Video Beaverhausen and The Gay Deceivers

I saw The Gay Deceivers in 1969, the year I graduated high school and just prior to the Stonewall riots. Of course, the film was quickly reviled by the LGBT community for its depiction of gay men. I don't recall there being any age restrictions on this movie at the time that I saw it at Paterson, NJ's US theater when I was 17.

It was directed by Bruce Kessler who went on to do the campy action feature Get Christie Love.

The film is certainly no more offensive to me than 2007's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry starring Adam Sandler and that King of Queens guy, and maybe even less so.

The color cinematography by Dick Gouner (ahem!) is absolutely fabulous. In fact, the entire production is steadfast and fun. The film, now on dvd, is just over 90 minutes and moves at a brisk, comedic pace.

After I graduated h.s. in 1969, I traveled to California. I got lost in L.A. and hitchhiked on the freeway. I got a lift from a group of gay men on their way to a party who asked if I were gay. At the time, I didn't understand my own sexuality and turned down the invite. I have to say the men in the car were not much less florid, during the time, than the Deceivers characters. And they were young and sexy.

The plot involves two guys pretending to be gay to avoid military recruitment at the time. You may be surprised by the outcome. It's very funny, tucking away political correctness, and deserves a new discovery on video.

Click Your Heels Three Times: Pride Comes to Manhattan!

We're one week away from Manhattan's Gay Pride March and celebrations (notably the Pier Dance) that culminate in fireworks over the Hudson.

Judy by Avedon

But today, June 22, is the day Judy Garland came to the end of her rainbow. It's said her passing helped spark the Stonewall Riots. There are, respectfully, many Gay Pride celebrations internationally but it all originated in Manhattan, NYC, at the Stonewall bar that still stands at its original location on Christopher Street in the West Village.

Hot time, summer in the city, back of their necks getting dirty and gritty... especially if they had wigs on! The Stonewall patrons lost their icon, Judy G, and were NOT having it that night in 1969!

Today, however, a very fair one in NYC, Folsom Street East, an outdoor LGBT fetish festival, was celebrated. The tres-gay event for "sexy kinksters" took place on west 27th Street between 10th & 11th Ave. after a hiatus last year.

The time is right to come out, come out wherever you are in NYC! Pride is in the air!

Gay Pride: Ghosts of Pride Past, Present and Future

Pride March 1974

I'm reaching into the deep past to conjure up my early remembrances of the NYC Pride march. I hope I don't scare anybody with the "age" issue. Age stereotyping and discrimination is still very prominent in the gay community which, like the dance-music world, can be a tad thorny for me at moments. But, I mean, I'm still hep! I'm still youthful! I'm "Forever Young!" I can still disco down without fear of hip replacement or heart attack! I swear to God! It's just that I've just been around  awhile -- oh, and, yes, in so many ways as you may have guessed.

It's a riot!

The Stonewall riots occurred the summer after I graduated high school. Class of '69, my class was actually named "the '69ers," (I kid you not.) So, after graduation from University of Colorado, my second boyfriend invited me to go with him to GAANJ (Gay Activists Alliance of New Jersey). Consequently, I decided I'd walk with him/them in the New York City Gay Pride march in '74.

The march was unofficial and not sanctioned by the City or then-Mayor, Abe Beame. Consequently, we had to march on the sidewalks, not in the road. Traffic was not stopped, there was no police protection nor overboard crowd-control equipment nor onlooking crowds. There were no vendors selling souvenirs, no floats, no pier dance to go to, no go-go boys but, yes, the drag queens were there.

The route for these early marches went from Christopher Street, where the riots took place, uptown to Central Park. It got media attention, of course. At the band shell in the park, there were performances. Then everyone took the subway or cabbed it back downtown to go to the bars and discos on and around Christopher Street, where most gay action was located at the time.

Go-go gods

The march has become more sophisticated, but also more commercial, predictable and overly controlled. However, Heritage of Pride is to be highly commended for all the effort they put in annually to present an organized, fun and respectful event each year.

From 1993 through 2011, I lived in a cramped studio apartment off the corner of Fifth Ave & 8th St in Manhattan. Even when I far outgrew it with material things, I held onto it because (a) it was rent-stabilized, (b) location location location and (c) the Pride march passed by, right out front. Many brunches, coffees and cocktails were served up for my friends, plus there was a restroom and a space to sit down when standing got too much or the heat outside got too intense. Good times! Before that cushy situation, I alternately marched or watched. 

This year, I'll be commuting in from Bay Ridge. But I will be there, eager to catch the start with Dykes on Bikes and Cyndi Lauper, its Grand Marshal. I will probably go to the Gay Pride march for my lifetime, remembering my first marches that felt so civil-disobedient. Watch out for my walker!

Every year, my Dr Spinelli reminds me: "Be safe!" And, every year, I say to him: "At my age, what (or who) do you think I'm gonna do??!?" (Of course, I guess you (and I) never know.)

Happy LGBT Pride to all for 2012!