As an old timer , I have been around for a long time

[mitchtv]

I remember when the Mafia ran all the gay bars in NYC, and everytime someone was running for DA or such,the raids and roundups commenced.it was tough to avoid getting beat up or as we called it "getting your gay knocks" It took a lot to get out on the streets in those times(60's) and face the mocking derision of the public and media, We did it anyway, and little by little we advanced to see things like the Brown Act of 72 when Willie Brown got our sex lives decriminalized, and it's been steady forward progress since them. Please try to be more sensitive when you blame old folks for our lack of progress, because without us we would still be in our gay ghettoized existence, "meeting in smokey places,hiding in shadowy corners"

[yellerpup]

1. Kicking this

because you're right and to honor your lifelong activism.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Great post.

And to drive that point home, for those with Netflix, please watch: The Sons of Tennessee Williams. It is a really good documentary (and it's also about New Orleans...yea!!).

[mitchtv]

3. then there's "The Childrens Hour"

Audrey Hepburn and Shirley Mc Clain, It told the truth about being gay then(and now in some parts)

[MuseRider]

4. :-)

Some of us oldies are not too shabby!

You took your gay knocks and brought it right back to them. Thank you for your service in the good fight. I have loved your stories and you have taught me a lot about those "old times" <----seems not so old to me.

[William769]

5. Recommended.

[sarcasmo]

6. Bravo.

[jtuck004]

7. Thank you. K&R n/t

[queerart]

8. There Is No Doubt.....

That the GLBTQI community finds it's self where it is....... due to being able to stand on the shoulders of our Gay forefathers, such as yourself.....


We owe people (again, like yourself) who were brave enough to stand up at a time, when there was no doubt.... in doing so, could have meant a death sentence.......


My Thanks!

[mitchtv]

10. I humbly thank you

and everyone who answered this post, I did not want to make it about me, but rather my generation(which was decimated in the 80s) . What things we could have done.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. amazing post.

[swimboy]

11. Truly remarkable post

and also remarkably true.

Thanks for reminding us how long is the long arc that bends toward justice.

And full props to you, personally, for your role in our advancement.

Hats off!

[Starry Messenger]

12. You're one of my all-times faves.

[Rowdyboy]

13. My mom's first cousin, born in the early 1930's, survived being gay in Mobile in the 1950's.....

He had some really interesting, funny and sad stories about life in the day. When I knew him in the 1990's he was still closeted though open with mom and delighted when he discovered her oldest son was gay.

It was bad enough in the 1970's when I came of age, the '50's and '60's must have been really rough.

And as to idiots who blame "old folks" for the lack of progress-look to Justice William O Douglas and Senator Claude Pepper, strong progressives into their 90's. Political ignorance is at least as common among the young as the elderly, likely far more widespread.

It took a lot of guts to be out back then, more than most people today can understand. Thanks buddy.

[justiceischeap]

14. I've always had a soft spot in my heart

for my predecessors. Without history there is no future and in this particular fight, it is appropriate to look back to see how to move forward sometimes.

[mitchtv]

18. a couple of great pictures

those outfits on the group pic are too much

[Pab Sungenis]

15. The old ones were never the problem.

In fact, it was their struggle that got us started down the road to our rights.

[AverageJoe90]

16. Very good post. nt

[closeupready]

17. 'Smokey places' and 'shadowy corners' are still the rule for

a lot of people here.

I think there will always be a side of gay life that flourishes in such an environment.