Today in Gay History

Happy 41st Birthday
Rudy Galindo (b. Sept 7, 1969)
the first openly gay American figure skating champion

Credit:
glbtq



With a stunning upset victory in 1996 Rudy Galindo became the first openly gay man and the first Mexican-American to win the United States figure skating championship.

Galindo came from a family of modest means. His father, Jess Galindo, was a long-distance truck driver, and his mother, Margaret Galindo, a homemaker. Rudy Galindo, the youngest of their three children, was born September 7, 1969.

His mother and father made enormous sacrifices so that Rudy and his sister Laura could become accomplished figure skaters as youngsters. Rudy won many accolades in the late 1980s in pair skating with Kristi Yamaguchi as his skating partner. She decided to move to full time women’s singles skating, and , depressed over the break-up of the promising partnership, Galindo turned to drugs and alcohol. He continued skating as a single, but with disappointing results.

Galindo's brother George contracted AIDS in 1992. Rudy Galindo became the primary care-giver until his brother's death in 1994. Only a few months later, Galindo's coach Rick Inglesi also succumbed to AIDS (as had his pairs coach, Jim Hulick). The previous year Galindo had lost his father, who had always been close to and supportive of him, to a sudden heart attack.
Discouraged by his eighth-place finish in the 1995 U.S. Nationals and short of money, Galindo abandoned skating for eight months.

Galindo lacked funds for travel, but since the 1996 U.S. Nationals were to be held in his hometown of San Jose, he resumed training, this time with his sister, Laura Galindo-Black, as his coach.
Discouraged by his eighth-place finish in the 1995 U.S. Nationals and short of money, Galindo abandoned skating for eight months.

Galindo lacked funds for travel, but since the 1996 U.S. Nationals were to be held in his hometown of San Jose, he resumed training, this time with his sister, Laura Galindo-Black, as his coach.
With a string of lackluster performances before his absence from skating, Galindo was regarded as such an unlikely competitor for the title that the United States Figure Skating Association did not even include him in its publicity guides.

After an artistic short program skated to Pachelbel's Canon, Galindo stood third, a result booed by the crowd, who felt that he had been undermarked.

Galindo's style had been criticized as too balletic and not sufficiently "masculine," but his long program, choreographed by jazz dancer Sharlene Franke to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, featured eight triple jumps, including two triple-triples. Galindo's flawless execution of a program that was both masterful in its artistry and athletically demanding drew a wild standing ovation and earned him the national title. His artistic marks included two perfect scores of 6.0.

Galindo thus became the first openly gay American figure skating champion. In the exhibition after the competition he wore a simple black costume with a large AIDS ribbon as he skated a moving routine to Schubert's Ave Maria as a tribute to his late brother and coaches.
After winning a bronze medal at the 1996 World Championships, Galindo turned pro, joining the Champions on Ice tour.

In the spring of 2000 he had to withdraw from a performance due to shortness of breath. A subsequent medical examination revealed that he was HIV-positive. Galindo suspects that he contracted the virus during his period of depression, when he practiced unsafe sex. Galindo made the news of his diagnosis public and quickly resumed skating. He is still active on the tour, where he is popular with fellow performers and audiences alike. His signature piece, "Village People Medley," is a particular fan favorite.

In the summer of 2002, Galindo was diagnosed with avascular necrosis in his hips, a condition that results in the death of bone. It is an increasingly occurring condition in long-term HIV survivors. Although he skated with the debilitating disease for over a year, in 2003 he underwent two operations to replace his hips. By April 3, 2004, he was ready to return to the Champions on Ice tour, where, skating on two new hips, he exemplified the determination and courage that has characterized his entire career.

Galindo has worked to increase AIDS awareness, especially in minority communities. He served on the National Minority AIDS Council, and in 2001 received the Ryan White Award for contributions to AIDS awareness, prevention, and education.

Happy Labor Day

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||



|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Do You Know What It Means

To Miss New Or-leans, 5 years after the Deluge

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||



|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

This Weekend in Wingnuttery

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

This Week in Gay History

August 22-25, 1968

At the Democratic Party National Convention in Chicago, a sub-convention of gay rights groups coalesced under the moniker of the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) met to create a Homosexual Bill of Rights and coined the slogan "Gay is Good," an homage to the Black Power slogan "Black is Beautiful."

Their non-violent gathering and meetings were greatly overshadowed by the large number of leftist anti-war groups coalescing in concert with the Youth International Party (Yippies) and other more “demonstrative” characters. Crapaud was there attending a college social fraternity annual gathering in Evanston, but did just barely escape being tear-gassed downtown one evening when he took a wrong turn on a walking tour. It was the first time I ever saw machine gun emplacements and armed soldiers on the street corners of an American city.

