PRIDE WAS A RIOT

And today is all for Marsha P Johnson. This poem was written by a friend and associate about Marsha. The poem is entertaining and yet can sting...as is reflects Marsha's view of some parts of the community. I always enjoyed it.

Can you spare any change for a dying queen dar—ling?
I mean I am dying.
I know you don’t believe me.
But I know what I’m talking about.
Yes I do.
Us queens know what we’re talking about because we’re for liberation, yes we are.
Look at the Stonewall.
When I first came to New York
all pressed and clean
in a white shirt and tie
what my mother bought me
I heard about the Stonewall
so I thought I’d go over and
check it out
and LORD!
Men are dancing with men
and one more gorgeous than another
and way in the back were my sisters, honey
turning it out in gold lame and wigs for days.

So
I was hanging out in the Stonewall one night
talking to Miss June, who was feeling low
and nodding out on downs
when she looked up at me and said,
“Them pigs come in here tonight
they better stay off my motherfuckin’ case.”
And she was right cause
we wasn’t bothering nobody
just hanging out and being ourselves
when don’t you know
sure enough
the whistle done blew
and in they come
pushing and shoving everyone just like
a bunch of pigs
and ain’t nobody said nothing
cause in them days
if you was gay
you didn’t say
you was gay

So they’re pushing and shoving
and nobody said nothing
til them came to the queens
then this pig comes up
and gave Miss June one slap
knocked her down
ripped her dress
and scratched her face.
Now Darling,
anybody will tell you
that a queen is sort of
soft hearted, easy going person
who you can sort of shove around
but Darling let me tell you this.
There are two things you cannot do to a queen.
One. You cannot rip a queen’s dress.
And Two…Don’t you ever, never
touch the face honey…
Well Miss June got up
screaming and yelling
when this pig goes to hit her again
so I said
”Hey, why don’t you leave her alone
she ain’t bothering nobody.”
And he turned to me and said,
“Shut up you sick faggot.”
Now Darling,
You can call me a lot of things,
you can call me
a queer,
a cocksucker,
or a crazy fool,
but ain’t nobody got no right to call me
a piece of wood.
That’s right,
a piece of wood.
I looked it up one day
and it was right there
in the Webster’s
a faggot is a piece of wood.
And Darling I ain’t no piece of wood
and I was telling Miss Pig this when
he came to knock me,
then Miss June picked up a chair and swung it
and everybody started screaming and fighting
and queens was getting their faces scratched honey
and you know what that meant.
And the next thing I know
we all wound up in the Tombs……..again.

Them pigs done
busted up our fun, busted our heads
and just plain old busted us.
But that was O.K., honey.
Yes it was
because that was the beginning of gay liberation
in New York
and in the world.
Yes it was.
And now everybody done forgot
who done what and why and how
and you know, sometimes
when I pass one of them gay bars
where I see my brothers or sisters
having a good time and turning it out
in all their liberated glory
and I see hanging right over that bar a sign
what says “No Drunks, No dogs, No drags.”
Can you imagine comparing me to a dog?
Well honey, I just want to break right down.
But I just pay it no mind,
that’s right darling, cause once you 86 me I tip
and once I tip I stay tipped.
And they can 86 me out of every gay bar in the village.
And they can 86 me out of every gay bar in New York.
And honey, they can 86 me out of every gay bar in the world
and I pay it no mind because I got my friends.
Yes I do, and I do know who my friends are.
My friends are people who love their gay sisters and brothers
including the queens.
My friends are people who got change to spare.
And my friends are people who smile at me and understand
when I say
Can you spare any change for a dying queen, Dar—ling?
So they next time you’re in one of them bars what has that sign,
“no drunks, no dogs, no drags”
the next time you see them
turning out one of my gay brothers or sisters
Honey, you just dig real deep down
into your pocket and take some of that change you’re saving for
your cold beers and your hot dogs
and get over yourself and

spare some change for a dying queen………dar—ling

Happy Gay Pride Month!!!!!

Be sure to swing by the Casa du Borghese tomorrow for the blowout 

Pride Climax... to end the month...Anne Marie style! wink wink!!!!

CATEGORY IS.....

 PRIDE COLOR GLOBE ELLAGANZSA.......

Rose Pricks

Vespi

Mami Watta

Keiona

Piche

Ginger Bitchoff

Punani

The Queens for consideration for Drag Race France!

