Talk:Welcome to the Gay History Wiki

The Lost 70's

I began my memoir Do You Live Around Here? when my partner was dying of AIDS. By the beinging of the 90's people were blaming what we did in the Seventies for the epidemic, and I wanted to let people know how incredible In the 1970's we invented our own community, refashioned our lives and lived out dreams of being creative, sexual, intelligent and persistent in ways we'd never thought possible. It was a time that fostered the ideas, artwork, fun and wisdom of many of the men who died. I appreciate what you are doing to honor them. I lived in Philadelphia from 1966-1971 when I entered the Peace Corps. My only homosexual experience there was an unfortunate affair with a fellow student,neither of us was ready to come out, and he never did, I just put it off until I got married, had a son and done everything expected of me. I missed Philadelphia's experienced with AIDS, living it San Francisco style where I helped create the Hormel Gay Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library to remind the community we had survived other catastrophies like Hitler's Germany and to preserve our literature that had never been collected and protected. In my memoir there is a sketch of a friend I never got to know because he died. Had this happened in Philley I'd be submitting his name. Thanks for keeping out experiences alive. --ChuckForester Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:35:44 GMT

Chuck- thanks for your beautiful post. Very moving to me! I love your whole story. I am a big fan of the Hormel Center at the SFPL. Eric Rofes was my biggest mentor, and the Hormel Center did a show about his work soon after he died. I am a big believer in archives and collections, and I am glad that there are people like you who are stewards for our history. Please stay tuned with my project, because I'm hoping that it will eventually go national, and of course SF history would be a big part of that. best regards, Chris --Harveymilk Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:05:41 GMT

Thanks for the interesting read :)

regards,

Ricky Paul --rickelz Fri, 14 May 2010 20:54:58 GMT

chris, when i saw your facebook post that walter lear had passed, i knew his name but wanted to learn more. his gayhistory page came up third on google and i was newly so grateful to your work + that this space exists. i've got my hands full and am no archivist but i will be working w/ an intern this summer who wants to do digital storytelling workshops. i'm hoping he will also be able to scan in a bunch of old FIGHT photos. wouldn't it be moving and fun to have recognizing-tagging-storytelling-wiki'ing parties?!?!??! more later. <3 --valobstruction Sat, 29 May 2010 20:38:06 GMT

Wish I could 'Like' the Gay History Wiki on Facebook.

--Faustino4 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:14:39 GMT

Being There

I, too, lived in Philadelphia during the AIDS pandemic. I helped provide care for my good friend, Jim Hymes, who died in the early 90s. It was then that I became aware of how it was that a very wonderful era in my life was ending. Jim and I had ventured away from West Virginia and traveled to Philadelphia via Columbus, OH, where we made many good friends. I don't know what caused me to search out this site today; maybe it's because I miss all those grand times now that I'm older. Maybe it's because I still miss Jim and the friends. Those were such intimate times; we were all getting to know ourselves, what it meant to be gay, what it meant to want to have a lasting relationship with someone, and what it meant to lose at a young age. We were incredible people then because we grieved every day. And through all that grief, we learned more about ourselves and about how it was that we were going to go forward. Strangers became friends as friends died. Once, in caring for Jim, I looked around the room at all the men who would be left when Jim died. How many would remain friends? How many would leave too. How many would become just names from the past? It's really nice to have this time to look backward for at least a few hours. For so much more, thank you. --fatherdan Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:41:59 GMT

Thank you Father Dan. --Harveymilk Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:54:09 GMT