Historian David Carter on Promoting Education and Activism

The following is a small portion of a much longer discussion with David Carter author of “Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution.”
The book has been optioned for a major motion picture. In this portion of the interview Pedro had brought up the issue of disconnect between the activist communities and the Gay population in general. David Carter provided two ideas that he believes could help connect Gays to there historical past and inspire progressive political action among
Bisexual, Gay Men, Lesbians, Queer and Trans folk.
Pedro Angel Serrano
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David Carter: Well it seems to me that we under-utilize some resources that are available to us.One story I tell in the book (Stonewall the Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution”) the bar scene wanted to keep people quite, happy, ignorant; because the more ignorant you are the easier it is to control you. So it was a fight that the Gay Liberation Front took on to go into the bars and to say “You have to have our news papers here, you have to let us leave our news papers here, and you have to let us leave information here.”

Pedro: They had to fight for that.

DC: They had to fight for that! People today take it for granted. But they wouldn’t even agree to distribute this stuff from under the counter. That’s how bad it was. And to this day like it or not, it’s a reality, probably our main social institution to this day is bars.Now here’s a true story. When Mathew Shepard died, an activist I know went to every Gay business on Christopher Street. We had the Mathew Shepard funeral, right, we had the protest of his death and so forth. So this person carried fliers to every Gay business on Christopher Street. Not one of them would put it in the window.

P: Tell it Brother!

DC: One of them agreed to put it on a side door entrance, but not one would put it in the window. OK?
That includes gay bars and every other Gay business on Christopher Street.”
And it’s an irony that because of the success of the Gay movement we’ve created a Gay culture that is so consumerist.
And I notice that when I go into Gay bars they would usually have essentially the publications that publicize Gay bars: HX, Next, and I’m not saying those publications shouldn’t be published or that they don’t provide a service to the Gay community, they do. But when I was an organizer back in Madison Wisconsin, We used Gay bars for Political Organizing Honey! We asked people to donate money to us. We have information to give out “You should write to this legislator.” We did voter registration cards. Since I’ve been in New York City, it’s been 21 years now, I have yet to enter a bar and see a table of political activists!

I think what should happen, this is my grand vision.
It seems to me that what we should do is try to have a program where we encourage people to go to Gay bars to give back to the movement. And I would say, “You’re going to give back 1% or 5% of your door or your drinks sold, something, back to the Gay community. And you have to provide access to us: at least once a week, what ever. And you have to provide access all the time for our publication, our hand outs. And create some kind of foundation that would receive these funds and distribute them. You’d have it well audited, so there’s no scandal, and really represent the community. And then bars that did that would get a sticker. Just like they have these stickers in the window that says “The music we play here is reported to the people who collect royalties for music.” They would have to have a sticker to encourage people to go to those bars. And using such an outline with what we’ve done in our past with The GAA (Gay Activist Alliance) and GLF (Gay Liberation Front) they would be willing to do that.

The other institution I think which is wide spread, you might say ubiquitous now is the commemoration of Stonewall. Which most people don’t even know is what we’re dong. We’re commemorating the Stonewall riots as Gay pride. Folks Hello Out There! Why are you marching in June, Hello! (Laughs) Darlings! (Laughs)
It’s to commemorate the history of the Stonewall Riots. I’ve thought about this a lot. Craig Rodwell who had the idea for creating for what is now called Gay Pride; it was originally call, um… What was it called? Christopher Street Liberation.
He did talk about it as a tool for increasing political awareness and political activism. But he also talked about it as a Gay holiday, as a Gay Carnival. But today I see it as 99.5% carnival and holiday and half of one percent activism. And I think it’s great to have a Gay carnival, as if the Academy Awards and Halloween aren’t enough! (Laughs) But when we have so far to go still to achieve our rights, I think that Pride commemorations should still be geared towards education and activism.

I’d like to see it changed here in New York, like it is in Europe. For example, as I understand it, in Europe I’m told that when you have a big public demonstration, there’s a manifesto published which states “this march is in support of these goals.” And by marching you have to say you support those in order to march. I think there should be a statement put out for Gay Pride marches “This march is in support of these things. For example, Gay Marriage, More funding for AIDS and you have to sign a statement that you support those goals before you’re allowed to march. And then if you betray that by your actions, if a politician doesn’t support Gay marriage, they should not be allowed to march! And it’s ridiculous! They should not allow these politicians to join in after Saints Patrick’s Cathedral. To me that is a great act of disrespect to our history, our community, and our people. That should not be allowed.

P: A politician is an employee. And if you’re not satisfied with the employee’s performance, then you’re not allowed to the party. It’s as simple as that.

DC: Yes. It’s a very simple concept to say “This year we want to emphasize Gay marriage.” Or “This year we want to emphasize passing an anti discrimination bill.” And say you can’t march unless you say you support this. And if your actions past or future don’t show that or “You said you supports this last year then you voted against it this year, sorry you can’t march.” So there, are two ideas I think that could use existing institutions more effectively.

Pedro Angel Serrano host Generation Q on 88.7 WRSU fm and Is a contributor to Out-FM on 99.5 fm WBAI in N.Y.