Daily Archives: March 14, 2020



You Might Like

Videos | Dating

Live Cams | Live Chats

 

NEWS

Saturday Night Fevers

Saturday Night Fevers

I have something in my spirit for our nightlife folks today…

I’ve studied the AIDS epidemic for a long time. The failure of the initial response was a true nightmare, when a handful sounded the alarm only to be ignored by the government and our own community. Telling people they can’t do something is really difficult. It’s hard enough asking folks to wash their hands, I can’t imagine telling newly liberated queers not to have sex. I’ve found a deeper appreciation for those activists this week. I am also aware that we’re going to have to have the sex talk sometime soon.  I’ve also found a new love for my community (from 6 ft away). 

What’s amazed me is how fast my chosen family
got in formation this week.

80% of my chosen family are DJs, promoters, performers, artists, which also means servers and bartenders. Our entire lives (and rent) revolve around gathering. Promoters plan events months in advance, paying for flyers, videos, ads, airfare for talent, deposits for venues. Many of us pay our bills one event at a time. This nightlife economy is now looking at the calendar with creeping panic. Summer and Pride are just around the corner. It’s a scary time. 

But…

What’s amazed me is how fast my chosen family got in formation this week. My feed is full of cancellation announcements that put our larger community’s health first, understanding we have LGBT seniors and folks with immune system issues we need to take care of and encouraging one another to break the chain of infection. I’ve seen people donating to promoters, refusing refunds for tickets, spreading correct information in a cool manner. 

There’s still so many questions about this current pandemic, and once again, we’re dealing with insane government incompetence, having to take care of our own. Yet, here we are, taking history lessons and applying them in record time. To folks that have made these tough choices, we see you, and so will history. 

We finally started to learn how to live without that other virus, and we will learn to live and be rid of this one too. There’s going to be alot of learning and changing to do, but that’s what we excel at. Our community and culture has survived for hundreds of years, and it’s always been one day at time. Keep being kind to one another. 

Leo Herrera is a queer Mexican artist, activist and writer. His work focuses on queer history, sexuality and nightlife. His latest piece FATHERS Project is a sci-fi web series that imagines AIDS never happened. Now streaming free at www.iftheylived.org.  Follow @herreraimages

Ed note: This is a first person dispatch from the stand-back-i’ll-pinch-myself-nope-not-dreaming present. If you have a post to share; an experience, an interaction, an expert insight, or just a great bunch of words, please send it on to [tips at towleroad dot com] with “Covid Dispatch” in the subject and maybe we can figure some of this out together.

The post Saturday Night Fevers appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.


Saturday Night Fevers

PHOTOS

better light

better light

josephmf posted a photo:

better light

he turned to place himself in better light that he had found in a nearby corner. the bike messenger. he would leave in the morning with the schoolbuses and wave at the crossguard and be seen again first by the children who played on the sidewalk on his way home. they called him by his first name and he tried but would constantly failed at learning their names hed make daunting trips on his bicycle to the grocery returning with a towering haul in his backpack. he was constantly working on those bikes. he rode in the rain and in the heat and on the good days too. always trying to help a neighbor out, awkward as he was. the other day he broke the hub on one of the kids bikes and bought him a new one the next day. returning with it early in the morning slung on his shoulder, riding his own. hed come home in the evenings and get high and listen to loud music till 10pm, when he’d turn it down just slightly. always friendly, a bit awkard, always laughing at the miss-timed jokes he made. some days hed work in the garden. he loved his grass and plants.

he had people that loved him. and he loved them in return. he had a home in a neighborhood he loved. he had a job he loved. he was loved by most everyone.

turning back to the dimmer corner he was always worrying the music was too loud. and he resented every one of the those awkward exchanges. he feared that there was something wrong with him which he could not understand when people seemed unwilling to be friends. he seemed to always have less friends than others. he feared he would always struggle through bipolar days and grew anxious over the fear of what they might keep him from doing. he struggled to not let these things keep him down. he resented the things which made him unique although he fought hard to find pride in them, to see them as beautiful. he hid them from his family and had not told most old friends or the neighbors. he hoped there would be a time to tell them.

better light

You Might Like

Videos | Dating

Live Cams | Live Chats