Tag Archives: gay activist

Dallas Gay Activist and Leather Bar Owner Running for Governor in Texas

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A longtime gay activist and  owner of a popular gay leather bar in Dallas has entered Texas’s governor’s race  as a Democratic candidate.

Jeffrey Payne, who won the title of International Mr Leather in 2009, hopes to challenge the state’s current Republican governor, Greg Abbott, who announced his bid for reelection last week. 

In a statement, Mr Payne said Texans are tired of the Governor wasting time on “trivial legislation”.

“Texas needs a Governor who believes in Real Texas Values, like integrity, honesty, freedom and independence,” Mr Payne said. “We need to stop wasting our time and money on trivial legislation and start investing in finding ways to help Texans, their families, and their businesses prosper.” 

Payne said he does not think Texas voters will focus on his same-sex marriage – or,  his connections to the  gay leather community and intends to use $2.5 million dollars of his own money to his campaign,

The last time Texas elected a Democrat Governor was in 1991 

 

Pioneering Chicago Gay Activist and Leather Community Leader Chuck Renslow Passes Away At 87

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Pioneering Chicago Gay Activist and Leather Community Leader Chuck Renslow Passes Away At 87

 

It’s with a sad heart that we must report that Chuck Renslow, the pioneering  gay activist who opened the first gay leather bar in the country, the Gold Coast in 1958, has passed away at the age of 87.

Mr. Renslow was the founder and  photographer of Kris Studios, one of the earliest and most durable of the physique houses ( and one where leather always had a place ) He was the publisher of Triumph, Mars and Rawhide Male magazines. He was a founder of Second City Motorcycle Club, the first club  in the midwest in 1965.

He was among the earliest members, often among the founders, of many gay liberation organizations and movements. He was the publisher of GayLife Newspaper and has sat on the Board of fourteen different GLBT organizations. He was also the founder of many gay bars and sex clubs including Man’s Country, which has survived for more than 30 years.

He is the founder, in of the International Mr. Leather, which meets yearly in Chicago and was inducted into  Chicago’s Lesbian and Gay Hall of Fame in 1991.

At the Leather Archives & Museum’s September 2016 Board of Directors meeting Chuck was elected “Chairperson of the Board” of the world famous museum that he himself founded.

Specific details of his passing have not been released as of yet.

 

Gay Paris Police Officer Who Campaigned For LGBT Rights Killed In Paris Terrorist Attack

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Xavier Jugelé, 37, an openly gay Paris police officer fell victim to terrorism the terror attack at the Champs Elysees on Thursday evening.

Jugelé was a proud defender of gay rights, joining protests against Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda” before the 2014 Olympics. He once went to Greece to help police officers deal with migrants who had crossed the Aegean Sea and were seeking shelter in the European Union. He was among the officers who responded to a terrorist attack at the Bataclan in November 2015, and was in the crowd when Sting helped reopen the concert hall a year later.

“He was a simple man who loved his job, and he was really committed to the L.G.B.T. cause,” said Mikaël Bucheron, president of Flag, a French association for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender police officers. “He joined the association a few years ago, and he protested with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games,” Mr. Bucheron said.

President François Hollande of France, speaking from the Élysée Palace on Thursday evening, said that an official tribute would be paid to Officer Jugelé in the coming days.

Jugelé was in a police vehicle on the heavily guarded Champs-Élysées, Paris’s most famous boulevard, when a gunman opened fire, killing him and wounding two other officers, along with a bystander.

Gay History: "Where Were You During The Stonewall Riots?" - Rare Flyer (1969)

MUST WATCH – Stonewall Veterans Talk About the Night That Changed The World: “It was Fag-ulous!” – Video

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Stonewall riots

 

Veterans of the Stonewall riots, along with author David Carter, recount the largest gay rebellion happened and will stands as the most historical moment in LGBT history. Included is a rare video clip of the actual riots which show just how huge and violent those 4 nights really were.

 

HBO Documentary Films Trailer: VITO – The Life of Gay Activist Vito Russo – Video

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Vito recounts the life of Vito Russo, one of the founding fathers of the gay liberation movement. Playing a pivotal role in the formative years of the GAA (Gay Activists Alliance), GLAAD and ACT UP, he was also a writer, best known for “The Celluloid Closet,” the first book to examine how LBGT people were portrayed in the movies. Just months before his death from AIDS in 1990, Russo remained an active lecturer on gay issues, traveling to college campuses and gay film festivals.

 

Video – Russian Orthodox Christians Clash With Moscow Gay Rights Protestors, 40 Arrested

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In two separate incidents on Sunday over 40 Russian LGBT activists have been arrested protesting for LGBT rights in the extremely homophobic country.

Moscow police broke up one protest where gay activists gathered outside the Moscow city council  building, where  scuffles occurred with Orthodox Christian opponents who tried to disrupt the demonstration,  decrying homosexuality as a sin.   Later in the day another group tried to stage a second protest at  city hall, but once again  police moved in and detained participants,  including prominent gay rights  activist Nikolai Alexeyev.

