In the Life: Ep. 803, "February - March 1999"

on this edition of In The Life he had AIDS to be black and gay in the age of AIDS transgendered musicians making music making changes I was playing a role the role of David bu and Tammy Baldwin Goes to Washington all this and more on in the Life America's lesbian and gay cultural news magazine in the life is funded in part by the H van amaran Foundation additional support provided by the Gil Foundation the Ted Snowden Foundation the threshold Foundation Orlando ree William J Resnik the Mitchell Gold company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and Prejudice and in the Life members like you [Music] [Music] welcome to in the Life hi I'm Katherine Linton over the years in the life has worked to present a rich and diverse image of the gay and lesbian community on this episode we continue that effort by looking at a new movement to combat sexual stereotypes and at three musicians who can truly be called crossover artists we'll also meet a congresswoman who through her successful campaign has inspired a whole new generation of Voters I couldn't believe uh that it was really happening for a long long time that evening and in fact um delayed coming over to the victory party until uh almost all the numbers were in we need people like Tammy Baldwin who will remind us who will challenge us who will constantly tell us that we can do better [Applause] in our first segment we confront the troubling reality that along with diversity can come disparity this is no more evident than in the ongoing battle against AIDS a struggle that has historically been most associated with the gay community studies now show though that the African-American Community is disproportionately affected by the disease Paul Mueller reports on the rise of AIDS among African-Americans as well as the impact of class color and a lack of information [Music] [Applause] [Music] Quanza a unique celebration of African-American people and culture 1998 marked its 32nd anniversary observed by more than 13 million people worldwide each day for 7even days a Candle is lit symbolizing African-American Pride but in recent years this community has felt the deadly consequences of a devastating epidemic 16,000 people become infected with HIV each day and nearly all of them live in developing countries now here in the US the number of new reported AIDS cases is on the decline except in the African-American and Hispanic communities which are experiencing the disease in epidemic proportions more reported cases than ever before according to the Centers for Disease Control nearly 45% of the new reported AIDS cases in 199 7 were among blacks even though they account for only 133% of the population it's a national shame and a human tragedy that aids in America has allowed to has been allowed to become blacker Browner younger and more female Philip Hilton is Vice President of the new york-based national black leadership Commission on AIDS anywhere you have socioeconomically disadvantaged African-Americans constituting the majority of any population in any given in City town or Village chances are they're going to be living in conditions that rival those that exist in third world countries we do not have access to Quality healthare if we have access to healthare at all some people find out about HIV after they've been infected but that doesn't mean it's too late to stay healthy Kevin Hardaway tested HIV positive three years ago he remembers how he felt when his doctor broke the news kind of FID you know kind of frighten you know uh I knew it came with the territory you know uh you know I was I was scared people used to share needles quite often I've shared them you know before this virus was even mentioned but what Kevin didn't know could have killed him today he's changed the way he lives to accommodate the virus I have to take care of myself a lot better you know eat the proper Foods you know uh stay in tune with my doctor you know things like that things like that he learned as a client at beehive better existence with HIV a 10-year-old Chicago based AIDS service organization serving primarily African-American men who are or were IB drug users I think largely African-Americans especially in inner cities are dealing with so many issues that sometimes HIV risk is the last in a long line of concerns concerns such as um drug use gang activity um just surviving as the number of reported AIDS cases continued to rise beehive developed two new programs centered around issues within the African-American Community I think there's a lot of homophobia and a real denial um in the community to acknowledge HIV and AIDS as a problem because it means discussing drug use and sexuality it just came to a point where I said I want to live you know I don't want to die you know in order to do that you know I have to seek a you know help AIDS awareness reached a new level of national exposure in October when President Clinton responded to a call from the Congressional Black Caucus for action in the war against the disease the president declared AIDS an ongoing and severe Health crisis in communities of color and unveiled a plan for $156 million in additional Federal funding for programs targeting African-Americans and Latinos this is an unpr precedented historic initiative until the 105th Congress and the president of the United States pretty much came to to the rescue we never really had any programs or any specific funding to address those special needs that we have in the black community the Congressional Black Caucus came out and basically declared a state of emergency um in the African-American community in terms of the the AIDS