Posts Tagged: speech


16
Aug 09

Supremacist Slurs and Reconciliation at a Gay Bar in Louisville, KY

Woody’s Tavern owner David Norton offers a public statement of apology to a group of University of Louisville students and faculty almost a year and a half after he chased the group out of his Old Louisville bar using racist and sexist slurs. Until this week, Mr. Norton denied the incident ever occurred. providing context for what follows.

In this video, bar owner David Norton apologizes for being ‘a fool’; the Director of the Fairness Campaign – a local LGBT civil rights organization – Chris Hartman speaks about dismantling racism; and University of Louisville Professor of Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies Karla Story – one of those on the receiving end of Mr. Norton’s denigrating remarks – speaks about the value of Mr. Norton’s apology to all minority communities who wish to feel safe in public spaces. Fairness Campaign board member Keith Brooks is seen at the beginning of the video briefly providing context for what follows.


18
Jul 09

Tom Duane’s Powerful Speech for the Poor Living with HIV and AIDS

New York State Senator Tom Duane, spoke in support of a measure that would cap “shelter costs” (rent and utilities) for people living with HIV and AIDS and already receiving public assistance. Openly gay and HIV-positive, Sen. Duane is the prime backer of the gay marriage legislation that has been one of many issues sidelined in the wake of the Senate coup — and you can hear some of the pent-up frustration about that issue in the Manhattan Democrat’s coruscating, stem-winding oratory.


30
Jun 09

President Obama Hosts Reception in Support of LGBT Equality

The President and First Lady Michelle Obama host a reception for LGBT Pride Month in the East Room of the White House on June 29, 2009. (public domain)

TRANSCRIPT
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release June 29, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT LGBT PRIDE MONTH RECEPTION

East Room 4:35 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Hello, hello, hello. (Applause.) Hey! Good to see you. (Applause.) I’m waiting for FLOTUS here. FLOTUS always politics more than POTUS.

MRS. OBAMA: No, you move too slow. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: It is great to see everybody here today and they’re just — I’ve got a lot of friends in the room, but there are some people I want to especially acknowledge. First of all, somebody who helped ensure that we are in the White House, Steve Hildebrand. Please give Steve a big round of applause. (Applause.) Where’s Steve? He’s around here somewhere. (Applause.) … Continue reading →


22
Mar 07

Larry Kramer: We Must Not Accept Crumbs

(Remarks on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of ACT UP given at the NYC Gay Community Center on March 13th, 2007 with Rodger McFarlane, Eric Sawyer, Jim Eigo, Peter Staley, Troy Masters, Mark Harrington, David Webster, Jeremy Waldron, and Hannah Arendt contributing.)

Larry KramerWe Are Not Crumbs;
We Must Not Accept Crumbs


By Larry Kramer

One day AIDS came along. It happened fast. Almost every man I was friendly with died. Eric still talks about his first boyfriend, 180 pounds, 28 years old, former college athlete, who became a 119 pound bag of bones covered in purple splotches in months. Many of us will always have memories like this that we can never escape.

Out of this came ACT UP. We grew to have chapters and affinity groups and spin-offs and affiliations all over the world. Hundreds of men and women once met weekly in New York City alone. Every single treatment against HIV is out there because of activists who forced these drugs out of the system, out of the labs, out of the pharmaceutical companies, out of the government, into the world. It is an achievement unlike any other in the history of the world. All gay men and women must let ourselves feel colossally proud of such an achievement. Hundreds of millions of people will be healthier because of us. Would that they could be grateful to us for saving their lives.

Continue reading →