Our America: Pride in History 4 celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month with bars, memorials, supermodels
Understanding where we come from and where we've been is an important part of telling the human story. For LGBTQ+ people, those stories are often lost to time because of stigma, fear and shame.
"Our America: Pride in History III" celebrates the amazing stories of perseverance as the community rose up on a path of greater acceptance.
In this episode we explore one of the Chicago's oldest LGBTQ+ bars, memorials to those who have died of AIDS nationally and locally, a group finding new life patrolling community neighbors, and a supermodel who grabbed fashion magazine covers and national headlines.
The history of LGBTQ+ bars is rich. They're much more than places to get a drink. For many years, they were the only spaces some could go to meet other members of their communities.
One of Chicago's oldest LGBTQ+ bars, The Baton, first opened in 1969. While it struggled at first, it then became a celebrity hotspot.
The National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco is the Nation's sole memorial to those who have impacted by AIDS. Located in the City's Golden Gate Park, it is a space dedicated for healing, hope, and remembering the those lost to the disease.
Grown out the AIDS crisis, the memorial today is a memorial to those who struggled, battled, and or lost their lives to HIV, the disease that causes AIDS.
35th Fresno Reel Pride celebrating LGBTQ+ films - ABC30 Fresno
For the 35th year, Fresno Reel Pride returns to the Silver Screen.
The festival celebrates LGBTQ+ films in the Tower District.
"If you come out to Reel Pride, you basically can see a lot of the things that we are known for, and that is wonderful feature films that you cannot see in normal theaters," says Kathleen Arambula-Reyna.
Arambula-Reyna is the festival's board president. This year's event will feature 20 films, including shorts, features, and local artists and filmmakers.
In Houston, the "Q-Patrol" once worked the streets of the city raising awareness about crime against LGBTQ+ people and making sure the residents were safe from violence. Spawned out of a vicious attack in the 1990's the "Q-Patrol" saw success and outgrew the need for its patrols. That is, until a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in recent years signaled a need for its revival.
The Wall Las Memorias is a monument in Lincoln Park that honors lives lost to AIDS. It was erected more than 25 years ago and was the first monument of its kind in the country.
But it's not just a memorial. The wall was designed to change the stigma of AIDS, especially in the Latino community.
"The monument is a place for where we get to walk a journey of recalling the impact that AIDS has had in our community. But more importantly, the aids monument has been a tool for us to empower ourselves to deal with issues that we don't usually feel comfortable dealing with," said Richard Zaldivar, founder and executive director of the Wall Las Memorias Project organization.
Gia Carangi was considered by some to be the first super model. The Philadelphia board model was discovered locally and was seen internationally. She graced the cover of multiple editions of Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and appeared in advertising campaigns for Armani, Dior, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent. Though Carangi is associated with the lesbian community but was quoted once as saying she did not want to take up "the accepted lesbian style." Carangi became addicted to heroin, and her career ended abruptly. In 1986, at age 26, she died of AIDS related complications, making her one of the most notable women at the time to die of the virus.
