In the Life: Ep. 1203, "Movers & Shakers" [repeat]

on this edition of In The Life The Game Wizards of Wall Street eating warnings about hepatitis and hedvig and the Angry Inch goes to the movies all this and more on in the Life America's Gay and Lesbian News Magazine in the life is funded in part by the H van Ameren Foundation additional support provided by Rick Weiland Peter Zimmer and Jim stepp the Gill Foundation the Reed Williams foundation the Mitchell Gold company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and Prejudice and the annual support of in the Life members like you foreign ton stormy it seems like an appropriate name for a woman who for over 80 years has weathered her share of controversy and confrontation on this episode of in the Life we'll profile stormy de la vie a lesbian Pioneer who's been at the center stage of gay life for decades from a male impersonator in the groundbreaking drag show called The Jewel Box review to the spark that some say ignited the Stonewall riots de la vie has become a living legend correspondent Daniel karzlike reports on countries where gay men and lesbians serve openly in the military and Mason SF with the campaign to combat hepatitis basically there's two different kinds oh they look great with the city committed to a hepatitis initiative Drew Emery at the public health department was the man to make it happen one of the messages that we're promoting is That vaccine makes you stronger because it does you are going to fight disease before it gets to you but first we turn to the world of Finance it's a high-powered domain not historically known for its gay friendliness but thanks to a few courageous gay men and lesbians that is quickly changing in fact this spring when the gay Financial Network published its second annual list of the 25 most influential out Executives in Corporate America even Fortune Magazine took notice in the Life decided to take a closer look at this new breed of activism Andy hum has the story gay Financial Network founder Walter Schubert is a third generation member of the New York Stock Exchange and when he came out in 1994 he also became the first openly gay person to hold a seat there needless to say it wasn't easy being the first one out in the conservative world of Wall Street growing up as a gay man I did not have anyone that I could turn to to seek as a role model someone to give me courage someone to point the way for me if I wanted to live my life openly and honestly and we felt that to identify the quiet but yet constructive efforts made by individuals those Role Models would encourage today's youth and other not so young folks in the workplace that initiative led to the creation of the gfn 25 now in its second year the gfn 25 is a survey done annually by gfn.com seeking to identify the 25 most powerful openly gay and lesbian Executives in Corporate America each of the gfn.com 25 have in their own way help change attitudes in Corporate America in the Life caught up with two who offer very different examples of the kind of behind the scenes activism that is reshaping our economic and cultural landscape with the Myers Pride fund money manager Shelley Myers has proven that being gay friendly is not only viable for Corporate America it's profitable Morningstar the leading provider of investment information has given its highest rating to the fund those early articles in the financial press we're saying yeah but what about the performance you know is this woman going to make any money and I'm very proud to say that this is a five-star Morningstar fund and today one of the top 25 funds in the country the pride fund is a mutual fund that only invests in companies that have written anti-discrimination policies in place for gays and lesbians yeah the reasons I started this Pride fun is there wasn't a product out there that really focused on issues of job discrimination for gays and lesbians and I felt that tied into management teams that have the vision and the open-mindedness that I think managers need to have in order to provide Superior returns here in the 21st century and second is so important for gays and lesbians to start thinking about providing for their Futures Shelley has stuck to a very disciplined approach not sacrificing her focus on value and yet at the same time is able to marry that with companies who also have very strong and explicit policies protecting gays in the workplace the only gay member of the senior management team at JPMorgan Chase Martin Atkin has been instrumental in the development of non-discrimination policies domestic partner benefits and an LGBT employee group I feel that by being gay is something that is front and center for either myself or for the colleagues around me while I have been through my process of coming out and operating as an openly gay man in this environment similarly Corporate America and JP Morgan specifically has been through many changes which reflect that same kind of Journey policies are changed by people attitudes are changed by experience and openly gay human beings in the context of the workplace especially in Senior Management levels are changing the attitudes and the awareness of corporate America for the better towards the gay community we were very early in doing uh specific recruiting JP Morgan was the first to do the DP benefits for sensex partners that is more broadly true now of the financial services industry and frankly the way in which we now approach the Gan lesbian community feels very little different to me than the way in which we approach the African-American Community or the Hispanic Community we don't just passively look for companies that have these policies we engage company managements and active discussions about their policies and I have a unique not just me but Wall Street has a very unique door open to them when it comes to company management we get invited to numerous lunches and dinners with the top Executives we have access to the top Executives that you simply would