THE JOY OF BEING A GAY RIGHTS ELDER

 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  TRANS ,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 a 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 ...OMG!!!!

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 no longer had to live a double life ...It was exciting and empowering to be with thousands on gay and lesbian people.

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 at THE ROCKLAND PALACE  105TH STREET  Harlem  New York . He had grown tired of his friends and intolerance and wanted to be more masculine and involve as a fashion designer .  

It was love at first sight and 4 YRS later 1975, we created  

Jose Antonio Designs  west village 53 doing street 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 fit right in .   Christopher street was gay central and everyone was accessible and would shop at our store.

1983 saw Woman's Health Collective  and the St Marks Clinic merge and start Callen Lorde in Chelsea.  

 I love going there ( got a flue shot this month ) 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   ?  Christopher street !!!! New York's gayest street!!!!

The  Gay and straight WOMEN !!!!,of the village loved that we invaded the strictly mens street with earrings , Leather bags and gloves and outfits ... Jewelry galore!!!

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 .  

They 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"  

Marsha never bought anything at our store ..

Jose Antonio designs landed a wonderful representative " Dennis Perry Showroom" and we were filmed and included in an NBC documentary called 

 FASHION LATIN STYLE NBC STUDIO PROGRAM CALLED "VISIONES" Sunday mornings

with Carolina Herrera Oscar de la Renta , Antonio Lopez (ILLUSTRATOR) and Adolpho (Cuban)  

Life AND ORDERS were  getting very good .  .  

My Mom ( Alice) 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 1987   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 to Washington DC for the second national Gay March .

How the helicopters could count from the sky to determine crowd size below-so everyone needed to be there so  President REGAN  could get a head count .  People were dying , so close up your little shop and show up!!!

 On October 11th  I boarded a bus at  59th and Columbus circle early in the morning , I felt like I was back at SUMMER  camp because the energy on the bus was soooooooo much fun  

We sang all the way to Washington DC and slept all the way home to new York .   What a day!!!!

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 for THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN NY so he did not join me.  

In 1988 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.  Our last attempt to keep him alive 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 

Trying to find a new life I ended up in SEATTLE WASHINGTON (1990) is  where  met 

Joe Serna Dutchess  and Larry Hart .   

People are still talking about the store I opened at THE DEXTER HORTON BUILDING .

THE WATCH DOCTOR  

711 Third Ave 

Seattle , Wa

The trouble with being my age is that I lived ,and  witnessed so many twists and turns in Gay rights history USA   Some memories are great , others hurt deeply. No book no movie or commentary .  I lived it in real time- and Im still adding to the chapters 

 I'm  happy to have survived and remarried to a wonderful creative Jose de Jesus .Im living  all the changes  that we have gained as a community and I worry that it can all disappear .  

Our democracy is fragile and can be complicated by to many cooks in the kitchen .. 

The struggle is not over and I have more years to make a difference by living by example for younger men and women.   Jose de 

Jesus and I work and live as a proud gay married couple in the East Village .  

Of course Im still serving up fabulous products ,  windows  and events...50 yrs 's of New York Fashion shows up in our showcases and in my heart. 

Living Peaceful but diligent about the things we say and do ... With God in our life , not society.

Ive dedicated my life to show society we contribute to a peaceful society , and of course 

Our community is FABULOUS AND FILLED WITH LOVE AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO A GREATER SOCIETY.    DARLING!!!!!!

Adios dear DUTCHESS...