epidemic and I'm glad to see Le leadership on a national level but not everyone is breathing a collective sigh of relief some like Hilton worry about what will happen when the money runs out this is just the beginning because this is a onetime only initiative once the monies have been spent unless additional monies are allocated by the 106 Congress and there's a continuing commitment by the Clinton Administration to make sure that we build upon the track record that we've established with this initial $156 million we're going to find ourselves right back where we started before good morning momentum how may I help you hi the leading cause of HIV infection in communities of color is IV drug use the momentum AIDS project in New York serves over 2,000 clients predominantly Ivy drug users African-Americans and Latinos a stark contrast to its gay white male clients when it began 14 years ago the gay community uh really worked to the disease with their money with their expertise with their various resources um they had a power base that they could use the more disenfranchised communities don't have access to that proper nutrition is momentum's primary approach in its outreach program and many of its clients are hungry and homeless in addition to the food we do a rather comprehensive nutrition program which is very important as nutrition is a co- therapy for people who have AIDS people who have compromised immune systems need a different foods from those who do not have compromised immune systems While most organizations accept clients only after their te- cells fall below a certain level momentum was one of the first organizations to offer services to clients who are newly HIV diagnosed if people don't come early there's no way to be preventive there's if you wait until people have been hospitalized a couple of times um you can help them but not in the same kind of way how you doing sister oh morning the show is good to see you Youk back in Chicago an African-American performance Ensemble uses humor drama and dance to address African-American gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered issues the members of a real read tell their own stories and write material from their own life experiences their mission is all about HIV and AIDS prevention to their Community he told me I should trust him he told me just where and how I should touch him he told me he loved me but he told me that he couldn't tell me that he had AIDS because that was too personal I may be dying but I got to stick around long enough to teach my baby so the messages that have reached the the white gay community because they're targeted to them have worked they haven't reached the African-American Community because a lot of the men in the African-American Community or some of them are what we call msms men who just mess around with other men and that is really one of the big things that is killing us it's Unique that we have an opportunity again to see a group of people on stage that are saying very clearly out loud I'm African-American I'm gay I'm lesbian I'm this bisexual I'm transgendered and I'm proud of it we are all part of this community we talk about the diversity of the community we talk about the rainbow but we often don't see it as the reality that man has got to be a homosexual the reality though for Kevin has set in and now he's offering advice to those who think they may be at risk for HIV if they're living this type of Lifestyle I think they should be tested you know period at the rate we're going right now I it's almost impossible for me to think that things can get much worse than they are at the present time right now in New York City one out of 50 people is HIV positive or has AIDS you know that's almost every street corner you're on that's almost every restaurant you're in it's every subway car you're in I knew I never should have gotten involved with that woman I knew I never should have gotten involved with that woman part of her power being she was a bad Butch who made women unravel come undone at the seams like Wonder Woman beneath their armor was desperate I knew I never should have gotten involved with that woman but somewhere inside she moved me to another country and I started speaking in languages I had never learned one of the most effective tools in the fight against AIDS is having the right information facts about prevention and treatment if you want more information on AIDS and communities of color contact the National black leadership Commission on AIDS or the national minority AIDS Council for these and other links to organizations working in the battle against AIDS check out our website at in theel tv.org this is Pamela Sneed for in theif [Music] when it comes to questions of sexual identity bisexuals are often misunderstood or misrepresented they're often portrayed as confused traitors to the gay movement or anomalies in the straight world but bisexual men and women are working to combat those stereotypes while taking the lead in debates over the nature of sexual orientation Jonathan Kart reports I'm not really straight and I'm not really gay all I am is me and what more can I say you tell me make your mind up how can I choose I can't play it straight or gay each way I lose I've got the Border bisexual BL when you're bisexual and you come out first you get all the problems in the straight culture that gays have child custody battles legal discrimination job loss violence battering but when you enter the gay culture as a bisexual you don't get immediate and unqualified support although the road to understanding has not been easy bisexuals have recently become a recognized social and political force last