Last Men Standing

Last Men Standing
They had the remarkable luck to survive AIDS, and the brutal misfortune to live on.
By Erin Allday

I , like so many, lived through the beginning of the AIDS crisis.  It was a terrifying time for Gay men.  We often were told conflicting information about HIV/AIDS and really didn't know what was going on or how all this started.

I lost many friends to HIV/AIDS in the beginning.  One day you're out with friends enjoying yourself and the next week one of your friends is missing.  You begin to wonder what has happened and then you hear the devastating news; John passed away.  It shakes you to the core.

I am a survivor of this era.  I made some bad decisions when it came to safe sex, but I got tested and found that I was  HIV negative.  I changed my sexual life accordingly and made sure I would not become another statistic.  But, with that, there comes a certain sadness and loss for all those friends and lovers who didn't make it this far.  Here is an excellent view into that life and the survivors.
Last Man Standing

Trump University--Is this the end for Trump?

Could Trump's "Trump University" problems bring down his candidacy?

An appeals court denied a request from Donald Trump to dump a New York fraud lawsuit against Trump University today, taking the $40 million case against the presidential front runner a step closer to the courtroom.

The suit, brought by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, alleges that Trump University “intentionally misled” thousands of people across the country with its pitch for the business mogul’s real estate courses. Schneiderman sued in 2013 for money to repay former students.

Politico

LGBT strides under fire

Will Religious Freedom Bills tear down LGBT advances?

With the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, LGBT persons won a major victory
towards LGBT and Civil Rights in this country.  Now, LGBT rights are in danger by
Religious Freedom Bills and remarks by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

The Georgia Senate passed a Religious Freedom Bill. House Bill 757
passed the Senate 38-14 after three hours of debate that was, at times, heated.
Last week it passed the House 161-0. CNN


Ted Cruz Launches Anti-Gay ‘Religious Liberty’ Advisory Council (Towleroad.com)

On Monday, Ted Cruz announced the formation of a “religious liberty” advisory council intended to help the Texas senator sound the dog whistle of “religious freedom” and advocate for discrimination against LGBT Americans.

Cruz is following in the footsteps of Republican rival Marco Rubio who last month created a “Marriage & Family Advisory Board.” The expressed purpose of that board is to overturn the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling. Honestly, it’s surprising it took Cruz this long to follow up with his own anti-gay advisory council given his propensity for fomenting bigotry.

Rubio creates anti-LGBT ‘marriage and family’ board

Ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary, Marco Rubio has created a “marriage and family” board for his campaign that seems intent on reversing marriage rights for gay couples. According to a campaign statement, Rubio established the “Marriage & Family Advisory Board” because he believes family is the most important institution in society and “everyone benefits” when marriage and family thrive. Washington Blade

Did Marco Rubio Just Propose a Constitutional Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment?

"We are going to be a country that says life begins at conception and the life is worthy of the protection of our laws. We are going to be a country that says a marriage is between one man and one woman."

"Unless Rubio is talking about mass brainwashing, because the majority of Americans are supportive of same-sex marriage, he means the government when he says “country,” and the only way the government can “say” that marriage is between one man and one woman is through a constitutional amendment. It’s possible that Rubio was just playing footsie with religious conservatives, and has no intention of making good on that promise, or maybe he does. Someone should ask him about that during one of his many appearances on Sunday."

Follow Mediaite.com

The 88TH Academy Awards--

Well, the 88th Academy Awards have come and gone and once again,
there was a lot of controversy, political and social
commentary.

I understand that the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences is made up of mostly older white people.  This demographic has shown, once again, how they vote.

Chris Rock decided to host the oscars and he said, "You realize,
if they nominated hosts I wouldn’t even get this job.
You’d be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now".  Truer words
could not be spoken.  The Academy did not include one
Black actor or actress in it's nominations.  Is Hollywood
racist?  Is the Academy racist?  The Academy and Hollywood
are not racist, rather, there aren't enough Black producers,
directors and screenwriters.

"Django Unchained" was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
"12 Years a Slave: was Directed by Steve McQueen.
One stand out in movie production and direction is Spike Lee who
was given an honorary Oscar and he did not attend the ceremony.

Given that, the same applies for women.  Can you name one
successful woman producer or director?  In recent years,
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have made in-roads into the business
of movies.  With works like "Bridesmaids" and "Pitch Perfect",
other women have made a mark on the movies.  The "Pitch Perfect"
screenplay was written by Kay Cannon, but directed by
Jason Moore .  "Bridesmaids" was written by Kristen Wiig and
Annie Mumolo, but directed by Paul Feig.  Actresses
have had a long hard struggle, but the women who make the movies have had it even harder.  Men still are the movers and shakers in this business.

