Where Were You 40 Years Ago?

This is what the future looked like in 1969. It’s amazing what we were able to accomplish with such primitive technology by today’s standards. It’s also remarkable considering how difficult it still would be to pull off the same feat today.

People often talk about where they were when they heard John F. Kennedy was assassinated or when the Twin Towers fell. There are moments in history which serve as profound landmarks in our lives. I was too young to remember JFK’s assassination, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968 somehow passed without my notice at the time. That was a very frightening year for my parents, and they wanted to shield our innocent childhoods from it. The events of 9/11 will always remain seared in my memory, but there is no moment of history that transports me back, body, mind and spirit, as does the Apollo 11 moon landing. Whenever I watch it today, I’m eight years old again, sitting upright in rapt attention on the living room in my pajamas, watching the grainy images flickering across the Zenith console — the fancy one with the “Space Command” remote control — and seeing the future finally arrive. I knew then and there I was going to be an astronaut. I still will be someday. You’ll see.

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A Routine Life Shows Gains Gays Have Made

I was born on the day of the Stonewall riots – June 27, 1969 – so my life is an individual history of the 40-year-old modern gay-rights movement. What makes my story particularly representative is just how conventional my life has become.

I grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. My parents were liberal college professors, but I was aware in high school – in the 1980s, when there was no treatment for AIDS and hatred for gays reached a fever pitch – that they wanted both of their boys to be heterosexual. Logically, it seemed to be the only path to a happy, successful life. I knew I was gay, but said nothing.

I applied only to urban universities, seeing the city as a place to find other people like myself. When I decided toward the end of college that it was time to “come out,” it seemed like a big deal – as any grand declaration would be. Back then, you couldn’t just live your life. You had to say, “I’m gay!” and hope to be accepted, or learn to live with the rejection.

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Obama Invites LGBT Leaders to White House

President Obama has invited some of the more prominent LGBT leaders to an East Room reception to take place this coming Monday, which will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots that took place in New York’s Greenwich Village, which is also viewed as the commencement of the modern Gay Rights movement.

The White House has yet to publicize the reception and an official list of attendees has not been posted, but many speculate the event was spurred by the recent unfounded and harsh criticisms that President Obama hasn’t done enough for the LGBT community.