LARRY HART DUTCHESS & JOE SERNA in Seattle Wash.
Three Longtime and loved friends
Good times, good laughs , and good friends.
DUTCHESS has passed away this month 2025 ...
another great person in this world that made a difference in the world .
. She told me the story of going to school at 10 years old , and that she would melt her favorite crayons and sit back in her seat with luscious painted lips. Instant beauty and much to the surprise of the class room.
You go girl.
That was just one of her endless funny stories about her life .
Of course the one of about her disappearing in a shopping mall and everyone was concerned .
Big mall , lots of people and she was no where to be found .
Then miss Eva said " I have an idea. Bingo!
there she was in line to try on something at Victoria"s secret .
She ran over and returned the garment and told the sales staff " Thank you honey but we have our own SECRET. and some of our secrets are bigger or smaller than everyone else . Dutchess let''s get out of here.
Her passing away in Los angeles of cancer is relief to know that like so many trans people it was a natural process and not one of violence and mysterious circumstances.
MISS JAVA LGBTQ history of Los Angeles was one of her best friends and now they are united in death.
I still smile when I think about the surprise the EMT must have found that day ...
DUTCHESS ,Everything about your life life was special , filled with joy intertwined with the pain of living TRANS your entire life.
Peace Girlfriend Adios .
In June of 1970 I walked in the first Unauthorized ( no permit) Gay parade that took us from the village up fifth ave and spilled in sheep's meadow. Around 23 rd street my roommate and I turned around and all we could see was a sea of men and women going back to WASHINGTON SQUARE ARCH. I began to cry because I was not alone . I was not the horrible person I was told I was for being gay.
I had found my community-AND ,I found New York .
I joined Gay Activist Alliance 99 Wooster Street and it changed my life .
Movie nights and all the dances plus the long discussions about what had happened at STONEWALL. So much fun!!! Meeting VITO RUSSO and dancing with drag queens that got arrested at STONEWALL was a bunch of fun.
Politics, dates, fashion , music and making friends with like minded people was magical.
In 1971 I met Jose Antonio Tormos / designer/ artist Puerto Rican ,Gay and proud to be gay .
Like the tv series POSE FX he was young and walking the underground balls in the Bronx New York .
It was love at first sight and 4 YRS later we created Jose Antonio Designs NY NY 10014
In 1979 we launched our first retail venture at J. ANTONIO inc .39 Christopher Street NY 10014
The 1980's
In Love , Broke , and grasping for a chance to place his designs ie: Bags , Gloves, hats, swimwear & jewelry in the major department stores. our store became a showroom .
In the 1980's Christopher Street became a place of LGBTQ activism , celebrities and gay life. Jose and I took it all in . 1983 saw Woman's Health Collective and the St Marks Clinic merge and start Callen Lorde in Chelsea. I love going there and they marvel at how low my Chart Number is because I was there in the beginning of the clinic. OG status ( OLD GUY)
The Oscar Wild Bookstore was a block away and where else can you brings women high fashion to the world but on FAG ALLEY ? Christopher street !!!! The women of the village loved that we invaded the strictly mens street with earrings , accessories and outfits ... Delicious fashion was our trademark .
Vogue , Harpers Bazzar, Studio 54 and the endless parties all helped
Larry Kramer had started Act up around 1988 , Eddie Windsor was bringing law suits to the supreme court . The both lived at 2 Fifth Ave ny and of course Marsha P Johnson would walk up and down Christopher street with Xmas Tinsel in her hair yelling " I want my gay right s NOW" She never bought anything at our store ..
Jose Antonio designs landed a wonderful rep " Dennis Perry Showroom" and we were filmed and included in an NBC documentary called
( Fashion Latin Style ) with Carolina Herrera Oscar de la Renta , Antonio Lopez (ILLUSTRATOR) and Adolpho (Cuban) Life was getting good . My Mom and Jose's sisters worked for us and were all very happy to see our little project soaring .
In the 1980's men started to get sick with GRID and we started to lose friends and co-workers.
In 1883 I saw Larry Kramer in the street and he told me about the March on Washington and he told me how important it was for everyone to go . I boarded a bus at 59th and Columbus circle early in the morning , I felt like I was back at YMCA camp because the energy on the bus was sooo much fun
We arrived at the ELLIPSE Wash D.C. and were lined up by state A to Z Of course the New York group was big and rowdy . I walked with a mother who lost her son to Grid and returned that night to NY exhausted and proud I went.
Jose was working on an order so he did not join me.
In 1985 It was our turn . Jose was diagnosed with AIDS and he died in my arms in the early morning hours. September 1989 Berkley California Our 19 years together had ended.
I called his mom ( Luz Maria ) to tell her Jose was gone and to this day the haunting scream she let
out ( MI HIJO !!!!!!!!) stays with me
The trouble with being my age is that I lived , witnessed , and I'm blessed to really see all the changes in 2025 that we have gained as a community and I worry that it can all disappear .
The struggle is not over and I have more years to make a difference by living by example to younger men and women. Jesus and I work and live as a proud gay married couple in the East Village .
Of course Im still serving up fabulous products , and windows ...50 yrs 's of New York Fashion shows up in our showcases
Peaceful but diligent about the things we say and do ...
Adios dear DUTCHESS...
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