not get walking in through the front door and I feel like I can make a different kind of contribution behind the scenes we are not going to have full civil rights in this country until we come out in Mass I can understand why people don't come out people are afraid of losing their jobs now we need to make the workplace a safe place more and more companies have to take seriously that here is a five-star fund which will potentially invest in their company but only if that company has stated anti-discrimination policies so I think Shelley Myers has done a great deal to advance equal rights civil rights for Americans who are gay Martin has articulated extremely well through the management of JP Morgan that you would rather have your Workforce in the office dedicated to doing a good job and maximizing their productivity rather than having them closeted and spending a great deal of energy covering their tracks and hiding the fact that they're gay I've been far more successful since I was able to integrate the professional side of my life and the personal side of my life in a very open and clear way I know that will be true for most others and contribution not only to me as an individual but to the firm I see the benefit to the firm very clearly we don't compete by making a better car we compete by putting better teams of people in front of our clients and if we're to put the best in front of our clients we need to attract the best and the best isn't single complexion of personal it's a diverse complexion of person yeah we're beginning to see the role models and we're beginning to see the success stories and we're not only beginning to see these stories but we're beginning to see how these people have made a difference where it hasn't necessarily jeopardized their jobs it would be great to see Universal adoption of anti-discrimination policies Universal adoption of DP benefits for gays and lesbians because I believe that those two actions by Corporate America are highly visible and highly measurable I'd like to see the vast majority of gays and lesbians investing for their own Financial Security to me an ideal world is that we don't have to do interviews like this anymore and that my fund becomes completely and totally obsolete I guess as a segue back to the gfn 25 that's kind of why we've gone out there to highlight these individuals and to highlight those corporations that are truly understanding that diversity is good for the bottom line and it's also good for the corporate soul and the corporate culture I'm not going to say that that process of change is over there's yet more to be done and I'm sure we have you know Bridges yet to cross that we may not have to fully identified but um we are certainly out there making the progress and it's irreversible most people don't spend much time preparing themselves for unexpected losses and while legal marriage carries with it a series of statutes that automatically protect Partners in many such situations lesbians and gay men enjoy none of these protections unless we make our own Provisions there's no way to secure all of the rights of marriage but we can protect ourselves and our families by creating Wills Powers of Attorney and parenting agreements to name a few resources include Regional and National organizations as well as a growing number of law firms that practice or even specialize in this area of law to locate resources in your area look for a link on the in the Life website at inthelifetv.org I'm Kate Clinton and you're watching in the life when it comes to Summer Escapist films you might not think that a movie musical about a transsexual rock singer would make the list but this July audiences will be introduced to hedvig and the Angry Inch not since the release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show 25 years ago has such an outrageous transgender character held front and center in a musical film but something about the troubled hedvig recently won the hearts of audiences and critics at both the Sundance and Berlin film festivals Hedwig in the Angry Inch might very well be the summer film that allows moviegoers to escape to a place of meaning and wonder it's the story of an East German Army Wife who's a transsexual and a rock and roll singer and she tells her story of how she used to be a boy in East Berlin and she got a sex change to marry an American GI so she could get over the wall that GI then whisks Hedwig off to Kansas but not before the sex change operation is botched leaving hedvig with you guessed it an Angry Inch but it's pretty serious at times too and pretty funny at times too I hope what I love so much about this film is it's so incredibly complex with the gender twists and identity if if there was ever a movie that's truly this unique I think it's Hedwig I mean I don't know why it just strikes a chord with people John Mitchell and I met on a plane flying back from Los Angeles we were the only two people on the plane not watching the in-flight movie and I moved my seat so I didn't have to watch the movie and I sat next to him and we became friends Mitchell teamed up with composer Lyricist Stephen Trask together they developed the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production it was just a story that we were telling and I guess we told it well enough so that it could appeal to a fairly diverse audience you want to walk on that new song the hit when I finish trimming your eyebrows through songs and flashbacks Hedwig relates how she finds a protege in Young tominosis Who aspires to be a rock star for his graduation present I gave him his name Tommy knowsus the Greek word for knowledge songs exploded out of us teenage girls started showing up three months we were out grossing monster trucks in Wichita with that kind of money coming in I was able to devote myself entirely to our career we were very happy another Tommy eventually leaves hedvig steals her songs and becomes a huge touring rock star Hedwig in her band The Angry Inch are always close