Okay. Let's just get this right out in the open: Futon Cinema is a gay friendly venue. The biggest bummer is that, unlike a lot of straight, uptight folks whom I know when they are called to task, I can't claim to have a good gay pal right now. Maybe it's the town where I live in, maybe it's the lifestyle I live, maybe it's just because I'm not interested. Too unurban. No matter, I have no problems with fags, as I used to hang out with them in the service, and baby, if you've ever been out in the fleet, you know that swinging on that side of the line was just something that you put up with and tolerated, especially if you wanted your personnel records and teeth kept straight.
These days, instead of friendships, I hear stories about my colleague's siblings and happenings in the Big City where such things go on. I don't seek it out, as to be expected, but know, too, that that quarter is vibrant and cutting edge and happy in it's dealings. For one I know that the Gay and Lesbian etc etc parade in Seattle is about one of the most entertaining gigs going in the region, much more entertaining than our hometown parade fare. No matter, acceptance is a good thing. It wasn't always this way but things continue to get better.
So, it's to that end and to my amazement that I finally caught up with with Longtime Companion, a historical piece that chronicled the early days of the AIDS crisis and the gay community on the East coast. It was a moving motion picture and many times left me in tears. There was a story in today's LA Times about the long term persecution of these folks and that movie just made it clear that we have to, as a society, be more tolerant and move forward and get past our prejudices. Life is just too short.
But those navy days were filled with wildness and tolerance. Bugis Street in Singapore was a transvestite experience, as was Funochios in San Francisco. Gay action was all around us and yet it was just something to look past and deal with. For instance, when I was still a young man trying to find my way through the world, I found myself "stuck" at three in the morning with a randy young sailor at a bus stop in rural Japan. I was celebrating my last night as a sailor in Japan. My shopmates headed back to the ship early and I felt that I wasn't near to being done celebrating my long sought freedom. I saw a shipmate of mine walking along one the back alleys outside the base and hailed him. '"Seen so and so?" I asked and he said "yeah, sure, come with me". "So and So" was my then wife's old supervisor at the Exchange, he was also the man who gave her away at our wedding. I located him and thought, cool, a place to hang out until sunrise.
Wrong and right all at the same time.
The bar was filled with all the men who I ever suspected of being gay and it was wild. The music was crazy, the drinks flowed and my wife's old supe said to come on over to his house at the beach. Well, he never made it and my shipmate left his wallet in the taxi that we had taken over to that side of the pennisula. We sat there in that bus stop until dawn, until the buses started running again. It was edgy, to say the least, talking randy stories with a very gay and randy sailor until dawn, but we got through it intact.
I ran into that man years later on a bus on my way back to the Valley. We were both heading towards North Hollywood. I just finished up my county firefighter exams, he was on his way to his shift at The Alamo. He was a dancer, natch.
I have to wonder what happened to him, him and all the sailors in that bar that I favored during those last few hours in Yokosuka, Japan. Pobrecito jotos. Good and interesting men, all the way around. If I could I would like to dedicate a screening of Longtime Companion to them.
Action!
Review: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-adventures-of-priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-133443/review
Review: Longtime Companion:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/longtime-companion-29964
The LA Times story of the end of the greatest drag party in LA's gay bar scene:
http://www.latimes.com/theguide/bars-and-clubs/la-et-night7-2010jan07,0,3897754.story
Bummer, Bugis Street, Singapore, is no more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugis_Street
These days, instead of friendships, I hear stories about my colleague's siblings and happenings in the Big City where such things go on. I don't seek it out, as to be expected, but know, too, that that quarter is vibrant and cutting edge and happy in it's dealings. For one I know that the Gay and Lesbian etc etc parade in Seattle is about one of the most entertaining gigs going in the region, much more entertaining than our hometown parade fare. No matter, acceptance is a good thing. It wasn't always this way but things continue to get better.
So, it's to that end and to my amazement that I finally caught up with with Longtime Companion, a historical piece that chronicled the early days of the AIDS crisis and the gay community on the East coast. It was a moving motion picture and many times left me in tears. There was a story in today's LA Times about the long term persecution of these folks and that movie just made it clear that we have to, as a society, be more tolerant and move forward and get past our prejudices. Life is just too short.
But those navy days were filled with wildness and tolerance. Bugis Street in Singapore was a transvestite experience, as was Funochios in San Francisco. Gay action was all around us and yet it was just something to look past and deal with. For instance, when I was still a young man trying to find my way through the world, I found myself "stuck" at three in the morning with a randy young sailor at a bus stop in rural Japan. I was celebrating my last night as a sailor in Japan. My shopmates headed back to the ship early and I felt that I wasn't near to being done celebrating my long sought freedom. I saw a shipmate of mine walking along one the back alleys outside the base and hailed him. '"Seen so and so?" I asked and he said "yeah, sure, come with me". "So and So" was my then wife's old supervisor at the Exchange, he was also the man who gave her away at our wedding. I located him and thought, cool, a place to hang out until sunrise.
Wrong and right all at the same time.
The bar was filled with all the men who I ever suspected of being gay and it was wild. The music was crazy, the drinks flowed and my wife's old supe said to come on over to his house at the beach. Well, he never made it and my shipmate left his wallet in the taxi that we had taken over to that side of the pennisula. We sat there in that bus stop until dawn, until the buses started running again. It was edgy, to say the least, talking randy stories with a very gay and randy sailor until dawn, but we got through it intact.
I ran into that man years later on a bus on my way back to the Valley. We were both heading towards North Hollywood. I just finished up my county firefighter exams, he was on his way to his shift at The Alamo. He was a dancer, natch.
I have to wonder what happened to him, him and all the sailors in that bar that I favored during those last few hours in Yokosuka, Japan. Pobrecito jotos. Good and interesting men, all the way around. If I could I would like to dedicate a screening of Longtime Companion to them.
Action!
Review: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-adventures-of-priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-133443/review
Review: Longtime Companion:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/longtime-companion-29964
The LA Times story of the end of the greatest drag party in LA's gay bar scene:
http://www.latimes.com/theguide/bars-and-clubs/la-et-night7-2010jan07,0,3897754.story
Bummer, Bugis Street, Singapore, is no more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugis_Street
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