December Binet a national bisexual organization released a poster and statement in response to last year's xad Campaign which promoted the conversions of gays and lesbians to heterosexuality through therapy many of these people who the Wing is trying to scare straight May in fact be bisexual not only gay a lot of this ex gay movement is really turning gays into bisexuals or bisexuals remaining bisexual with more of a slant towards the other sex this possibility bisexual activists say has been overlooked by both sides of the ex controversy which have been debating whether or not homosexuality is a choice it's a choice to be where I am today um it's not a choice as as far as my my uh attractions or my sexuality perhaps one reason bisexuality has been overlooked is the fact that bisexuals are not as visible the problem with a defining a bisexual is if a man for instance is going out with a woman everybody can considers him straight if he's going out with a guy then everybody considers him gay so you have to know the history as opposed to a snackshot of where the person is at any one time in the past many people thought of bisexuality as a phase and that so-called bisexuals would ultimately choose between being gay or being straight I was a very public lesbian mother here in San Francisco and I fell in love with a man who identified as bisexual and I completely flipped out because I believed there was no such thing as a bisexual that I couldn't be a bisexual that I couldn't go back to San Francisco with a boyfriend oh my God what am I going to do people are always coming up to me both in in my my lesbian Social Circles and among my Straight Social Circles and they're always saying well aren't you people just gay people who can't manage to come out I remember going to the libraries and reading books about this and realizing oh this is just a phase you'll go through this and you'll be fine by the time you turn you know get in your late 20s well didn't happen lesbianism was a stage for me heterosexuality was a stage for me it's okay to have stages in our life the important thing to realize is that a person's sexual orientation is fluid and it changes over time so what you were yesterday you might not be today and what you are today you might not be tomorrow I've met official lesbians who had large numbers of affairs with men in their past and I've met so-called straight people who had three or four very passionate affairs with members of their own gender you think I could identify half the time but that's not as easy as it sounds in addition to issues of visibility bisexuals are also fighting stereotypes lesbian women have a hard time trusting that you could really love them and not want something different I think the impression that bisexuals can't be or aren't monogamous comes from the misimpression that being attracted to more than one sex or gender is assumed to mean that you have to have it all all the time and that you have to have both to be satisfied and happy I've seen a lot of bisexuals be monogamous and I've also seen heterosexual and homosexual people love more than one person and have multiple relationships I like it I like it with the with this lemon it's fine yeah Andrew and I have a committed open relationship he's someone that I've been with for a little over 3 years and it's the healthiest relationship I've I've been in uh I was very much in love with my my first wife I met her uh when I was in seventh grade I make a commitment I'm committed to that person I just believe in when being faithful one of the hardest things in 1980 when I came out as a bisexual was that um I became every straight man's fantasy you know oh my God now there's a chance to go to bed with two women if it was one of my sexual fantasies maybe we could talk about it but don't make assumptions about who I am just because I say I'm bisexual Jeffrey dorton Wells one myth I deal with all the time is that bisexuals bring aids to the heterosexual and lesbian gay communities lesbians who get AIDS or any sexually transmitted illness which any of us can get and bisexual women who get them get them the same ways unsafe sex with men um back in the early 80s they got it from blood transfusions because our national blood banks weren't screened for the AIDS virus um many many times there's a history of alcohol and drug abuse and IV drug use so the risk factors are the same for lesbians and for by women straight gay bisexuals are just beginning to dispel these myths through education and advocacy as a result the gay and straight communities are beginning to understand and accept bisexuality with all the bisexual transgender and interex people in the room please come forward so that we can see you all when I go to to gays and lesbians to negotiate coalitions and work with them they're now using the terminology gbt gay lesbian bisexual and transgender so when I go to lesbians and gays now often it's like oh well here's Robin she'll serve as the bisexual person in our committee my friend's son came home one day with purple nails and said yes he's bisexual and he says well that's cool I mean all the kids are except for those straight chocks all the work I did in the 70s was not erased because I came out as bisexual there's a lot of bisexual people who have given time energy love bisexual pride speaks to the truth of behavior and identity remember we are family and like a large extended family we don't always agree however we must recognize the importance of what each and every one of us brings to this [Music] movement in times of adversity art can be a Healer in our next segment Kate Bornstein profiles three musicians who faced the music about their