paying a tribute to Judy Garland, whose death I was to learn, precipitated the Stonewall Riots.  They had the mock coffin of Judy and a shrine of Maybelline nail polish on a type of an altar.  The tour was a shamanic experience.  I saw Gay cavemen painting Gay graffiti on their cave walls, Gay Greeks in togas sporting Dorian capstones as headgear, the burning times when Gays were used as Faggots, and then jumping right to the 20th Century- Gay Go-Go Boys.  We got to throw foam yellow bricks at the "pigs" and then before being ushered out we formed a Faerie circle and was sprinkled with Faerie dusts.  We were taught a song to help end patriarchal suppression and then shooed out the door!  However in that brief tour of the basement of the Stonewall Inn I experienced a life transforming experience.  A conversion of the soul if you will by the Gay Spirit.  That basement was hot and humid and I sweated like a pig but it was also wonderful and I laughed and had fun and I knew that my Spirit was telling me that I was at the Holy Shrine of Stonewall.  I came to place a rose on the doorsteps of Stonewall Inn in remembrance  but it was me who was given a rose in my heart. Outside in the cooler night air I began to hawk the merits of the Radical Faerie Tour and got several people to come on inside and at one point this Faerie came out and saw what I was doing and he asked if I would do the Faeries a favor.  He said that they were dying of thirst in the sweltering building and asked if I would take the $10 he gave me to go across the street and buy an assortment of pop for them.  I looked at the guy and said, "You picked the  right person because I will do it. You can trust me." and he smiled at me and said, " I knew I could, that's why I asked you."  So after coming back and giving him his change he tapped me on the head with his Faerie wand and said, "For your good deed, I dub  you an honorary Faerie."   I don't think he realized how much I took that symbolic gesture to heart. Later about 1 in the morning, hundreds who were still left in the streets gathered in a huge circle formed by the radical Faeries in the middle of the intersections of Christopher and 7th Ave. The Radical Faeries led us in songs, and we danced, and we hissed (which I learned that Faeries do when they are happy), and the Faeries sang  "WE ARE THE STONEWALL GIRLS-WE WEAR OUR HAIR IN CURLS- WE DON'T WEAR UNDERWEAR- WE SHOW OUR PUBIC HAIR! WE WEAR OUR DUNGEREES BELOW OUR NELLY KNEES"  To close the circle we sang, some 300  voices, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".   My soul was fulfilled. A spiritual longing for home was satisfied. True enchantment enveloped my being. True liberation from the chains that bind the captives and the mending of the broken hearted could now begin.  Thank God I am who I am!  I sacrificed to be here this night and my sacrifice was rewarded. This wonderful nights of all nights! John, I learned later, had left earlier then I did and about 1:30 a.m. this tired little Faerie boy walked the darken streets of NYC all by his brave little self, truly liberated and in tune with his Gay soul.  Fairy dust and enchantment all around me! Hisssssssss! 

25 June 1989 Sunday

I woke up about 6 a.m. after not getting back to the YMCA until almost 2 a.m.  I couldn't sleep.  Images of me running through the streets of the village, singing "Somewhere over the rainbow" kept me keyed up.  In fact my circuit board was over loaded with the sights, and smells, and sounds of NYC.  I'm on the 11th floor of the Sloan International YMCA and I can see the Hudson River from my room.  I kept my window open because it was stuffy and the constant traffic noise was always with me like a vibrating blanket.  My feet are full of blisters and only sheer will power keeps me from collapsing but while to some this may seem like a nightmare, to me it is celestial bliss.  I am animated.  I no longer feel like dead men bones. I've been jolted by the purging, cleansing fire of Gay Pride and filled with the spirit.  I just couldn't lie in bed any longer then 6:30 a.m. so I got up to shower.  My clothes are so damp and moist from the humidity.  It's not like anything I've experienced before.  Cute foreign, uncut students traveling abroad were in the shower room.  It's like Babel with all the different tongues.  I can spot the Israelis right away because I think they and Americans are the only men circumcised anymore.