Who writes your history? Who would gladly suppress it?

By reviving and celebrating those who the mainstream historically underplays, undercuts, neatly overlooks, and otherwise de facto silences, a new takeover campaign on NY streets helps write the history of LGBTQ struggle, and keeps it just as relevant as this moment.

Photographer and journalist The Dusty Rebel now curates the same streets he documents and shares with BSA readers today his determined campaign to revive, preserve, propel forward the significant players and events that have fought in their myriad ways, with the admonishment to keep fighting. With “Resistance is Queer” he uses his images and his respect for LGBTQ history to ensure that the full spectrum of people are recognized for their contributions to this civil rights struggle for equality.

We’re grateful that he has taken the time to explain in detail the people behind the images and their significance to him personally as well as their role in a people’s history.

RESISTANCE IS QUEER

by The Dusty Rebel

Ms Colombia (aka Oswaldo Gomez)

This Resistance Is Queer poster features a photograph I took of the beloved Ms Colombia at the 2015 Easter Parade, who sadly passed away in 2018. This excerpt from The New York Times summarizes many of my thoughts on Ms Colombia:

“Daniel Albanese, a street photographer who often shot her, said that Gómez was loved because she resisted classification, refusing to soften her queerness, her personality or her aesthetic, even as the reputation and culture of the city mellowed out. ‘For me, Ms. Colombia was the embodiment of liberation,” he said. “She showed us how to thrive in the unique environment that is New York and proved this city is still a place where those who feel marginalized can flourish and be celebrated.’” — Ms. Colombia Refused to Soften Her Queerness. She Paraded It, The New York Times Magazine, 12/28/2018

Sister Lotti Da

As I said last year at our MoMA PS1 talk, “Every expression of queer existence is a revolutionary act.” That’s why this #ResistanceIsQueer poster features activist Sister Lotti Da, The Merry Sodomite, of the Missionary Order of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. This photograph was taken during the casting of the circle at the 2018 NYC Drag March, which reminds me how beautiful it is when queer people take space and celebrate our lives.

I Like Dick. I Like Taters. Not Dictators.

This Resistance Is Queer poster features a photograph I took at the LGBT Solidarity Rally outside the Stonewall Inn on February 4, 2017. Thousands gathered for the demonstration to stand with “every immigrant, asylum seeker, refugee and every person impacted by Donald Trump’s illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and un-American executive orders.”

Dick Leitsch

This Resistance Is Queer poster features a photograph I took of Dick Leitsch at the 52nd anniversary of the historic “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar in the West Village. Leitsch—president of gay rights group the Mattachine Society in the 1960s—was one of the four homosexuals who led a pioneering act of civil disobedience to secure the right of gay patrons to be served in a licensed bar, helping to clear the way for gay bars to operate openly in New York State. Dick Leitsch passed away in 2018, at the age of 83.

“Hope Will Never Be Silent”

An encore of my first Resistance Is Queer poster, which features a photograph I took at the 2016 NYC Drag March. Tattooed on his back is a quote—“Hope Will Never Be Silent”—is from Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. Milk was assassinated just under 11 months in office.

238

138

45