gender choices and and in doing so found a much more honest expression of their art Dorothy Lucille Tipton was born in Oklahoma City in 1914 to a family that encouraged her passion for music from a young age her goal was to play professionally in a jazz band there was just one problem women in the Jazz business usually took a backseat to the men and darthy wanted time in the spotlight as biographer Diane midbrook explains darthy found an unusual solution to achieve her goal she was going to go audition for a job and in order to get it she was going to put on men's clothes she put on a man's jacket slicked her hair back went off auditioned for the job got the job went on the road came home with money in her pocket and from that day on they said she never looked back she saw that this was the way that she was going to be able to get what she wanted which was work in a band defying the odds Billy Tipton carved out a career in the music business that lasted more than 40 years Billy made his living playing music and that was hard to do he wasn't a star he wasn't a recording star for example he was never on television and never made it big but he had a very solid professional life on stage and in his private life Billy guarded his secrets so well that four of his Five Wives his three adopted sons and most of the musicians that he worked and traveled with said that they didn't suspect that Billy was anything other than then he seemed it Dorothy found in herself the ability to be an Entertainer an actor acting the role of a musician as well as playing the music and that that double identity was Billy Tipton Jameson green founder of FTM International a support group for female to male transgendered people suspects that there may have been another factor in Billy's Choice besides his love of music maybe he put it on as a way to get a job in the beginning or maybe that's just what he told people because it was a safe thing to say but ultimately there's a place where this becomes who you are and to take that identity off means not being yourself anymore so in that way Billy Tipton's experience much more closely relates to the kind of experience that trans people have as he was living as a man he was able to express himself as a man and able to actualize that idea identity was Billy Tipton a role played with consummate skill by an enterprising and talented actress or was Billy the real personality of the girl born as daroy Billy left no Memoirs or records so there is no way of knowing for certain what his true motivations were he did say to one of his cousins you know I'm I'm a normal person I'm not a freak I'm not a hermaphrodite this has been my choice this this way of life is has been my choice the important thing to to be understood about trans people is that they aren't being who they are not they are being who they are Billy described himself as a musician and as a man the most important thing about honoring Billy is not to take those identities away from him as a child David buner was a musical prodigy impressing his music teacher with his ability to site read music at the age of four he went on to study at juliard at the age of 17 and began entering and winning competitions after graduation his skills as a performer were in great demand and he also enjoyed success as a professor at the Manhattan School of Music and New York University but no matter how much he achieved David felt like there was something missing from his [Music] life I was playing a role you know I was playing the role of David buner very very well but it was I felt increasingly so empty inside it was not me and um the fact that I played it well brought no Comfort to me at a certain point I just basically decided I could not be two people anymore that's what it felt like it was just like being a schizophrenic and it was it was horrible it's really horrible in July of 1998 at the age of 39 David buner played his last performance then hung up his tuxedo for good Sarah buner made her debut in in September and along her journey has rediscovered her joy in music and what has been the most beautiful thing really has been coming in here to teach in a classroom with students who have come up to me in the Halls one person said you know you're my role model I never would have expected this in a million years okay this is all transitioned to the second theme professionally I assumed in a cynical sense the concerts would would come would would would I didn't expect it would explode but I thought that somebody would say hey that's going to sell tickets let's let's let's hire her and instead quite the opposite that's seems to have been totally shut [Music] down I've had a lot of people say to me you know uh it's really something that I see you now and I see you as I have the feeling I'm seeing you as you really are from the world of classical music to that of heavy metal transgendered musicians are making their Mark Christine Bey is the lead singer of glamazon a band she co-founded in [Music] 1993 I want people to see that um I'm a person worthy of respect a person worthy of civil and human rights usoc prach love I can see a lot of the songs that we do get into social commentary holy war which is the first song on our CD um takes the task hypocrisy and religious leaders and some followers Christine's inner struggle to accept her identity as a woman brought her face to face with some frightening issues in general I haven't gotten a lot of support for this um for my family from none of the people that were supposedly my friends at the time I became a major heroin addict and and um I was on welfare I was no good to anybody especially myself she found refuge in