2024 in Reflection

2024 roared into life.

*March 1993, Lynn Greer and Steve Shellabarger, Columbus, OH*

I had begun some serious editing during 2023, and continued to work away at it throughout 2024. In between, I picked up a few missing interviews, presented at two national conferences, a fundraiser and a theater screening, dug deep into several archives, attended four gay Pride Festivals and filmed a Jazz Funeral.

In January I reached out to two people who could help me define the LGBT political strategies, struggles and advances during the AIDS crisis and the Clinton years.

I had already interviewed William Waybourn, a tireless activist and co-founder of the Victory Fund (amongst many other LGBT/AIDS advocacy ventures). He put me in touch with Steve Shellabarger, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Lynn Greer, HRC & the Victory Fund. Both hail from Columbus, OH. The shoots were scheduled for May in Columbus and were brilliant.

Switching to a positive political thread gave me a break from the heavier material, and I gained further insight into early LGBT activism; the joys experienced when winning, and the determination of so many people to make change despite the defeats.

March I traveled to New Orleans, (NOLA), this time for a screening at an academic conference (Organization of American Historians).

*March 2024, Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, Past Moderator, Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC).*

From NOLA, I flew to Tampa Fl, to interview The Rev Elder Nancy Wilson, Past Moderator of Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC). Wilson took over as head of the denomination from founder, The Rev Elder Troy Perry.

“I was pastor of MCC in Los Angeles for 15 years during the worst of AIDS… You would get a call to be in a protest and, you know, there were four people in hospital that you had to visit and a funeral you had to do the next day, and maybe a family that was just dealing with the person coming out and, and then all the other normal things that happened.”

~ Rev Elder Nancy Wilson, reflecting on the AIDS pandemic.

*March 2024, Otis Fennell Memorial, Patio of the “Fairy Playhouse,” New Orleans.*

I “couch surfed” to extend my stay in New Orleans. I had been asked to video a Jazz Funeral for a past owner of the decades-old Gay bookstore in the Marigny.

The memorial itself was held in the patio of the “Fairy Playhouse,” which has become an LGBT landmark just outside the French Quarter.

Ashes of many heroes and heroines are scattered there, including those of Charlene Schneider, owner of “Charlene’s,” who was a significant activist and catalyst for change in the community.

*March 2024, Jazz Funeral for Otis Fennell, past owner of the “Farbourg Marigny Bookstore”.*

*May 2024, Jane Daroff and Jess Sellers, Co-founders, Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Cleveland.*

May. I interviewed Jess Sellers and Jane Daroff on the founding of PFLAG Cleveland. They talked me through the history of PFLAG and about the challenges facing parents of Trans children and how PFLAG helps.

I flew to Dallas to cover the 40th Anniversary of the Dallas Voice, the LGBT Community newspaper. The event was at the Round Up. I got some great footage and a T-shirt too.

I ended up running the camera atop a pole dancing platform, but that’s another story.

I’m glad I went. That was the last time I would see my good friend Mary Beth Boehm.

*May, 2024, Rob Moore, “Dallas Voice” Co-Founder, 40th Anniversary Celebration at the “Round Up" Saloon.”*

In June, tragedy struck. My niece, after a long battle with metastatic breast cancer, had run out of options. She was 47. I returned to the UK immediately and was able to spend almost three weeks with her. Heartbreaking. I got word right around then that both Mary Beth in Dallas and my friend Ann in Cleveland, had died too.

I’ll skip to September.

AIDS Survivor Syndrome

In all of the interviews and conversations I’ve had, the phenomena of “AIDS Survivor Syndrome” emerges.

So many of my generation who were close to the pandemic have a sort of PTSD from “exposure to mass mortality.”

In Dallas it’s called the “Lavender Rage.”

I interviewed Jax Kelly, who works with a non-profit called “Let’s Kick-ASS” focused on this mostly undiagnosed condition. The organization is based in Palm Springs with a mission to help people reduce the isolation and stress of living with AIDS Survivors Syndrome..

*October 2024, LaNita (Nita) Mark and Pat Habkirk, Wichita, KS. Helped fight the Anita Bryant initiative in Wichita 1979.*

October. I returned to Kansas to be on a panel called “Film in a fly-over State,” at the Western Historical Association (WHA) conference in KCMO.

This was a fun session and we all got to see each other’s work. (Look out for “A Slice of Life” about re-purposed “Pizza Huts”).

I also visited the University of Kansas and spent a long time at their incredibly extensive and well catalogued LGBT archives.

Back in Wichita, I picked up an interview that had been previously canceled due to illness. Nita Mark and Pat Habkirk are life-long friends and active in Wichita when Anita Bryant came to town to overturn their LGBT Civil Rights Protections ordinance. They had plenty to say about it.

*“Lafitte’s in Exile,” Bourbon Street, New Orleans*

November. I returned to New Orleans for a screening. I will not make reference to the election outcome that occurred during my stay, but will admit to day-drinking in the French Quarter that Wednesday. And well into the night. Starting appropriately at “Lafitte’s in Exile.”

As part of a year-long series on AIDS, hosted by the Louisiana LGBT Archives Project, I was invited (all expenses paid) to screen about an hour of the documentary, followed by Q&A. The event was held in a private 72-seater theater at the Prytania complex. This was the first time I had seen any of it on the “big screen” and the footage held up really well.

I was thrilled to received the following review:

“Beautiful. You tell the story as one of us who lived and loved through it all. You had the emotional courage to take us back to the horror that it was with the heroes and heroines of then and now.

The thread of love and courage in the face of discrimination, disease and death, serves as a tribute to our community for its strength during those dark times. It offers us hope as we confront dark days that threaten us now. Bravo.”

~ Ron Joullian, New Orleans, November 2024