on Tommy's concert Trail is that his new single sweetie please please don't say anything to him today if you do he's got the power unit what I mean he's got the power all we need is a snapshot then they'll know that you're responsible for some of the biggest hits of the Millennium and you will be so rich and the spirit of the gender bending plot actor Miriam Shore plays yitza he's a Croatian man who used to be a drag queen back in the day in Croatia and um and now he's a backup singer and Roadie for Miss Hedwig in her band Hedwig in the Angry Inch and much to his Chagrin he's out of the Limelight John figured and Stephen figured you know it'd be interesting to have a woman portraying this male character just to just to mix it up a bit don't move not only does John Cameron Mitchell Star as hedvig the film also marks his debut as a director John was the right person to direct this film because he knew the material in and out he created it um and it was clear that it was you know running through his blood it wasn't much fun directing myself like I wasn't really into injecting as much as the directing so it was kind of a pain when I had to get on in on into the frame and have to do it you know but then I'd have to put the wig on and you know get back out there Hedwig sex change is more of a metaphor than a personal biography Hedwig is forced into this position and really does learn something intense wholeness and what it means to be a whole what it means to be man what it means to be woman and in the end it discovers that she actually is both and that it better to be both sort of the universality of trying to fit into your own skin and figure out who you are in this world that suddenly hits people and you start off thinking uh some campy woman a woman I can't relate to at all in the end you're like that's me somehow I'm you know that big in a way and I think that that surprise it catches you off guard and you know being gay I had the privilege to to be in touch with the side of myself that I might not have so in that case sexuality was connected to gender you know and for a lot of gay boys you know being in touch with their feminine side is a natural part of it and for you know lesbian women the opposite it really is a gift if you choose to let it be to let yourself look at things from a different point of view I think a lot of gay people actually don't take advantage of that gift thank you on this episode's in the news activists from Sri Lanka Jamaica and Chile were honored at the Philippe Awards presented in New York by the international gay and lesbian Human Rights Commission the mission of the international gay and lesbian Human Rights Commission which we fondly refer to as Eagle herc is to Advocate and protect the human rights of people based on their sexual orientation gender identity or HIV status all around the world the Felipe awards are our way of celebrating and honoring some of the activists that we work with the awardees that we're honoring this year are companions on a journey and its women's support group and they're based in Sri Lanka means a lot of us not only in Sri Lanka but in the entire region of India Pakistan Bangladesh Maldives and Sri Lanka the most fascinating thing about groups like companions is that they are they're reinterpreting what gay means and what human rights means in the countries where they are based the other awardee is the Jamaica forum for lesbians all sexuals and gays and they're based in Jamaica and the reason why human rights discourse is not popular where international human rights gets pitted against the rhetoric of national sovereignty and local morality Jay Black has chosen to use human rights conversations quite creatively then we have a posthumous award that we're giving to Luis Gautier who died late last year he was an outstanding gay activist in his native Chile Where for almost 30 years before for human rights also in May the one Institute in archives celebrated the grand opening of their new home in Los Angeles the one Institute in archives is the largest collection of historical material documenting the life experience of gay lesbian transgendered and bisexual people it's an international collection and scope many of our like our periodical collection is in 20 different languages we have 30 000 books a hundred thousand photographs endless quantities of Art and artifacts the existence of this archive has provided for many years one of the only resources that journalists activists teachers documentary filmmakers authors Scholars and young people who are simply curious and trying to understand their own identity and position and especially in a cultural context it's been one of the only places all of those people can come to and find materials that make their way into books and meetings and new organizations it works very much on both the political and a cultural front there's an amazing wealth of material here yeah we we really don't know we know it's the biggest in the world as a lesbian and gay collection but we're not sure exactly how big it is tune in this fall for in the life's 10th anniversary season and a closer look at the one Institute and you're watching in the life still to come on in the life getting hip to hepatitis and a lesbian Pioneer weathers the storm but first in past episodes in the life has examined the ongoing debate over the U.S military's homosexual conduct policy otherwise known as don't ask don't tell don't pursue except for turkey the United States is the only original member of NATO that still prohibits openly gay men and lesbians from serving in their military worldwide 23 Nations have lifted their bands against homosexuals in their Armed Forces we've decided to explore what happened in those countries and how their experiences might affect the don't ask don't tell don't pursue policy here in the U.S at a recent conference in San Francisco California the center for the study of sexual minorities in the military gathered senior military officials from around