her writing in her work as a computer programmer and increasingly in her music there's just no feeling that can compete with being up there on stage with the the atmosphere just right and you know you're sounding good the crowd's loving you um there's just nothing to compare with that rock music tends to be male-dominated in the first place and so women being in rock that alone is is a challenging concept you throwing in the transgender issue on top of that um there's been quite a few doors that have been closed to me um on the other hand it's a great way to get people to pay attention to you I think there's been a lot of change in people's awareness since Billy Tipton's time the whole transgender movement has really picked up and the amount of Education that's going on now about what transgender is and what it means is phenomenal I didn't really have any role models uh when I was starting out other than you know the the top dollar prostitutes and uh um I think it's important for U people with gender issues to see that you don't need to go that route that there that you can be a professional you can be an artist you can be whatever you set your mind to be my parents knew I was different how could they help it I was wandering around the house in clothes I'd found in an attic belonging to my mother or my grandmother saying today I am a beautiful princess for more information on the life of Billy Tipton you might want to read suits me the double life of Billy Tipton by Diane wood Middlebrook whom I believe you've just met in our story for more information on Christine Bey and her cyber rock band glamazon you must surf your way to their website which has been magically linked to our own this is quenon crisp for in the Life still to come on in the life the off Bradway hit stop kiss wowing audiences with its comic Tale about love in a hostile landscape and gays and lesbians fight to march in ethnic Pride day parades but first the results in the November 1998 elections were in many cases surprising but in One race in Wisconsin historic Tammy Baldwin's election to the House of Representatives proved that a politician can be out without being down in the Life profiles a congresswoman who's bringing a little more diversity to the house on Capitol Hill as Tammy Baldwin Goes to Washington one of the most important fights being ways in the area of human rights in the world today is the fight in America over gay lesbian rights the progress we make really resonates worldwide and Tommy baldman is ideally placed to be a major participant in that fight how much do we value our children our families and the professionals who care for them because he such a good combination of of tough-mindedness and idealism yeah we should a native of Madison Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin began her career in elective politics 12 years ago serving four terms in the Dayne County Board of Supervisors and three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1998 the 36-year-old open lesbian decided to go National on Tuesday November 3rd send Tammy Baldwin to Congress I've always been very excited by public service at some point I asked a question of myself would would I be um more um influential would I have more impact and effect if I stayed in the Wisconsin State Legislature or if I took this risk and this leap and I I ultimately determined that I could have a bigger impact if elected to congress we need people like Tammy Baldwin who will remind us who will challenge us who will constantly tell us that we can do better though she received early support from from first lady Hillary rodm Clinton there were still questions about whether being an out lesbian made Tammy Baldwin a viable candidate in my campaign for congress um there was a moment during the primary election where I thought um we weren't going to be able to talk about anything else it was a six-way Republican primary and one candidate got involved in that race bound and determined to make the issue the only issue in his campaign when he did so he was so universally criticized and condemned for making this an election about um about hate politics um that in many ways that issue uh disappeared as a central theme Tammy Baldwin will take on issues that congressmen don't deal with like voters were pretty clear about telling me what they were concerned about people were talking to me about Healthcare and they were talking to me about education like fighting to protect our senior social security from Risky Wall Street investment schemes and ensuring that our kids kids will have a guaranteed quality public education the thing that was most distinct about Tammy was her refusal to be trapped in the corners of American politics what made her campaign unique was a determination to play it her way John Nichols from Madison's Capital times wrote some of the earliest Pro Baldwin editorials so often in any media coverage it would say Tammy Baldwin comma the first openly lesbian candidate for congress from Wisconsin comma that was like her full name right but as the campaign went on that started not appearing anymore and um she was able to break through and be referred to as Tammy Baldwin Democratic candidate for congress so there's a real ambivalence now Tammy Baldwin was also endorsed by Congressman Barney Frank and the gay and lesbian Victory fund which raised more than $100,000 for her campaign we have been helping Tammy certainly from day one but at every level uh giving her technical support if she needed it uh serving as a resource here in Washington serving as a cheerleader quite honestly is a big deal uh you know getting the message out there that she can win in