The memorials in New York City that supposedly relate to the LGBTQ+ community are terrible. Uniformly god-awful. Just plain cringe-worthy. Epic fails. And that these opinionated observations aren’t even close to being controversial, just proves my point. Whether stymied by political posturing, proximity to real estate developer cash or just plain lack of aesthetics, New … Continue reading
The most telling moment of the recently released Netflix documentary The Death And Life Of Marsha P. Johnson, directed by How To Survive A Plague’s David France, doesn’t actually feature Marsha P. Johnson herself. Midway through the documentary film, which focuses on the suspicious death of the activist, Stonewall veteran and “Rosa Parks of the … Continue reading
Is it possible to look back to that gold lamé-draped, handlebar moustache-wearing, disco-dancing, cruising post-Stonewall era of the 1970s without the lens of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which would irrevocably alter the course of LGBTQ life? Can you look at artwork, photographs and other documentation from that decade without searching for the images and names of those who would disappear in the decades to come? Or of the others who would become continual caregivers to friends and lovers? Or the clubs, bathhouses, piers and others spaces that would be shuttered for fear of transmission? Continue reading