BUENOS AIRES PRIDE

Pride, right in front of the Casa Rosada

Pride season has me thinking about past Prides and since the last story was enjoyed by y'all here's another.  So... in 2017 I'm in Buenos Aires along with Mistress Maddie's #1 Fan, and Lady Charles, and it just happened to be Pride. Well, we got caught up in the revelry of it, and after seeing all the South American boys,I, opps,I meant we're getting a bit hot. So we decide to check out one of the local bath houses. Now...we are seasoned homosexuals and have seen it all from all over, including female cashiers at the front desks. Our friend we met from the night before, Oliver, a local, ran into us at the Pride and gave us a list of ones to visit. 

The lovely Oliver during all the revelry.

 He would even meet us at one later, after his other plans. So off we go and we get to this bathhouse we want to try, and it appears a little seedier than what were used to, but it looks like it might be exciting. We get to the window, and were probably in a sketchy neighborhood, because the cashier window was behind bars. And it's a female cashier. And we're like OH!!! We're used to that. And this one look tough and definitely looked South American, maybe even Colombian. So were trying to figure out the sign on the wall about do you pay for a locker, do you pay for a room, how much is it...do we need to be naked or wear a towel. And we're trying to figure it out in the Spanish, well, no Spanish because we don't know much, so were all fumbling with the cashier and trying to translate with her. I'm like, you two talk to her. She finally rolls her eyes and says "My GAWD already...whad'a want, a room or a locka?" Well, we weren't ready for that!!! We said where are you from, you sound like you're from New York? She said "YEAH, Staten Island, now, I ain't got awl day, now...whada ya want? A room or a locka?" We all got lockers, and got inside, striped and we were all discussing what is this Havery Fierstein sounding, large, wise cracking lesbian doing working a bath house in Buenos Aires??? Finally, I said, I know what it is. She must be in a witness Protection Program.

On a side note, Lady Charles got lucky with a Frenchmen, while MM#1F and I ended up with Oliver in a private room. He had some lovely Pride assets. I recall getting lock jaw for the next two days, while he spent the next two nights in our hotel room.  I often wonder where he is now. Man was that boy flirtatious. And if Big Viv still works the bath house.

TRAILBLAZERS

 

The LGBTQ community is one of strength, resilience and beauty. As we celebrate Pride this month and always in June it's important to remember those of the Stonewall Uprising among many others who were brave enough to be outspoken, and brave enough to live their lives and not be hushed. Today, as we celebrate Pride, we know that recognizing a community so beautiful, diverse, and resilient isn't just reserved for one month of the year, because a community isn't reserved for a moment in time because creating an inclusive and equitable society is not reserved for a moment in time. It's an ongoing fight for a world where all people-are valued and treated with respect. In celebration of the month, here is some of my list of trailblazers we should know, who came before us, and helped pave the way for getting us today a better life, acceptance, and civil rights in some form or other, and refused to run and hide. You can also check out this month's In Three Words too.

Marsha P Johnson

Miss Marsha was right on the frontline of the Stonewall Uprising and was one of the most vocal that night when the raid took place. She took no shit. Though she was practically one step from a street person, she was always very vocal and involved in civil rights and formed the Gay Liberation Front. Marsha was extremely frustrated with the absence of the trans community's rights in the conversation. Her and good friend Slyvia Rivera were both the founders of the Street Transvestite Activists Revolutionaries, a safe place and home for young trans who lived on the street.

Slyvia Rivera

I'm amazed at how many don't know who she is. She has a unique place in LGBT history as not only a trans woman but also a Latina who helped lead the charge on the night of the Stonewall riots in NYC. While Rivera had a very turbulent life, she always led charges, protests, would never back down and was quoted as saying "I'm not missing a moment of this-it's the revolution!" Yet she remains little known even in our community, and at one point was even whitewashed out of a recent movie about Stonewall in favor of a fictional white character. Mind you she was only 19 when she and Marsha founded the STAR home.

Bayard Rustin

Bayard was an openly gay Black man, and first worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr in the civils rights movement before turning his attention to LGBT rights. In fact, he was a key player in organizing the March on Washington. As with most societal issues, he brought to light the intersectionality of economic equality within the civil rights movement and the need for social rights for the LGBT.

Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk finally proved a gay man could get elected...and made history when he became one of the first openly gay officials in the US in 1977 when he was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors...and went to do a lot of good things for the community till his assassination.