addition to the support of the power players in Washington an estimated 3,000 volunteers were recruited locally if you went into her campaign office there were people were over 70 stuff and envelopes but there were also tremendous number of people in their late teens early 20s some of whom took off a semester of college just to work for Tammy Bal I had an internship at the campaign through the political science department and basically I would go there about 10 hours a week during the spring semester my role was that I worked on on campus trying to essentially get the people in the dorms the people who had just moved to the Madison area to go out and vote I formed the student organization students for Tammy Baldwin and basically starting to recruit volunteers students to get excited about the campaign student vote was an amazing aspect of our campaign we paid attention to campus um and and really made a connection that was very very important once students graduate a lot of times they don't have health care coverage and so um that was something that Tammy talked about a lot that what are you going to do when you turn 25 or 24 you graduate you don't have health insurance on campus on Election night on November 3rd there were lines of people waiting to vote they had underestimated how many people would turn out and they ran out of ballots and Ward after Ward we did it and through our activism commitment and hopefulness we also made a little history it really was such a milestone it was one of the happiest moments of my life I think when Tammy baldon won I couldn't believe uh that it was really happening for a long long time that evening and in fact um delayed coming over to the victory party until uh almost all the the numbers were in and that we were absolutely certain allow me to introduce to you the new congresswoman from the second district of Wisconsin Tammy F having someone like Tammy who was out and who was as respected as she undoubtedly will be who will be so articulate uh they'll see her and they'll see her as a very effective congresswoman who is not at all embarrassed or unwilling to note the fact that she's a lesbian she has that ability to to disarm people and I think that is one of the best benefits she will bring U to the dialogue in in Washington we have shown that in politics it's okay to dream about the future we want to create daav and lesbians in America have fought a lot of fights to be led in the room Tammy Baldwin I think is talking about a Next Step where gays and lesbians are accepted as human beings at the table every time I've taken a risk in politics be it on an issue or uh running for office myself there have always been a group of cynics or naysayers saying you know it can't be done um this has never been done before when I first started in politics I was told I was too young uh at other points in time I was told that I was too Progressive um you know a woman had never been elected and out lesbian had never been elected there were always reasons not to do it sure there were days I didn't know whether this could happen or not there were many such days but I always had Faith one of the um sayings that we repeated over and over in the campaign was um the the famous quote from Anthropologist Margaret me who never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world world indeed it's the only thing that ever not only is Tammy Baldwin the first openly gay non-incumbent to be elected to congress but she's also the first woman to represent the state of Wisconsin gay people they want to get married like straight people they want to have children like straight people uh they're having we're having baby showers I have no clue what I'm doing in a baby shower I I I had to have a baby shower for a friend of mine and I didn't know what to do I got them in Michelin tire it just seemed hello I'm Kate Clinton Tammy Baldwin acknowledged the assistance of the gay and lesbian Victory Fund in her successful bid for congress the fund which raises money and campaigns for openly gay candidates has supported Baldwin throughout her political career if you'd like more information about the victory fund and the work they do across the country go to the in Theif website at in Theif tv.org and I'm available for money at genius grant.com [Music] [Music] from the political stage we move to the New York stage where issues of identity are being explored in a new Off Broadway play stop Kiss by playright Diana sun has become one of the hottest tickets of the Season Tanya Barfield went to the public theater in New York to find out what the excitement is all about also um how long have you lived in this apartment uh five years well two by myself it's a funny not not haha story it's okay I moved in here with my boyfriend Tom this was his aunt's apartment she lived here for 20 years your rent must be lucky really you are well you know I got the apartment he got my sister critics have hailed the public theater's production of stop kiss as poignant funny engaging and unsettling it's the Bittersweet story of Sarah and cie two women who have never even considered a lesbian relationship and are unaware of their desires for each other the play centers on the repercussions of their first and very public acknowledgment of their feelings a kiss shared on a park bench okay try again and so you meet these two people and you and you see where they're coming from and you see each other's uh friends particularly center around Jessica hex character Cali the New Yorker and I play Sarah who comes to New York for the first time from St Louis and they meet they fall in love you know oh I like to go sometimes sure will you let me know when