the world to discuss what happened when they lifted their bans on service by gay and lesbian soldiers among those in attendance were representatives of Israel Britain Australia and New Zealand All of whom told similar stories about what did or didn't happen when their bans were lifted none of the militaries that have lifted their gay bans since the Dutch first lifted their ban in 1974 have reported any problems with unit cohesion or performance or morale or the retention of soldiers Aaron Belkin is the director of the center for the study of sexual minorities in the military which sponsored the conference and we found in each case that anti-gay experts predicted before the lifting of the ban that the change in policy would have disastrous consequences but after the ban is lifted even the most vocal opponents of gays and lesbians in the military now acknowledge that there has been no problem whatsoever in Australia before the ban was lifted we had dire predictions about recruitment would go down people would leave and we wouldn't be able to deploy again after the ban was lifted nothing happened life just went on the way it always had when the band was lifted in Israel in 1993 there were not major consequences to the Army at all again this is something that the Army did not initiate it was imposed on the Army by the government or the parliament or public pressure uh but people did not leave the Army because of that there were no incidents of harassment or bowling of soldiers in the Army it was definitely a huge achievement for gay organizations and human rights organizations in Israel but the Army kept functioning the same way it did before there were predictions that there were going to be Master resignations people wouldn't want to serve with openly gay people there were all sorts of almost Armageddon predictions and it couldn't be more opposite everything's been positive Rob Nunn joined the British royal Navy in 1972 just before his 20-year anniversary he was investigated for being gay and was thrown out of the service because the British ban and was still in place now since the ban has been lifted in the UK he's been reinstated it's an amazing sensation to actually be back in the Navy after all these years it was hard fault I was actually part of the organization five or six years ago that started the campaign and put pressure on the government via the European court so I feel Vindicated in fact I was part of that what effect were the experiences of militaries and other countries have on American policy will Congress and military officials here even consider what's happened in other countries that have lifted their bans as in the past the Pentagon has refused to comment so we spoke with military sociologist Laura Miller U.S military leaders that I've talked to tend to reject the example of other services for how the U.S should integrate women how it should integrate gays how it should act on peacekeeping operations how it should deploy in Wartime in general they see themselves in a much different role than other militaries they see themselves as a superpower one with great responsibilities and dire consequences for mistakes they see themselves as having to be more concerned about combat Effectiveness some of the militaries that have lifted their Bans are combat tested forces such as the Israeli military and the British Military and Generals and Admirals and Ministry officials in every case have reported that no decrease in combat performance has followed the lifting of a ban in order to convince military personnel that they should support the integration of open gays and lesbians into the military they would need to hear arguments convincing them that it's in the military's best interest that somehow excluding gays is more detrimental to the military or more expensive or more problematic than allowing gays in it was a terrible cost the don't ask don't tell policy for the service and for the nation and of course for individual soldiers as well though there is no single strategy to convey the cost of the policy to the military Steve may a Republican state representative from Arizona and army reservist who was recently the very public Target of a don't ask don't tell investigation is one of those who is speaking out first of all we lose three to four service members every single day despite their excellent performance simply because of what they said about their sexual orientation so 1200 service members a year are discharged from the military for no apparent reason secondly we don't know how many service members quit voluntarily because the donors don't tell policy I know one of the reasons that I left the military after just a short two-year tour was because I no longer wanted to deal with the immorality of lying about who I am so I don't know how many tens of thousands of people if not more resigned from the military simply because they no longer want to live a lie the policy costs about 30 million dollars every year just to train replacements for those who are kicked out for being gay Dixon Osborne is the co-executive director of the service members legal defense network but that really is just the tip of the iceberg not only are those numbers not adjusted for inflation they don't take into account the cost of gay investigations the time commanders spend time lawyers spend federal court litigation when the military goes into a unit and tries to ferret out who is gay and determine who is straight they often sow the seeds of Discord as peers turn against peers as straight service members are encouraged to provide names of their gay peers as gay peers are encouraged to provide names of their peers and the fabric of a unit can be destroyed bigotry hurts in a cohesion that hurts the military in a very deep and profound way and they're losing not just the people they hunt down they're losing people who are just packing up their bags and resigning their commission or deciding not to re-enlist the band sends a terrible message to the civilian