I covered the 25th anniversary of Stonewall in New York; the 50th in Eureka

Tomorrow, will mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall. I covered the 25th anniversary in New York as press and was in the VIP area in front of the stage and got to me leaders of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.



I worked for LLDEF in Atlanta.I remember the conversation and his prediction when gay marriage would be legal.

I worked for two gay and lesbian newspapers in Philadelphia and the City Paper. At that time, the btq had not been added. I was the first one to do local articles on the bisexual, transgendered community, on domestic violence and in the lgbtq community and rape in the gay community. There were no journalists of color in either gay paper and I remember conversations where the African-American community wanted representation but also were grateful for my presence.

One week everyone left. I had to cover the entire paper, write, edit, and do layout. There weren't computers to cut and paste. The difference between me and the all white editorial and advertising staff was that while I still chose stories on the front page based on news content, I picked my lead stories to be the those on the black community and women because they were the most significant ones. That diversity mattered to me and it was not for token representation.

My work got the attention of the editorial department of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. They wanted to hire me to cover more than the gay community but I would have to be on a waiting list for a long time and the unions would have had a fit had I been hired for the position open at the time.

Mark Segal, the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News went from being an 18 year old with long hair
standing outside Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969,
to a succesful businessman operating PGN and a founder of the William West LGBT center and someone politicians listened to and feared. He is now 69. I worked for Mark and that was my first job as a journalist. I got to have dinner with former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell at Mark's house.

The 25th anniversary was passionate speeches and celebration. The 50th anniversary is during a pandemic and at a time when the current administration and fake believers and religious zealots are attacking lgtbq rights, particularly wanting the anhilation of women rights and the existence of the transgendered community.

There were many historic firsts when I lived in Philadelphia. Giovanni's Room, owner and founder Ed Hermance will always be one of my favorite people. I had just moved here and he wanted me to come back to do an article. He wasn't the only one.

The Queer Eye Fab 5 apartment in Philadelphia brought back memories of my apartment in Center City and the cobblestone streets.  That was a different time in my life and I have lived in Philadelphia twice.
The past while fondly remembered is the past.

I don't need history books to tell me of the struggle and achievments of the lgbtq community, people of color or many other groups. I have lived, spoken up and made contributions every place I have lived. And when I leave, my presence is not forgotten.

The Stonewall riots (also referred to as the Stonewall uprising or the Stonewall rebellion) were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community[note 1] in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered to constitute one of the most important events leading to the gay liberation movement[ and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.-Wikipedia