it's time to go sure and at the moment when they feel closest and they have a very honest and generous and loving kiss this kiss that just comes out of their friendship uh someone you know beats the hell out of both of them it's a love story about these two women who meet and it's also centered around um a gay bashing the gay bashing occurs when an unknown Intruder goes berserk after seeing the two women kiss what' she say she said I what she told him to off and he hit her he hit her with his fist he hit her in her back and he grabbed her away grabbed away from who from you I I was holding on to her arm with my hand like this I wanted us to leave but then he grabbed her and he threw her against the building started begging her head against the building and then he smashed her head against his knee like one of those wrestlers that's when she lost Consciousness and then he smashed her again playwright Diana's son did a great deal of research into anti-gay violence while writing stop kiss so the recent murder of Matthew Shepard came as no surprise to her when the Matthew Shepherd incident happened it wasn't a discovery oh my God this really happens but it's um terrifyingly likely you know that people uh perceived to be gay even uh are sort of so likely to be victims of of uh violence how do you eat cor on the cob around the world or typewriter Style typ what's notable about this sensitive coming out tale is the creative team behind it the playwright as well as the two lead actors are straight I totally identify myself as completely heterosexual if I met someone and then like this happened I mean it would it would be like it's it's familiar but it's completely not familiar so I appreciate that that that the play deals with the fact that it is is a completely new territory for these two people for Jessica hect who plays a lesbian on the popular sitcom Friends her character sexuality is not about labels it's about love people don't always fall in love because they want to be with a certain kind of person or they have a certain sexual identity that they want to exercise or they have a certain agenda in in their lives people often so often fall in love despite all ideas of who they are and and in this case these people fall in love to the benefit of their existence as human beings sometimes that the rush of identifying yourself the commitment to it sort of makes you want to narrow things and exclude things um and and I and I think that this plays so much more about opening you wait in line or online oh now I wait online but I used to wait in but Bally you're in a line not on stick to your guns I came no you say on I say in what about this why just said that hopefully what you see on stage are two people who just get each other who get each other's rhythms and who who deal with each other it's like okay you're like that okay I accept that because I just I just uh love being around you and you really get me and I think ultimately that's okay the basis of all love stories Try Again from the public theater in New York this is Tanya Barfield for in the LA [Music] there is perhaps no other country that is as diverse as this one and in the nation of immigrants many people look to their ethnic communities for a sense of identity or a connection to their Roots but what happens when you're gay well for our final segment in the Life profiles three organizations that work to promote cultural solidarity while making gay men and lesbians more visible in their ethnic communities I'm first generation Irish americ my parents are from Ireland so have always been involved with the Irish Irish American community I was born in India I'm from South India from carola I moved to the US when I was 8th I was born in New Jersey um my parents are from the [Music] Philippines my involvement with the Irish lesbian gay organization was from a listing in one of the papers the Irish papers in New York I saw the listing and that's how I got involved the Irish lesbian gay organization started out as a group mostly of immigrants that were recently arrived uh lesbian and gay people to serve as a social Center also a political Center and just to to form an informal network of people that you know had come from Ireland who didn't know that there were other lesbian gay people in Ireland or that were Irish or um to break down that kind of I'm the only one belief I came to the group because of the protest and I suppose my issue um more than being so IR myself is about the feeling that it's important for people to have multiple identities and it's possible to be Irish and queer when we're excluded from things that are um part of those [Applause] identities since 1991 Alo has been protesting the organization's exclusion from New York St Patrick's Day Parade the largest celebration of ethnic pride in the city courts have ruled that as a private organ organization the AOH or Ancient Order of Hibernians is entitled to decide who can be part of the parade there's an effort to say that we're a gay group rather than an Irish group one of the things that has been said many many times is we have our parade in June and so we don't need this other parade as if being gay means you can't be Irish in what has become a tradition in itself algo protests have been taking place for the past eight years on the morning of the parade people assemble at the 42nd Street in front of the library and decide to take the protest onto the street and that's where people are arrested uh another part in the past four years people have infiltrated the parade marched along the Parade route and at a certain point taken out banners asserting their queer identity and irishness and they have also