September 22, 2000 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Profiles in courage

A look at the lives of six lesbian and gay pioneers

by Tim Miller

Just in time for the 2000 election season, David Mixner, once called by Newsweek "the most powerful gay man in America," has offered us an astonishing new book. These inspiring life narratives written by Mixner (with collaborator Dennis Bailey) provide a bracing challenge to lesbian and gay citizens as we face our political reality in the new millennium.

Brave Journeys: Profiles in Lesbian and Gay Courage (Bantam, $24.95) focuses an in-depth eye on six examples of lesbians or gay men facing their fears and fighting for justice: Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the San Francisco couple who founded the first lesbian organization, the Daughters of Bilitis. Bostonian Elaine Noble, the first openly gay person to be elected to state office in the Unites States. Famed British actor Sir Ian McKellen, who came out as a gay man, and an activist, on the BBC. Roberta Achtenberg, whose cabinet-level appointment in the Clinton administration was attacked with homophobic venom by Jesse Helms. Tracy Thorne, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who came out on national television during the 1992 presidential campaign and was forced to leave the military. And finally, Hispanic-American Dianne Hardy-Garcia, the executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, who fought against the explosion of hate crimes against gay people in her state.

As Mixner writes in Brave Journeys, "These dedicated trailblazers never set out to be heroes. Rather, they felt that circumstances left them no choice but to stand up and be counted, to join selflessly in the fight against bigotry and discrimination. In espousing human dignity, championing the disenfranchised, and confronting injustice, these leaders embody the best of American values-honesty, compassion and tolerance."

Tim Miller: The lesbian and gay community has so many stories and lives that are filled with courage and vision. It must have been both an inspiring and daunting task to regard this rich legacy and manage to choose six individuals. What guided your decisions for these profiles in lesbian and gay courage in Brave Journeys?

David Mixner: You are absolutely right. There are so many stories of courage, and that is why we wrote the book to pass on to future generations that this world that they live in was created at great price by some heroic individuals.

I was astounded myself at the number of choices and stories that we had to narrow down to put

Brave

Journeys

Mixner, of course, knows what he is talking about. Since the 1960s he has been an active participant in the fight for human rights in our country. From his involvement in the anti-war movement to his leadership of the Great Peace March to his unique position as a long time friend and ally of Bill Clinton, Mixner has been at the center of the struggle for justice. Perhaps because of the political acumen derived from his long history of activism, Mixner is able to tell these stories in Brave Journeys with great drama and a finely honed eye for the social history and context of the time.

Whether cannily placing the first meeting of the Daughters of Bilitis in the same cultural moment of 1955 that Disneyland opened or de-constructing the political cynicism of Gov. George W. Bush as he does everything possible to stop Diane HardyGarcia from passing hate crime legislation in Texas, Mixner's unerring sense of historical and political reality is impressive.

Hannah Arendt, the famed 20th century philosopher, wrote of the "banality of evil" in her examination of how average people can be swept up by hatred and bigotry. Mixner poses a compelling flip side to that coin in Brave Journeys: the completely extraordinary miracle of the courage the lesbian and gay community continues to find from within to fight for equality.

I began speaking with David Mixner about his book not long ago at a birthday tribute to Torie Osborn, former head of both the Los Angeles Lesbian and Gay Center and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and also clearly another one of our community heroes. With the beautiful nighttime display of the lights of Los Angeles basin spread out before us, we began a conversation about the power of individual lesbian and gay people to claim power and effect change.

PROFILES in

GAY and LESBIAN COURAGE

DAL MINVE

BAILEY

in the book. I realized that this tribe, this community, has evolved from a magnificent history.

In our research, we found that lesbians' roles had been under-represented and we wanted to be help correct that. For example, almost everyone in the community knows of Harvey Milk's vision and courage and sacrifice, but Elaine Noble, who was elected before Supervisor Milk is not as well known. We also picked stories that tell our story chronologically, from mid-century on.

Were there life-stories that were particularly hard to leave out of Brave Journeys?

We actually had written an entire story on Bayard Rustin, the famous AfricanAmerican civil rights leader, and I loved it. Unfortunately, our publisher took it out because so many great books are about to be released on his life. We also left out many incredible stories that have been told in one form or another. I really wanted to include one of the young students in high school who are taking up the banner, but we only had so much space.

In your many years of community service, you have witnessed first-hand many of our movement's advances and defeats. How different is it now to fight for justice for gay and lesbian people as compared to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon founding the the Daughters of Bilitis in the 1950s?

When you realize that our meetings had to be held with blinds pulled down [back then], or our mailing lists hidden in trunks of cars to prevent the police from finding them, or that people had forced lobotomies, or police raided fundraising events, you can't imagine it getting worse.

We have made extraordinary progress, but we still have young students being beaten in high school, people losing their jobs, the numerous cases like Matthew Shepard and so many things to keep fighting Hate doesn't take a holiday or know a

decade. We always must be vigilant against it.

As you researched and explored these truly heroic stories, what did you discover about the particular chemistry that calls up such courage from an individual gay or lesbian person?

I think individuals deciding they can't live in the closet any longer or live with fear. They rather face danger and an undecided fate than live a lie, live in fear or deny their gifts to society. It is sheer determination to live life honestly with great dignity.

All of our subjects we interviewed were filled with dignity and integrity. We were so fortunate to have been able to hear their stories first-hand. The other common thread we found with all of them was that they were surrounded by incredible people. As we interviewed people, and we did extensive interviews, many of those who were involved in battles with our subjects themselves could have had a chapter in our book.

Your own life has required you to find courage and resolve from within. Your role as both a friend and gadfly of President Clinton is surely one of the major challenges you have faced in your life. How do you see the legacy of Clinton in relation to the lesbian and gay community?

It is no secret that I have differences with this administration over gays and lesbians in the military and the Defense of Marriage Act. But like any other group, we can have differences with our leaders without being blinded to the overall picture.

Clinton's work on behalf of gays and lesbians will be one of the great legacies of his presidency. Everything he has done on behalf of the community has been a "first" and "historic." He had done more for our community than all the other presidents combined, and I predict that future generations of gays and lesbians will be hanging his picture in their homes and in our community

centers.

As I finished your book—with the GOP convention on TV in the other room—I couldn't help being reminded of what a truly charged historical moment we are all in right now. What kind of heroism do you think we try to look for inside each of us as we face the new century, and this significant election in the next few months?

This election year is one of the most important of my lifetime. Never before can I remember a moment when the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, the presidency, and the Supreme Court have all been up for grabs. We could wake up the day after the election with all those institutions in the hands of a party hostile to our community, or one that is flawed but basically friendly.

It takes no courage to hide one's head in the sand and not vote. It takes individual courage to become involved, to come out to family and friends so they are aware that the politicians are talking about their family, to give up time to protect our young and future generations.

Many of my friends who have died of AIDS, some from the neglect of the Reagan administration, would give anything to be here to fight, to vote and to obtain our freedom. It is totally cowardly to be sit on one's hands and commit the crime of silence. This election is crucial.

Like the subjects in the book, all individuals have to do is step forward and say, “Count me in." Then that individual has to organize, talk to their families and friends and give their time.

I promise them that if they do step forward they will experience the most amazing thing in their life... an incredible community, a powerful inner peace, a new dignity and the honor of being a participant in the history of their times.

Tim Miller is a solo performer and the author of Shirts & Skin, published by Alyson. He lives in Los Angeles.