sector the military is the largest employer in the United States with 1.5 million active duty soldiers and roughly a quarter of all men in the United States are veterans and not only does military policy say that gays and lesbians are not entitled to equal rights but the military is the only branch of government that actively seeks out gay and lesbian people in order to fire them in 1993 don't ask don't tell don't pursue became law which means Congress will have to pass another law to change it even though political leaders in Washington say they still support the current policy there is widespread speculation among both liberals and conservatives that the policy will eventually be changed I do think it's likely that the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military is likely to be lifted say within the next decade especially when you have a case of what civilians would frame as private issues being used to influence a workplace decision I think you're going to see more and more civilian opposition to any exclusionary policy I think the Israeli story is very relevant to the U.S if you look Israel is a Democracy in America as a democracy Israel was based on waves of immigration and so is America and the Israeli Army serves as a Melting Pot on the same way that America the American Army serves for minority to socialize themselves into society so I think that Israel is a very relevant example and the U.S can definitely can definitely use it so I think the American people demand a change then Congress will follow suit after the momentum is built in the Grassroots and I think the military leaders will continue to oppose the change but in the end the military leaders will accept what their civilian commanders tell them to do and in military terminology even those military commanders who oppose the change will suck it up and drive on during the years that I played for the Dodgers the Padres and the Tigers I knew I couldn't come out and continue to be major league baseball player for those serving in the military under don't ask don't tell don't pursue the consequences of coming out are even more clear service members have been harassed imprisoned discharged and even murdered the service members legal defense network offers legal advice and support to those harmed under this policy for more information look for a link on the in the Life website at in the lifetv.org I'm Billy Bean and you're watching in the life thank you on this episode's in the Arts two New York City events benefit Progressive women's groups in March Jewish women roared as they gathered for an evening of words and music to benefit Jews for racial and economic Justice and to celebrate women's History Month Jewish room in war is a collection of loud pushy unafraid Jewish women's voices and music performing for the event was Isle of klesbos gay lesbians have always been present in Progressive struggles and the same thing in the Jewish Community a lot of those progresses struggling in the Jewish Community are also gay and lesbian the group also known as Jay fridge was formed in 1990 to involve Jews in Progressive efforts to combat racism and economic inequality in New York City well it was a women's event celebrating what Jay fridge stands for celebrating what women have contributed a lot of the women we celebrate when we celebrate women's history are lesbians and a lot of as I said a lot of the energy that found the jfridge and that goes into Jay fridge's lesbian energy so it's an opportunity for Jewish women really and friends to get together and kick up their heels in April the Estrella lesbian action Foundation celebrated 23 years of helping to advance the well-being of lesbians and their allies working for social justice called Australia 23 women who Rock was hosted by writer Jewel Gomez and held at the fame Studio 54 in New York Foundation the oldest lesbian foundation in the world among the performers that evening was singer-songwriter Holly Near one of the most important things that Estrella has done is help us think about what community means to us and change the way that people in general and lesbians in particular think about community the event was an opportunity to acknowledge women committed to community organizing and activism outstanding our next segment is from the in the Life archives about a potential killer that has not received the attention it deserves hepatitis is a disease spread much like HIV and gay men are an especially high risk group as Mason SF reports there's an ongoing campaign to educate the public about hepatitis and thankfully some of the news is good forty-year-old Carl Schmidt says it must have happened about 20 years ago while he was young and enjoying life before the you know onset of AIDS and the onset of you know practicing safe sex if you had pain over your liver Carl wasn't infected with HIV but with hepatitis and all these questions come in my head um how long was I going to live is this the end am I going to have a productive life well there are several hepatitis viruses gay men are at high risk for Hepatitis A and hepatitis B hepatitis A is spread through unsanitary conditions such as contact with human waste the result is severe flu-like symptoms including vomiting and fatigue it can last from several weeks to several months but then typically goes away Hepatitis B is spread much like HIV mainly through sex or contact with blood again the symptoms are like the flu but even when patients feel better some 10 percent don't get rid of the virus over time it can cause severe liver damage and can be fatal Seattle doctor Ted Eaton has treated gay patients with both types Hepatitis B is much more debilitating as a three to four percent rate of death and it can cause complications lifelong including liver cancer so it's pretty serious well for years Carl felt fine he was always conscious of damaging his liver we'd like to go to parties go out to bars and I was you know concerned how much should I drink if I drink am I going