Barbara Gittings

Hailed as being one of the longest-serving and the most fearless activists in the lesbian community, Gittings founded the New York chapter of The Daughters of Bilitis, picketed the White House in the 60's numerous times, and set up and helped counsel gay people who were discriminated by the government.

Jewel Box Revue

WAY before Drag Race there was the spectacular Jewel Box Revue. In 1939, during a time when gay people were viewed as abhorrent subversive and a threat to society, two gay lovers, Danny Brown and Doc Benner created and produced America's first racially and in your face inclusive traveling revue of all female impersonators and drag queens. Surprisingly it was a hit, and tickets were often hard to get and sold out. Many famous people were often seen in its audiences. The revue launched and made nationally famous the careers of Laverne Cummings, Lynne Carter, Mr. Titanic, Jan Britton, and the fabulous Guilda, who later took Paris by storm. Not to mention Storme De Laviere, the only female who was a drag king with the revue. I've done to many posts to mention about the Jewel Box.

Larry Kramer

Larry Kramer was a high-profile, high-volume, one-man crusade against the AIDS disease and a titan of activism and protest. Kramer was known as the founder of Act-Up, whose collective organizing pushed for more AIDS drugs research and an end to discrimination against the gay community. When he founded the organization in 1987, the AIDS epidemic was devasting the gay community.

Gladys Bentley

Gladys was a wildly popular singer, pianist and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance and her career skyrocketed at Harry Hansberry's Clam House, a speak easy in the 1920's. But this Blues singers, who often sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular songs, was also black, lesbian, tough, and one of the very first drag kings around, dressing as a man 24/7 and reportedly married her lover publicly in 1931. Enough said.

Barbara Jordan

In 1972, Jordan became the first southern black female, and closeted Lesbian elected to the US House of Representatives. Although she never came out publicly, those she knew and worked , and friends and family, were aware, and she was with her partner Nancy Earl for 20 years. Yet we don't hear of her extraordinary accomplishment.

April Ashley

April Ashley was a pioneering model, socialite and a major key figure in trans history. She is well known for being outed in the press in the early 60's for her divorce case, and her work towards transgender equality when little was even known about it. In the 30's she was among one of the earliest people known to have had sex reassignment surgery. Now that is making new territory not to mention brave.

Allan Horsfall

These days he's often called the grandfather of the gay rights movement, for openly campaigning as a gay man when homosexuality was still extremely illegal. In 1964 he and a group of friends set up the North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee, even giving out his home address as the base for the organization. To be SO open at that time was very brave.

We must always remember them and their work and bravery.

Happy Pride!!!!!

PRIDE MOOD

Well, I'm happy to say I survived the long weekend, barely.... and I'm sure this Monday will be an ugly one! I was joined in NYC for the blow out Gay Pride festivities, with the clan... of Mistress Maddie's #1 Fan, Preston, Christoper and his pup Cleo, Miss Moorecock, Kio and Mack. It started with All Pink Disco, a dance party at Pier 17 hosted by Trixie Mattel and Katya, continued with a drag party with me being mistaken for Big Bird, the Parade itself, which this year had a live feed on YouTube, the street festival, and drinks at the place where it all started, the Stonewall Inn and more nips and sips at sing along bar, Marie's Crisis. It was great seeing the very large numbers again, and all getting along. The thing about the gay and drag communities is that we have the ability to celebrate life in spite of being called faggots, or beaten up, not accepted, being ostracized, and not being counted as citizens. From pain, you need to create joy, because many of us have been in pain. As that is what Pride is...a celebration of pride and joy. We need to stop compartmentalizing ourselves into bears' twinks, butches, femmes, trans, tops, bottoms and those who claim they have no gender to further divide an already small community which does not have rights to equal housing and employment. And we're even barred from using the bathrooms of our choice in some states. That's a surefire way to make sure we'll never get equal rights. We need to remember that there are young member of our own tribe who have gotten nothing but soul-destroying messages from school mates, their churches and even their own families. Do they need our help? They need to see large groups of their own tribe accepting each other all year, not just at Pride time, in a festive environment so that they don't feel so alone. They need to see happy and proud gay,lesbian,transexual and every color of the rainbow folk actually liking and accepting each other AND supporting each other. I also recommend if you ever get the chance, celebrate sometime in NYC and the Village and Stonewall. It always gets me melancholy, and gets one to thinking this is where is started.

My foot might make a promo!

Loved these hotties boots.

Cheers to those trailblazers who came before us

Happy Pride Month!!!