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Jun 15, 2021 · It's about a lonely, socially awkward and secretly gay postman living in a fictional town in the north of England who hits retirement, realising he wants to turn his life around and finally be...
Jul 1, 2023 · We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.
- Colin Crummy
Jun 3, 2023 · Many young transgender and gay people have been affected by a wave of recent Republican-led legislation questioning their identity or putting restrictions on their lives. They’re being raised...
- Overview
- Living a 'double life'
- Honoring those who ‘paved the way’
In the 1950s, when Ray Cunningham was just 19, he served in the Navy as secretary to the personnel officer aboard the USS Ranger. He was responsible for preparing discharge and reassignment paperwork, and sometimes he would have to dishonorably discharge men for being gay.
“It was difficult,” Cunningham, now 82, told NBC News. “At that time I realized that I was gay, and it was just difficult to know that people were being discharged for the same thing that I was in my life.”
“What bothered me the most was having to talk to the guys that were being discharged, and they were not in a good state of wellness anyway, because at that time, it was illegal or considered mental problems to be gay,” he said.
Cunningham spent the next four decades in the closet until he and his partner of 30 years, Richard Prescott, 78, came out after retiring in their 50s.
The two men, who are now married, shared their stories as part of “Not Another Second,” a new multimedia art exhibit in Brooklyn, New York, that features 12 LGBTQ elders, many of whom spent most of their lives in the proverbial closet. Through video interviews and interactive augmented-reality technology, visitors can experience their stories.
The other elders featured in the exhibit include the Rev. Goddess Magora Kennedy, who participated in the Stonewall uprising, and Paul Barby, who ran for Congress as an openly gay man in 1996 and 1998. Alongside each portrait is the number of years the elder was closeted.
Cunningham said he realized he was gay as a teenager, but he didn’t know the word “gay” at the time — he just knew he was different. After joining the Navy, he said he realized he was “more than different.”
“I had a label at that time,” he said of the realization, “and I didn’t like it.” He said he “felt trapped” and feared he, too, would be discharged. Feeling like he had no other options, he lived a “double life.”
As for Prescott, he said he knew he was different by the time he was 5 or so.
“I had two older brothers and a very strict father, and they used the word ‘sissy’ and ‘queer’ quite a bit,” he recalled.
He joined the Navy Reserve in 1959. On his first trip to Japan, he refused to visit the brothels with the men he worked with, and as a result, one of them began physically and verbally harassing him, he said.
“He was constantly making innuendos, evenly physically towards me,” he said. “It just infuriated me that he would violate my space like that.”
Sharing the stories of LGBTQ elders is especially important now, DaCosta said, as the Covid-19 pandemic highlights disparities faced by older people and marginalized communities.
“A lifetime of discrimination leads you to these disparities with your health, with your socioeconomic status, with how you can live your life across the board,” she said.
Research published in the journal The Gerontologist last fall found that lesbian, gay and bisexual people have a higher risk of dementia and cognitive decline than heterosexual people as they grow older. The study’s authors found that the increased risk was partially due to higher rates of depression that older LGBTQ people experience due to workplace discrimination, shame and other stigma associated with their sexuality.
That stigma still persists, but the elders and producers behind “Not Another Second” hope their project can help, even if just in a small way.
One of the elders featured in the exhibit, Lujira Cooper, 72, lived nearly her whole life as an openly gay woman. In a video trailer for the exhibit, she said, “Things have become more accepting. However, I think part of the problem for elder seniors is because of all the discrimination they felt earlier they’re still not coming out.”
DaCosta said she hopes LGBTQ people who are not out — whether they’re young or old — will be inspired by hearing and seeing the stories of these elders.
- 1 min
- Jo Yurcaba
LGBT topics. LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture (indicating people who are queer ), while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
Nov 3, 2012 · Lifestyle. What are the accoutrements of your gay lifestyle? Out Magazine covers the latest trends in LGBT fashion, entertainment, politics, and relationships. From NYC to Dallas, we're...
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, LGBTQIA+ community, GLBT community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals united by a common culture and social movements.