The Orthodox Christians with whom the LGBT activist were harassed by this morning are described by WashPo:

Among the opponents of gay rights was Dmitry Tsarionov, who spoke to  the  crowd in front of a sign that said “Moscow is not Sodom.”

“I  will not allow perverts to bring the wrath of God onto our city,” he   said. “I want our children to live in a country where a sin that so  awfully  distorts human nature is not preached in schools.”

Over 40 people in total were arrested including prominent gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev  was the first man arrested in St. Petersburg under that city’s new law prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

LGBT Activist March In Massive Chicago NATO Summit Protest

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Marching along side several thousand others protestors involved in the protest against the ongoing NATO Summit in Chicago.

A group of nearly 100 LGBT activists marched and demonstrated as a “queer contingent” in solidarity with such groups as Occupy Chicago, Students for a Democratic Society and the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

“We need to take our movement to the streets rather than be diverted by the ballot box like we were in 2008,” said longtime LGBT rights activist and Founder of Gay Liberation Network Andy Thayer. “This is the way we’re are going to be able to claw back some of our lost civil liberties will be held in the streets.”

Thayer also criticized “so-called professional gay activists” for not participating in anti-war and direct action demonstrations such as ones against the Chicago NATO Summit.

“This is a golden opportunity to bring our movement back into the streets where civil rights are always won,” Thayer said.

While the LGBT protestors followed the anti-war, anti-NATO narrative, they also focused much of their message on the controversy surrounding Bradley Manning, recent cuts to LGBT health clinics and services and demands for full LGBT equality.

Newt Gingrich Heckled By Gay Activists In Minnesota….. NICE!

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Tuesday morning in Bloomington, Minn., gay-rights activists heckled Newt Gingrich and as The Atlantic notes things got a bit “physical” after one heckler was escorted out of the room, another stood up and took over. Before police could get to the second protester, a member of the audience (a really UGLY member of the audience) took matters into her own hands, giving the heckler a solid shove and waving her fist while pointing out of the room.

5 Gay Activists, Including Nikolai Alekseev Arrested Outside Russian Embassy In Paris As They Deliver Petition

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The French-language LGBT Website, Yagg, is reporting that a group of gay activists including Louis-Georges Tin, the founder of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia Russian activist Nikolai Alekseev (pictured left); American photo-journalist Chad Meacham,  Act Up-Paris co-chair Audrey Grelombe and an unidentified russian activist were arrested in Paris this morning as they tried to deliver a petition to the Russian Embassy against the violence during Moscow Pride at the end of May.

The reason for the arrests, was because the five were taking part in an unauthorised gathering. The five were taken to a police station for identity checks where later four were released by the police. But Nikolai Alekseev is still being held in detention. Alekseev asked the police in English for a lawyer and, was insulted by the police officer who told him that he was not in Russia and to go back to your country”

Simply shocking and disgusting behavior by the French government. 

Legendary Playwright and NYC Gay Activist Doric Wilson Dies At Age 72

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Legendary gay playwright and LGBT activist Doric Wilson, (pictured left) an early figure in New York’s Off-Off-Broadway scene died on  May 7, according to friends. He was 72 years old.

Wilson was one of the first resident playwrights at the legendary Caffe Cino in Greenwich Village, where in 1961 Wilson opened his comedy And He Made A Her, followed by three more hits including Pretty People, Babel Babel Little Tower and Now She Dances!— which dealt head on with the trail of Oscar Wilde—helped establish Joe Cino’s hole-in-the-wall as an offbeat theatre mecca. Later in the 1960s, Mr. Wilson was one of the first playwrights invited to join the Barr/Wilder/Albee Playwright’s Unit and, with fellow Cino alum Lanford Wilson, Circle Repertory Theatre. His other plays included In Absence, Turnabout, The West Street Gang, A Perfect Relationship and Forever After.

Wilson was present on June 28, 1969, the night when the famous Stonewall Riots broke out but at that time was already an active participant in the anti-war and civil rights movements.. Following the riot, he became active in Gay Activist Alliance and, as a “star” bartender, helped open post-Stonewall gay bars like The Spike, TY’s and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret.

In 1974, Doric Wilson, along with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John McSpadden, formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience. “I was involved with Circle Rep at the time,when it suddenly occurred to me that I could use the Cino experience to combine my talents with my politics. I could focus my life and abilities to promote a theatre dedicated ‘to an honest and open exploration of the GLBT life experience and cultural sensibility.‘”

In 2004 Doric Wilson was honored to be one of the Grand Marshals of the 35th Anniversary Pride Day Parade in New York City. He is featured in the documentary film “Stonewall Uprising” (2010).

Doric Wilson is and always should  be remembered a one of the original activists and fighters for LGBT Equality.

Rest In Peace Doric and Thank You.  –  via:  Playbill.com