to you know is it going to cause me to get sick Carl also wonders if the hepatitis might have affected his relationships I would be afraid if I told someone that I was you know a carrier of hepatitis that they wouldn't be interested in me unlike Carl's situation 20 years ago when he was infected today a vaccine does exist for both Hepatitis A and B when we ask should we vaccinate everyone in this case it's really a slam dunk researcher Jake Jacobs recently published a study in the Journal of the gay and lesbian Medical Association he analyzed the cost of the hepatitis A vaccine to the benefit of keeping gay men healthy to him the results were clear for every dollar we spend on vaccine we save twelve dollars in medical costs work loss costs and in addition fewer men die and we save additional years of life we should be out there with public health messages on the television we should have Billboards for it the same way we have anti-smoking Billboards it is a large benefit would come from getting the gay community vaccinated thank you foreign this was what Dr Eaton had in mind he thought a public awareness campaign would help both Seattle patients and their Physicians the medical profession has been a little bit amiss in educating that population about their risk and so a lot of men have sex with men come to see me and aren't aware that these vaccines are recommended for them or that they should get them nerves damage working on Seattle's commission for sexual minorities Eaton hoped the city would help from the beginning it was acknowledged by the mayor's office in the city council that sexual minority Health was important so basically there's two different kinds oh they look great with the city committed to a hepatitis initiative Drew Emery at the public health department was the man to make it happen one of the messages that we're promoting is That vaccine makes you stronger because it does you are going to fight disease before it gets to you but by getting vaccinated the ads were to run on the city buses but first Emory had the fun task of choosing the right models I went to bars I went to the Broadway Market I walked down the street one model I met at Kinkos I did you know your basic how do you meet guys routine and it worked and I'm out of practice so you know it was good for me Emery recruited Sean Penn noffsinger at one of Seattle's dance clubs and apparently his appeal was wider than expected I've had a lot of Straight girls come up to me oh my God you're the one that's on the bus and and whatnot so more than gay people what gay people are noticing I thought it was a spoof on the Abercrombie and Fitch I think it looks excellent they're very gay I thought there was actually a gap commercial I applaud you a round of applause for everyone okay little stick the real Applause goes to guys like Eric Botsford who's getting his hepatitis B vaccination it's a series of three shots and so I have to come back again in a month for the second booster and then again in six months after that for the final shot all set besides lifelong immunity Eric also receives a t-shirt declaring him a member of the Hep Squad wear it with pride but the campaign doesn't end here we're also doing Outreach in producing materials that will be taken to bars to the baths to community events places where gay and bad men are while the city of Seattle is doing what it can to help educate gay men on the vaccines available to prevent hepatitis work is being done here at the National Institutes of Health on how to treat those already infected in fact experts say that they're already reaping benefits from years of research into another deadly disease all too familiar to gay men HIV AIDS there's no question there's an AIDS Legacy that the attention and the money and the interest poured into antiviral treatments with AIDS has been benefited us directly Dr J hoofnagel heads up hepatitis research at NIH he says drugs such as interferon approved in 1992 and the more recently approved lamividine have given patients hope so that within the next 10 or 15 years I believe will will not only be able to prevent hepatitis B which we can do now but we'll also be able to treat it effectively so that the majority of people will not suffer the long-term consequences Carl may be living proof when he got sick last year prescribed lamividine it worked um the drug is working it brought my liver enzyme count down over the last year it um I do feel somewhat better I don't lay around as much I have more energy but with the new medications there are a lot of unanswered questions such as how long will the benefits last what we find is a percentage of patients develop resistance and it no longer has this effect of suppressing the virus while Carl is thankful for the new treatments he wishes the vaccine would have been available to him before he became infected unlike HIV you know there is a vaccine this can be prevented through a vaccine and I would encourage you know all gays and lesbians to get the vaccine it's well worth the cost let's go she has a face you might recognize but can't exactly place maybe it was in the 1950s in the legendary Jewel Box review if that was before your time perhaps it was something you heard in connection with the Stonewall rebellion in 1999 Sage an organization for Gay and Lesbian seniors honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award for in their words her courage and enthusiasm in crashing the gates of segregation and for the gender bending examples she showed the world she's a person who has lived many lives and continues to endure she's certainly an iconoclast and for many she's an icon stormy to me is the jewel in the jewel box stormy is one of the most energetic 80 year old people I ever met in my entire life she is the grandmother of all gay people stormy delavier is a hero to me who's stormy I'm a human being that survived and helped other people survive to me as I got to know stormy I realized that what she was really about is are the things