I lived unapologetilly as a Black gay man the 70s. Now I’m agg wh pri & digny. – SAGE

Contents:

• BLACK, GRAY AND GAY: THE PERILS OF AGG LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR
• INVISIBLE NO MORE: BLACK GAY MEN OVER 50 ARE FDG THE SILVER LG
• I LIVED UNAPOLOGETILLY AS A BLACK GAY MAN THE 70S. NOW I’M AGG WH PRI & DIGNY.
• THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.

BLACK, GRAY AND GAY: THE PERILS OF AGG LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR

While battlg the vlence of Jim Crow laws and backlash om the civil rights movement, many of the folks were ncurrently alg wh homophobia and transphobia, durg a time when homosexualy and sodomy were agast the law and offered another reason for vlence. Even out gay activist Bayard Rt, one of Mart Luther Kg Jr.

In a 1970 speech, Huey Newton, Black Panthers founr, said, “The women’s liberatn ont and the gay liberatn ont are our iends, they are our potential alli, and we need as many alli as possible. But all of this, bed wh ntemporary society’s ntued ageism, racism and homophobia n mean severe systemic jtice, visibily and a lack of rourc for Black LGBTQ senrs. Who self-intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) — about 1.

INVISIBLE NO MORE: BLACK GAY MEN OVER 50 ARE FDG THE SILVER LG

Nursg hom and other long-term re facili are pecially problematic for black LGBTQ elrs, acrdg to Kenh Mchell, 62, a black gay man livg New Orleans. “People need to be able to be their te selv; beg fearful and strsed impacts your qualy of life and your physil and mental health, " add Mchell, who serv as a board member for New Orleans Advot for GLBT Elrs (NOAGE) Burgs, 65, a black gay man Washgton D.

“It’s not the same as beg a young gay person; there’s ls to do, and many of our peers have died om the AIDS epimic, ” he said. Plans ll for 15 efficiency uns, a “stone wall” on the grounds memoratg the 1969 Stonewall Inn Rts and a yellow brick road — a nod to days past when gay men would clanstely intify each other by askg, “Are you a iend of Dorothy?

But his story would not mirror those of his iends whom he laid to rt, stead, would bee the impet he need to -create “The Silver Lg Project, ” a group that would impact his life and the liv of Black gay men livg wh HIV, particularly those over 50 who are often renred visible the broar Black gay, the Director of Programs at Thrive SS, an Atlanta-based non-prof anizatn dited to providg support to Black gay/bisexual men livg wh HIV, rells the moment he was lled to actn by Thrive SS Executive Director, Larry Walker, to create a space that reflected his experience as an olr Black gay man livg wh HIV.

I LIVED UNAPOLOGETILLY AS A BLACK GAY MAN THE 70S. NOW I’M AGG WH PRI & DIGNY.

It was their first step towards creasg the visibily of Black gay men livg wh HIV over 50 and ensurg they ntued to have a sense of muny. Lonels is a topic that often up for Black gay men of any age but is often tensified for men over 50.

Bridgg the gap between the Obas and younger Black gay men is a key iative for “The Silver Lg Project’s” immediate future, pecially the face of ageism and risg HIV diagnos Metro Atlanta. Reid’s advice to young Black gay men who may wre off men his age group is “to keep on livg. As a gay Ain-Amerin man, I am an activist and a pneer.

New York Cy has always been a signifint fluence on gay life, art, mic, fashn, merce, and novatns on all onts. But even so, I accepted my tth and began to live unapologetilly as a gay Ain-Amerin man. I ma a pot to nurture iendships wh young gay people, mostly people of lor.

THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.

Most of my gay and bi iends attend venu that attracted people like me, where nightlife was flourishg and the creative muny thrived. I saw the 70’s as a “Goln Age” of gay life and eedom of self-exprsn.

Together, gays and lbians anized muny events, prepared meals, and iated hog projects for sufferg people who had been on the street. The late great Larry Kramer found Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP, two anizatns that changed the narrative New York Cy and the world, vokg lifavg solutns and rourc for the LGBTQ muny. He was rponsible for preparg discharge and reassignment paperwork, and sometim he would have to dishonorably discharge men for beg gay.

“At that time I realized that I was gay, and was jt difficult to know that people were beg discharged for the same thg that I was my life. ”“What bothered me the most was havg to talk to the guys that were beg discharged, and they were not a good state of wellns anyway, bee at that time, was illegal or nsired mental problems to be gay, ” he Cunngham, 82, and Richard Prtt, 78, have llectively spent 115 years the closet. Godss Magora Kennedy, who participated the Stonewall uprisg, and Pl Barby, who ran for Congrs as an openly gay man 1996 and 1998.