Renee Gannon
Prince Gomolvilas
Arlan Hamilton
Sanford Marcus
Susan Norfleet
Each year I personally commemorate the Stonewall Riots and my years in the closet by making a pilgrimage down Christopher Street, starting at the first and most important station, the iconic corner of Christopher and Gay Streets.
Having lived deeply in the closet until I was 40, Christopher Street was forbidden territory. I avoided areas of this town that would in any way evoke thoughts and feelings that I had worked so hard to repress and Christopher Street was and is the ultimate gay icon, recognized globally as the heart and soul of contemporary gay culture. It was the most dangerous terrirtory for the repressed and closeted.
Even after I came out, it took me a few years to shed the uneasiness I felt walking down the most famous gay street on earth--not the prettiest, not the trendiest, not the coolest, but historically the street that instantly says "gay" to most gay men and women around the world. Stonewall. The first gay pride parade in history. The world's first and oldest gay and lesbian bookshop, The Leatherman. Boots & Saddles. Bleeker Street.
Christopher Street, New York City, where the girls are tough and the boys are pretty.
Today, a walk down Christopher Street is a liberating and energizing experience. What was once threatening is now reaffirming. In the New York of 2007, most gay Manhattanites actually shun Christopher Street as too seedy, too sleazy, too outdated, too touristy and most certainly not the place to see or be seen.
Despite this betrayal and abandonment, Christopher Street continues to hold its own and still boasts more gay bars along it's stretch than any other street or avenue in town.
Join me and my camera for my 2007 personal Pride walk down Christopher Street. And, trust me, we'll even have some old-fashioned fun on the Pier.
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