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Waving the rainbow flag
Around this time each year, I recall an early New Year’s Eve moment at This Is It a decade or so ago when, hours before midnight, the evening’s party atmosphere was temporarily broken by some maudlin reveler playing Frank Sinatra’s ballad “It Was a Very Good Year” on the juke box. Over the past year our LGBTQ community has certainly had its ups and downs so it may time for a nostalgic Sinatra reprise.
Where to begin? Actually, it is necessary to go back to October of 2023. It was then that the debacle of the appointment of an ill-suited candidate as LGBTQ liaison in the mayor’s office hit the fan. Various entities weighed in, among them the LGBTQ Community Center. Meanwhile, the appointee withdrew. To follow up, I called the center to speak with Executive Director Kevin Turner Espinoza. Turns out, he was no longer in the center’s employ.
Enquiring about his sudden and unpublicized departure, a center representative deferred to “HIPPA confidentiality,” referring me to the new interim executive director, Ritchie Martin. A member of the center’s board of directors and an activist acquaintance of mine from decades ago, Martin was now living and working in Houston and would carry out his functions remotely. I wrote him and requested an interview. He promised to set up a ZOOM meeting for that purpose which he did at the end of April of this year. Better late than never, I always say.
By then, the liaison and executive director situation had been eclipsed by the center’s fiscal problems. During our meeting Martin laid out the plan to get back on financial track that included staffing cuts, possible renting out of the center’s office spaces and other fundraising strategies.
Successful Strategy
Long story short, it seems to have been successful with a job listing for a new executive director now posted on the center’s website offering a $75,000 to $100,000 salary. The new hire will be the 14th executive or interim executive director in the Center’s 26-year history. Meanwhile, in November, the center’s aging and disability coordinator, Christi Carter, left to pursue other professional opportunities. Oh, as for the LGBTQ liaison, the City of Milwaukee currently lists the position as a “vacancy to be filled in the near future.”
Cream City Foundation, Milwaukee’s LGBTQ philanthropic organization, made news at its April “State of the Foundation” meeting when it announced its move to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. While remaining an independent entity, CCF now maintains its funds under GMF’s umbrella. Founded in 1982 with $500 in seed money, CCF assets reached nearly $842,000 in 2013, falling to $261,000 in 2022. The successful efforts to rebuild the fund were reflected in 2023 when CCF assets climbed to $348,000. At the April meeting, CCF offered a nostra culpa attributing the loss in part to high staff expenses. It is now an all-volunteer organization.
The Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project marked its 30th Anniversary with the dedication of Milwaukee’s first LGBTQ historical marker. Located across the street from the former site of the Black Nite Bar on North Plankinton Avenue, it commemorates a 1961 bar brawl that ensued after drunken sailors were denied entry. The plaque fetes Black trans woman Josie Carter as the clash’s heroine for breaking a beer bottle over an intruder’s head along with 70 bar patrons who fought to protect their safe space. Also, Diverse & Resilient launched a House of History website. Created by Brice Smith in recognition of Black LGBTQ elders, the site fills a long-neglected gap in Milwaukee’s LGBTQ historical narrative.
New Pastor
In church news, the Metropolitan Community Church, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021, seeks a new pastor. After serving the Church for eight years, Tory Topjian left at the end of March. According to a member of the church’s board of directors, it might take a year for a new pastor to be installed. Meanwhile, the 30-member congregation is seeking an interim pastor.
In other related news, transphobic Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki retired. You will recall him blessing the Republican National Convention. Infamous for his protection of sexually abusive priests, His Excellency sought DNA testing for seminarians lest transgender men infiltrate the priestly ranks and issued gender guidelines to codify transphobia in the archdiocese. A year ago, he was forced to investigate the case of a recalcitrant gay rector when a Catholic newspaper, The Pillar (appropriately enough), revealed that the North Shore pastor had been cohabitating with a man for decades. Insisting no priestly vow (celibacy) was broken in the pursuit of their relationship, the priest has been assigned to a parish in the countryside beyond Brookfield.
The LGBTQ performing arts broadened its horizons on stage with Mark Bucher’s Boulevard Theatre and Theatrical Tendencies staging community relevant plays and readings. Outskirts Theatre produced that famous gay French farce, La Cage aux Folles, performed at the LaCage NiteClub, appropriately enough, in celebration of the club’s 40th anniversary. Inspiration Studios celebrated its first decade as a hub of the local arts and as welcoming venue for black box LGBTQ theatre. A Milwaukee Rep production, Nina Simone: Four Women, featured the story of the bisexual Black musical artist and Civil Rights activist although the play omitted mention of her sexual identity.
LGBTQ sports played on regardless with SSBL (Saturday Softball Beer League) holding its 48th season and hosting its 45th Dairyland Classic Softball Tournament. Under the Milwaukee Gay Sports Network, local athletics continue to thrive representing competitive bowling, darts, soccer, tennis, volleyball and rugby leagues.
Of course, ending the year, the victory of ignorance and hate over reason and equality in the November presidential election had gay Republicans gloating and the rest of us in fear, not only for our rights but for our safety in what will likely become a national horror show of Orwellian proportions for the LGBTQ community.
Cue Frank Sinatra.