A number of lesbian organizations, still concerned over the lack of attention being paid to their issues, refused to participate. Daughters of Bilitis president Rita LaPorte compared the relationship between NACHO and DOB to a husband and wife. Heterosexual women, she argued, dissipated their energy through their marriages; similarly, lesbians risked dissipating their energy should DOB become a surrogate "wife" to what she perceived as the male-centered NACHO.

NACHO held national conferences in 1969 and 1970, but faded in importance with the rise of the Gay Liberation Front and others becoming more radicalized after Stonewall.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Constitutional Rights Should NEVER be a popularity contest

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

The Daily Advertiser Blogosphere on Steroids

The “N” Word

With no aspersion whatsoever to any rabbit we know, this little video cartoon subtly illustrates the Jekyll and Hyde aspect of multiple personalities disorder.

Having Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personalities) is a clinical condition. Assuming multiple identities to hammer your viewpoint home and having them repeatedly validate one another by clicking “recommend” dozens of times, well, that’s apparent Narcissism with an evil twist.

How many narcissists does it take to change a light bulb?

There are two answers, which often overlap.

(a) Just one -- but he has to wait

for the whole world to revolve around him; or,

(b) None at all -- he hires menials for work that's beneath him.

For a thorough lay-friendly exposition about recognizing Narcissists, try this link:

http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html#npd

There is a vast difference between those who have a healthy self-image and those who constantly display hallmarks of Narcissism. It takes a pretty good opinion of oneself for anyone to post our thoughts in blogs or comments in these digital pages. Most here have that healthy confidence that makes us interested in and respectful of the views of others.

The few “N”s here who assume multiple identities fool no one. They deflect when caught in lies, have a grossly exaggerated sense of the value of their own opinions and totally lack empathy. When called upon by their peers here to offer even the simplest apology when everyone else agrees they’ve displayed inhumanity, they ignore and only make more self-serving comments. To bolster their self-esteem the “N”s here create multiple user identities. This allows the Narcissist to pat himself on the back, comment on his own blogs, etc. Once he has created a dozen or more blogger personalities, he is then free to “recommend” himself repeatedly.

“…. it's possible to get along with narcissists, but it's probably not worth bothering with. If family members are narcissists, you have my deep sympathy. If people you work with are narcissists, you will be wise to keep an eye on them, if just for your own protection, because they don't think very well, no matter what their IQs, they feel that the rules (of anything) don't apply to them, and they will always cut corners and cheat wherever they think they can get away with it, not to mention alienating co-workers, clients, and customers by their arrogance, lies, malice, and off-the-wall griping. Narcissists are threatened and enraged by trivial disagreements, mistakes, and misunderstandings, plus they have evil mouths and will say ANYTHING, so if you continue to live or work with narcissists, expect to have to clean up after them, expect to lose friends over them, expect big trouble sooner or later. ”

End the so called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Today in Gay History

BREAKING NEWS ~~

The U S District Court for the northern district of California, ruled today that California's Proposition 8 violates both the Due Process and the Equal Protection principles of the U S Constitution. The full text of the decision can be found HERE.

This L A N D M A R K decision will now wind its way through the appeals process. Pray that at least one activist Republican S Ct Justice (Kennedy?) will do the right thing by the law in favor of freedom. Otherwise the case will end in a year or so with the ROBERTS COURT 5-4 repeating the Plessy v Ferguson canard of equality.

One of those rare days where my people cry many happy tears.

Today in Gay History

HAPPY 86TH BIRTHDAY

James Arthur Baldwin, (August 2, 1924-1987)

AMERICAN AUTHOR OF ARTICULATE CHALLENGES TO RACISM AND MANDATORY HETEROSEXUALITY

James Baldwin, a pioneering figure in twentieth-century literature, wrote sustained and articulate challenges to American racism and mandatory heterosexuality.

The circumstances of Baldwin's birth were unremarkable: He was born on August 2, 1924, at Harlem Hospital in New York City to a poor, unmarried, twenty-year-old woman named Emma Berdis Jones. But his death sixty-three years later on December 1, 1987, at his home in southern France was an event reported on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Indeed, his journey from a difficult childhood in Harlem to his eventual status as a legendary artist with a large and loyal international audience constitutes one of the most compelling American life-stories of the twentieth century.

Baldwin is a pioneering figure in twentieth-century literature. As a black gay writer in a culture that privileges those who are white and straight, he offered in his work a sustained and articulate challenge to the dominant discourses of American racism and mandatory heterosexuality. As an African-American writer, he ranks among the finest. As a gay writer, he occupies a preeminent place.

Long before the Stonewall Riots of 1969 helped liberate the gay literary imagination in the United States, he boldly made his sexuality a vital part of his artistic vision. Even more important, by insisting on honest and open explorations of gay and bisexual themes in his fiction, he made a sharp break from the established African-American literary conventions. Through such a radical departure from tradition, he helped create the space for a generation of young African-American gay writers who succeeded him.