that bring people together the things that we have in common in her kind of gender bending role is is known you know probably what's known best oh the butch exterior hides uh the enormous Heart of Gold you know gay people are always looking for Role Models it's a cliche but it's true and she's as good a one as we're going to find someone who's learned how to grow up and grow to a great age and not grow old and still be enthusiastic about life and still capable of making new friendships and you know understands more about what life is about than most people age is only a number it's mind over matter if you don't mind it don't matter and that's what it about wants to you know and you get some wrinkles and things you know Behind these glasses incidentally I do have eyes but they're just very sensitive to light right now your mind rules your body anyway and there's no use complaining about it I've lived with it for years so it's just this last film I took over that rug went down and it hit my front teeth and that caused me a lot of problems that's why I haven't gotten my teeth done yet my 80th birthday really got on my nerves I couldn't understand I said how in the world how did I live this long I should have been dead by the time I was 40. but evidently I wasn't supposed to go anywhere stormy delavier was born to a wealthy white father and a black mother in New Orleans Christmas Eve 1920 caught between two worlds from the day she was born her father had her privately educated while her grandfather raised her well he finally told me because everybody is a white kids were beating me up black kids would be everybody was jumping on me if it wasn't for because of my father's money it was because of being being a negro with a white face yeah so he told me if I didn't stop running I'd be running the rest of my life and when I was 15 I stopped running and I haven't run a day since with jazz bands across country developing the Silvery baritone that would serve her well in her next Incarnation so I tried to do the proper thing you know where men's clothes on stage and wear women's clothes on the street I got picked up twice for being a drag queen or the guy uh the rest of me went for being a drag queen came and let me set up and he said you know how to I said well I'm not tying my tie right why don't you come in every night and show me how I'm supposed to time he did to this day I'm travel to I was even looking in the mirror it'll be perfect and he was always laughing he was a nice man he was only doing his job you know in 1955 stormy became the one girl in the jewel Box review The Traveling musical show of gender deception while her girlfriend watched from the wings stormy would now perform as a man somebody told me that I couldn't do it and that I I would completely ruin my reputation and that people did not have enough problems being black I said I didn't have any problem with it everybody else did she made a very handsome man it worked for her in June of 1969 in New York City stormy found herself at the epicenter of the Stonewall riots if there was a friend in need stormy would be there that was no Riot everybody serves a riot it was It was a it was a Disobedience and then they started fighting back it was a rebellion and once they got the hang of it they rebelled quite well well many different people say that there was a cross-dressing lesbian who sparked the Stonewall Riot but to the best of my knowledge no one had ever found someone who fit the description quite as well as she does until I interviewed her and she said the cop hit me and I hit him back I walked away with an eye bleeding but he was laying on the ground out she says I was there and I did this but then when I read an account of the cross-dressing lesbian who started the riots he said oh I know who that was but I'm not going to say well I got into it by accident and then uh Charles Kaiser when you wrote his book gay Metropolis was trying to figure out how it started when the fight really started they were just running around you know calling names and things and throwing toilet paper down from the windows and what have you and I just walked up I used to come in whenever I came in time to go down to see if anybody needed help or they were in jail I could get them out what I could do I looked like I was 20 but when that happened I was 40 48 years old in the month following those fateful nights stormy's girlfriend of 26 years passed away and stormy gave up her performing career whether or not stormy threw that first punch there is no doubt she has since embraced her role as caretaker today she's a presence throughout New York's West Village in Chelsea neighborhoods sometimes I feel a half the universe is my life still going strong and she's because she loves life so much I mean it's as simple as that it's because she hasn't grown older or bitter she's grown mature and still loving and still enthusiastic and I think she draws a lot of strength from the younger women who she sees in her job and she acts as mother Confessor to many of them and she has a very large and enthusiastic support group these days stormy spends her time giving lectures working with children and helping out at a local lesbian bar he lives her life quietly and does much of what she does very quietly sometimes anonymously she's happy doing that because what matters to her is that she does what she does not that it you know makes a big splash she's a very hard person to get to know told me a few Secrets over many years but it takes a long time to get any of those details this is who I am remember the expression what you see is what you get again time to me now chicken wings in the life is funded in part by the H van amaringen Foundation additional support provided by Rick Weiland Peter Zimmer and Jim stepp the Gill Foundation the Reed Williams foundation the Mitchell Gold company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and Prejudice thank you and the annual support of in the Life members like you foreign