High LGBT Culture for Black History Month

Marvin K. White, Jewelle Gomez, and Brian Freeman

Three masters of this era’s Black LGBT culture appeared at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center for a Black History Month event on Feb. 18. Jewelle Gomez, Marvin K. White, and Brian Freeman are accomplished writers and performers who were on stage for a full house of mostly African Americans on a rainy night. Over 100 people from local groups enjoyed “Generations: Black LGBT Experiences” to celebrate those who came before and paved the way for our present society and the ads promised “food, art, entertainment, and much more.” There was artwork that featured popular Black LGBT icons such as Sylvester and Angela Davis along the wall where a buffet at such events is usually provided. Instead of a buffet there was a sparse food offering for people who depend on such meals and for others who work hard and sometimes forget to eat lunch.

Jewelle Gomez performed a scene from her book “The Gilda Stories” that entranced the audience. The book is celebrating its 20th anniversary in print and is the only black lesbian vampire character in the world of literature. Gomez is a writer and activist and was a litigant with her wife Diane Sabin, who attended the reading, in the Proposition 8 court case that ended successfully in marriage equality. Gomez has also taken on the enormous tasks of President of the San Francisco Library Commission and dispersing much-needed grants at the Horizons Foundation.

Marvin K. White is a playwright, poet, visual artist, performer, and community arts coordinator. He is a former member of Pomo Afro Homos troupe, who performed at the Castro’s Josie’s Cabaret and Juice Joint and all over the U.S. He powerfully read from his spine tingling and affirming spoken word poem “I Want to Make Black History with You” and it drew resounding yells of approval from the audience.

Brian Freeman is a co-founder and director of Pomo Afro Homos. His work “Civil Sex” is based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s openly-gay strategist Bayard Rustin and is highly regarded. He assumed the voice of Rustin’s event piano accompanist to tell a hilarious story about Coretta Scott King’s attempt to sing at a rally.

All three of the evening’s performers are fine actors and they convincingly portrayed the characters from their work and mesmerized the crowd, drawing rounds of applause.

Free rapid HIV and STD tests were available and the event was sponsored by Black Brothers Esteem of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, African American Health Disparities Project, AfroSolo Theatre Company, Black Coalition on AIDS, HIV Prevention and HIV Research Sections of the SFDPH, Our Love of the Stop AIDS Project, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Shanti, Trans:Thrive of the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center, and Walden House.

Activist Steve Ibarra, who works at City College battling HIV/AIDS and STDs, said that he was at the party to represent Blatinos. It was an extremely successful event and next year’s Generations is bound to be even bigger.

Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life by Pomo Afro Homos

Thandiwe Thomas DeShazor, Brian Freeman, and Dazie Rustin Grego

A lucky audience experienced the 20th anniversary of one of the best shows about African-American gay men and their stories on June 15 at the San Francisco Main Public Library. "Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life by Pomo Afro Homos" was as fresh and uplifting and outrageous as it was 20 years ago when it erupted onto the stage at Josie’s Juice Joint in the Castro.

Its creator Brian Freeman was speaking with Josie’s manager Donald Montwill one day about a need for such a show and Montwill turned to him and said to get a show together and he would support it. Montwill, much missed now, founded the AIDS Project of Maui with his lovers Jim Manness and Tom Calvanese, and then they moved to San Francisco to manage the Valencia Rose and later Josie’s with a rule that no sexism, racism, or homophobia would be expressed on their stages. Whoopi Goldberg was invited by Montwill to perform at the Valencia Rose just before "The Color Purple" was released, when she needed work and assurances, and she supported him throughout his illnesses and was seen pushing Manness’ wheelchair past the White House during the March on Washington.

"Pomo Afro Homos" with its views into the private lives of characters Freeman and his collaborators knew and dreamed up was an immediate hit, and eventually was performed all over the world. When it was on stage in Alaska it caused great controversy involving bigots and the state legislature.

Freeman is a playwright/actor/director with tremendous depth of purpose and a passion for quality in his work. His hard-hitting "Civil Sex" about the life of openly-gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin is an inspiration to political activists and theater writers. Starting with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Freeman has also been involved with "A Slight Variance" at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and with the Afro Solo Festival.

Freeman chose well when he invited two young performers to join him in a show on stage at the Koret Auditorium last Tuesday. Thandiwe Thomas DeShazor performed at the recent, highly-regarded Afro Solo Festival and Dazie Rustin Grego starred in his own "I Am a Man" show at Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory. DeShazor and Grego expertly interacted with each other and with Freeman, conjuring up the dazzling show that this journalist enjoyed with his friends two decades ago.

Their verbal duel between activists and party guys, a couple going through escalating gentrification, and a loving gay couple dealing with a hypocritical intruder enchanted listeners and drew sighs and yeahs from the crowd.

The James C. Hormel Center’s Karen Sundheim welcomed the guests to the event, and she mentioned that the Hormel and African-American Centers of the Main Library and the National Queer Arts Festival sponsored the performance, and the sustained applause throughout the evening showed the approval of the audience.