been arrested there should be no CL it feels as if people certainly know about our efforts and every year people associate the St Patrick's Day parade with the protest against the St Patrick's Day Parade which is which feels like a victory while Alo protests at the St Patrick's Day Parade have made headlines year after year the South Asian lesbian gay Association or salga has waged a lesser publicized effort to be a part of the India Day parade for the past 6 years we first started organizing around marching in the India Day Parade in 1992 one of our members um Anita decided that she would contact the FIA in order to even just see if we could March she was met with the most kind of virulent homophobia they said something like um the first thing they said was well we deny your existence you know there are no gay people in India so we don't even uh understand that you exist and then it got even worse and they he said something like the the representative of the FIA said something like well my personal belief is that you should all be lined up and shot so um it it was that kind of extreme um violent rhetoric and hostility that made us realized that we didn't have a choice we really had to do this with the help of City officials the FIA or Federation of Indian associations gave salga permission to March but since then the group has been barred from participating parades are basically the way in which immigrant communities reimagine their Homeland you know know and the FIA really wants to reimagine India as um Hindu middle class patriarchal and free of queers and so in in some ways that stance um forces salga to be multi-issue and not just talk about homophobia but also talk about sexism and classism and um religious fundamentalism and take on all those um issues for Javid CED salga was a space where he felt it home both as a gay man and as a South Asian it was just great to be amongst uh an immigrant community that could understand my various realities someplace where I didn't have to explain what India was about whether there were trees or you know cows that we prayed to it was a place where we could talk about homophobia non-racist ways in relation to South [Applause] Asia saga's continued exclusion from the India Day Parade has for forced the organization to reexamine the ways in which it protests this exclusion in a less confrontational manner what we've been trying to do is create these spaces along the parade routes that will be about celebration of our diverse histories and sort of acknowledge the the you know multiplicity of issues that we're working on but do it in a way that isn't necessarily even an antagonism to the FIA but sort of just say that you know well we're here and we're part of the community take part in being visible in the Filipino immigrant Community is the main reason that kilawin collectio a Filipino lesbian Collective has marched in the Philippine Independence Day parade for the past 4 years I think it's great to march in the Philippine Independence Day Parade mainly for visibility so people know we out there there's this assumption that there isn't a big community of lesbians in the Filipino community and it's it's good to to break stereotypes some members feel that it's much harder to march in the Philippine Independence Day Parade versus in the gay lesbian parade because it's like coming out in your own backyard um to your to your friends to your family your your family is there your extended relatives are there um and it's it's really difficult um but what's been great about marching in the parade is that there has been that support show they can show as much cultural uh you know uh appreciation and diversity as anybody else in the Philippine independent Day Parade there are lots of beauty queens marching bands religious groups religious groups uh Regional groups yeah Regional groups celebrating their specific um region of origin so I think Filipinos just like to celebrate whatever group or Community they belong to so it's we're just part of that I don't know if if everybody gets the picture if they get the point but for people who do for you know like it does matter I know like years ago when I was in the closet and we were at the Philippine Independence Day Parade mainly to eat food um like a couple of my friends were like running back from from like marching the parade and they were like saying there's a group of like gay and lesbian Filipinos marching at the parade and that was like mindboggling to me it changed my perception and years later you know I I was marching at the parade and a couple years later my mother who's 76 years old was taking pictures of me marching at the parade for people who are isolated for people who who think they're alone I think it makes a big difference we're at a time where a lot of people think being lesbian and gay is just okay and easy and not a problem I think it's important to be continually saying what's actually really going on to not just you know an Irish issue it's it's about homophobia and homophobia is what spread the AIDS crisis homophobia is what will ostracize us and kick us out of our homes our ethnic groups and we all we all have to take our part to stand against that from all of us H in the life thank you for watching and we'll see you next time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] in [Music] in the life is funded in part by the H van amaran Foundation additional support provided by the Gil Foundation the Ted Snowden Foundation the threshold Foundation Orlando Reese William J Resnik the Mitchell Gold company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and Prejudice and in the Life members like you [Music]