The shining moments for the LGBTQ community were the nominations for the movie "Carol" an adaptation of "The Price of Salt" by
Patricia Highsmith, "The Danish Girl" a fictitious love story
loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and
Gerda Wegener, Lady Gaga's performance of "Til It Happens To You" and Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes accepting the Academy Award
for best original song, “Writing’s on the Wall,” for the 2015
James Bond thriller “Spectre”.

Although Sam Smith's comments on "being the first openly gay man to win an oscar" is totally false.  I did enjoy this: in his comments he said, “I stand here tonight as a proud gay man, and I hope we can all stand together as equals one day."

So, I'll say that there is much hard work ahead for Hollywood and the Academy for Black Americans, women and LGBTQ persons.  We all have so much to contribute and these days, we have so much opportunity so lets get out there and make some Art.

Paul John Senules

The Ashes Action.

Act up: October 11, 1992 1 PM.

An event organized by ACT UP on October 11, 1992 1PM gathered in front of the White House to protest the lack of action and money spent on the AIDS crisis. The protest was called "Ashes Action".  This was a protest organized to show the actual human carnage and loss of life that AIDS had amounted too.  It was also a counterpoint to the reveal of the AIDS quilt also in October 1992.

Family, friends, lovers, and partners of people who had died of AIDS, brought their loved ones' ashes to the lawn of the White House and threw them over the fence and chanted and cried and grieved.

George Bush as well as Ronald Reagan were held accountable for the deaths of 150,000+ persons with AIDS.  George Bush stated in an interview that Gay people needed to change their behavior as a means to stop the epidemic.

As people were throwing the ashes onto the White House lawn,  police on horseback moved in to disperse the crowd.  The crowd began to shout, "The whole world is watching!"  And then the chant went up, "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!"









Here is the YouTube video in full:

More information about the film:  The Ashes Action 1992

Gay Pride: Remembering our History, WWII

WW II ended 70 years ago. Not only were Jews put into concentration camps, but also Gypsies, Political Prisoners, Indigents and Homosexuals. Before the Nazis came to power, Berlin was mostly a free society for Gays and Lesbians. Berlin had many different clubs and social forums for Gays and Lesbians. The movie, "Cabaret" fictitiously depicts this era very well. It is based on the collection "Berlin Stories" by

Christopher Isherwood














When the Nazis came to power, many gay men were rounded up. Some were German gay men and many were Jewish gay men. Many Gay men survived being killed, but far more were murdered. Homosexuals were Identified with the word Homo on their backs or "Paragraph 175". "Paragraph 175" was a section of the German Penal code that held Homosexuality as a crime and then there was the Pink Triangle.

I came across two wonderful videos.

The first is an interview of
Rudolf Brazda,
a Holocaust Survivor before his death in 2011.







"Rudolph Braza, Last of the Pink Triangles Tells His Story"

The second video is the Documentary "Paragraph 175". Director of Research/Associate Producer Klaus Muller and Narrated by Rupert Everett.

Paragraph 175

It is so very important that the LGBTQ community knows their history, especially the young among us. We have come a long way since 1945, 1969 and today, but we must never forget those who came before us. The brave, the proud, the activists and the lost.

To read more about Rudolph Braza and V-E Day, go to the Advocate article V-E Day: Watch a Gay Holocaust Survivor Recount His Experiences

A Queer thing: Discrimination a la carte.

Federal, State, City, and workplace anti-discrimination laws and policies can seem like a very muddled and confusing thing. It's almost like an "a la carte" type of governing.

Federally, you cannot discriminate based on race, color, sex, religion, age, disability and national origin. Many states do have protections against same sex discrimination, but then, some states have this protection and the cities in the states do not. Conversely, some cities protect against discrimination of homosexuals, but the state does not. This is all very confusing and can cause some horrific scenarios when it comes to businesses that discriminate.

Then, there is the issue of City Government protection. Some City Governments have protection from discrimination of homosexuals while their state does not. For example, in Pennsylvania, homosexuals can get married, but homosexuals can be denied housing and other services and can be fired from their jobs for being homosexual. The city government of Pittsburgh has an anti-discrimination policy, but other communities don't. A workplace can have an anti-discrimination policy and the State, City and local governments don't. Here's an excellent article from The Washington Post about States that are allowing gay discrimination:
Washington Post

To find out exactly what kind of protection your city, county, and/or state provides to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination, you can visit the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund website at LambdaLegal.org. Lambda maintains a list of state-by-state antidiscrimination laws, as well as other laws specifically affecting gays and lesbians. If you need additional information, you can contact the Lambda office in your region. There, an intake volunteer will either answer your question or, if you need more help, connect you with a volunteer attorney.

The time has come for a Federal anti-discrimination law.