At the Club: Lotg Early Black Gay AIDS Activism Washgton, D.C.

Contents:

• GAY FILM ‘PASSAG’ GETS SLAPPED WH AN NC-17 RATG
• TWO D.C. GAY BAR CTOMERS STABBED ON SIWALK NEAR DUPONT CIRCLE
• AT THE CLUB: LOTG EARLY BLACK GAY AIDS ACTIVISM WASHGTON, D.C.
• D.C. GAY UPLE ROBBED, PISTOL WHIPPED BUT U.S. ATTORNEY HAS YET TO PROSECUTE
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

GAY FILM ‘PASSAG’ GETS SLAPPED WH AN NC-17 RATG

Almost 30 years after the first DC Black Pri drew 800 people to Banneker Field for a day themed “Let’s All Come Together, ” more than 300, 000 members of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny of Ain scent and their alli have e to Washgton, DC durg Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate the bety of a shared muny and raise awarens and fundg for HIV/ AIDS the name and spir of Black Pri. This historic event was a llaboratn among many anizers and anizatns cludg the DC Coaln of Black Lbians and Gay Men and the Inner Cy AIDS Network, and ntued the tradn of the Children’s Hour, while also raisg funds for the HIV/AIDS anizatns that served the Ain- Amerin muny Washgton and the surroundg area.

Today, more than 500, 000 members of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny of Ain scent and their alli e to Washgton DC on Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the bety of a shared muny and raise awarens and fundg for HIV/AIDS the name and spir of Black Pri. While much progrs has been ma across the globe sce 1991, there remas a need to te the muny about HIV/AIDS and stand agast homophobia spired vlence and bigotry that remas prevalent throughout society. The followg year, to mark the first anniversary of the rts, gay activists across the untry anized march on the last Saturday of June and proposed that be ma to an annual event.

TWO D.C. GAY BAR CTOMERS STABBED ON SIWALK NEAR DUPONT CIRCLE

June 25 1989: A crowd para float full of sg and dancg gay rights activists pass through the crowd at the 1989 Gay Pri Para Greenwich Village, Manhattan (Photo By Walter Leporati/Getty Imag). The followg year, Welmore Cook, Theodore Kirkland, and Ernt Hopks me together to create an event program on May 25, lled 'Let's All Come Together, Black Lbian and Gay Pri Day'.

AT THE CLUB: LOTG EARLY BLACK GAY AIDS ACTIVISM WASHGTON, D.C.

The three men had been worried about growg HIV/AIDS enmic and envisned anizg the first Black Gay and Lbian Pri to raise funds for HIV and AIDS anizatns servg Ain-Amerin muni Washgton. One of the natn's largt and the first (1991) Ain Amerin Gay Pri events, attractg more than 35, 000 participants, DC Black Pri tak place Washgton, DC late May over Memorial Day weekend each year.

“The ClubHoe really turned to a space for folks to e together, raise funds, get accs to meditns, and share rmatn on issu affectg the Black muny, pecially Black gay men, durg those tim, ” says Hutton. For a full list of events, parti, and other important rmatn about the weekend, vis the DC Black Pri webse at READ NEXTIsland Hoe Staff Says “Keep Key Wt Gay”Missouri Sued Over Ban on Genr-Affirmg CareI’m Allan, and I’m More Than Kenough‘Monsters of the Amerin Cema’ Review: Monster High.

D.C. GAY UPLE ROBBED, PISTOL WHIPPED BUT U.S. ATTORNEY HAS YET TO PROSECUTE

Sce 1991, more than 900, 000 members of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny of Ain scent and their alli have e to Washgton, DC durg Memorial Day Weekend the spir of Black Pri to celebrate the bety of the LGBTQ+ muny and raise awarens and fundg for HIV/AIDS. Acrdg to Smh, that un, listed on the MPD webse as the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Liaison Un (LGBTLU), provis servic to crime victims, outreach to muny meetgs, and “trag and support to the rt of the partment as well as the muny. 's gay bars as well as gay-popular rtrants, hotels, and shops have special events and parti throughout DC Black Pri Week; be sure to pick up lol gay papers, such as Metro Weekly and the Washgton Bla for tails.

This say asks, how did black gay men who were disloted om the center of AIDS service and public-health outreach (by discrimatn or by choice) the early years of the epimic receive rmatn about the vis’s impact?

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

Drawg on archival materials, oral-history narrativ, and close textual analysis, I show how racial and class stratifitn stctured Washgton’s gay nightlife scene the 1970s and early 1980s. Communy-based narrativ about the vis’s transmissn through terracial sex, upled wh public-health officials’ neglect of black gay neighborhoods AIDS outreach, stctured the black gay muny’s belief that the vis was a whe gay disease that would not affect them as long as they mataed separate social and sexual works anized around shared geographic lotns.

The ClubHoe—DC’s most famo black gay and lbian nightclub—beme a key se of AIDS activism bee of s prr visibily as the center of Ain Amerin lbian and gay nightlife and as a lol venue for black lbian and gay activist efforts. And although natnal media attentn ntued to foc on the impact of AIDS on whe gay men, the ClubHoe emerged as a lol se where the vastatg impact of the vis on black same-sex-sirg men was both regnized and felt. On several ocsns sce whe gay-owned bars like the Pier, the Way Off Broadway, and the Lost and Found opened the 1970s, DC’s Commissn for Human Rights ced them for discrimatn agast women and blacks.

” Many black gay men wnsed whe patrons walk to the tablishments whout showg ID, while black patrons were asked to show multiple piec of ID, only to be told that the intifitn was unacceptable for admissn. DC’s leadg LGBT-themed newspaper, the Washgton Bla, reported the mayor’s reactn upon learng about the black gay muny’s experienc of racial discrimatn whe gay-owned tablishments: “Barry, who had not prevly met wh Black Gay lears, seemed surprised to hear about discrimatn by Whe Gay tablishments.