The ability to see the future is the power to create that future.  No vision - - no future!  It’s simple, yet true. Where will the LGBT’s of tomorrow be with our vision  today?  Will today’s creators be able to look back in their senior years and say “yeah, we created a good legacy!”?

Let’s face it, we don’t think about creating legacies usually, but, a legacy will result from our existence even though it may never enter our mind on the road to tomorrow.  If it isn’t much, then that’s what tomorrow’s LGBT’s will have. 

And how do I know these things?  Because I am looking at YOU now - - - YOU are the legacy of our labors for gay rights from 35/40 years ago.  Today, folks call me a distinguishedadvocate of gay rights - - it means I’m a senior citizen, commonly called old.  In 40/50 years, you’ll be in the same boat.

As a pioneer for our rights, I know I personally had no idea then how beautiful a thing it would be today.  We had only invisible faith and hope; just like you do today.  And, we also had dreams . . . and anger, which brought us together, maybe just like you do today also.  We tumbled out of our closets in search of justice and the freedom to be our truthful selves. 

We still can’t claim that reality of justice and the freedom to be truthful, but we do see our legacy continuing through you. 

So how in the heck did I happen to become involved in gay rights way back then?  Well, it was the process - - - the process of life; we all go through it.  I was a married man, unsure of even what name to call my ‘sexual orientation.’  I just thought of myself as being ‘different’ and it wasn’t something folks were talking openly about, like it is today, so I could only go on my gut feelings and try to see where I might be heading. 

I became involved in activism first mentally, when my foster daughter, who was equally as talented and capable as her brother two years her younger, were offered the same job but she would receive a smaller salary.  A light bulb fact like that should spur any father of a daughter to become an activist for women’s equal rights.  I remember thinking to myself that the addition of a penis on the exterior of the human male animal didn’t mean the female should take second place. 

Because I never knew if there might be a name for people like myself as a young man, I learned at . . . I think I was 15 going on 16 . . . from the Pastor describing what a ‘homosexual’ in the Bible was.  And voila!  That described me.  But then he went on to tell everyone in Church that day that homosexuals would never go to heaven and would writhe in the fires of hell.  Well, let me tell you if I had ever thought of sharing my personal thoughts, this definitely made me think I’d better not tell ANYone.  So, I’d grow up, get married - - eventually - - then, I’d never have to tell anyone; because I wouldn’t appear “different” any longer. 

Unfortunately, the “different” never left me!  Word came about that I could be “cured” and then I had to learn the hard way that no amount of counseling or therapy - - including the born again experience of evangelical Christianity - - was able to get rid of my “different”. 

You know what closet living is like?  Well, of course you do - - unless you decided to “come out” when you were three!  Remember, life is a process and living in a closet and making an exit is a part of our process.  We learn from our memories.  Closet living is a form of the suffocation of one’s true creative, spiritual being.  I was suffocating and it became more and more difficult for me to live a lie as Truth was calling me.  And, I didn’t even know at that time just how absolutely wonderful ‘freedom’ actually could be . . . and, that being free was the essence of life and creativity.

Coming out of a closet quite possibly might be as physically and mentally painful as giving birth!  And, when it accompanies the inevitable situation of a very immediate separation and divorce, it is like the pain of the death of your most loved one(s).  It took me a while to try and figure out after the divorce where my life would be heading as I experienced the great learning process of being homeless and on the streets of L.A.  There I was when I decided to stand up straight and use my talents and abilities to help other homo’s accept themselves as the beautiful people we all are.  It was not easy for me to get used to the new word of “gay”.

The only so-called social outlet we had at that time were the bars, primarily owned by straight who saw a chance to make big $$ on this new societal change.  That’s when I ran across a bar rag called The West Coast Times’.  I thought I could use my background in journalism and get a job there.  The Publisher told me they couldn’t afford to pay me what I had been used to getting.  What he didn’t know was that I was homeless after my divorce!  Anyway, I was more interested in the challenge than the salary.  I got the job. 

The wonderful ADVOCATE magazine was just getting started also and it was on a much classier plane than a bar rag.  I thought, IF, as Managing Editor, maybe I could help change the bar rag into an actual homophile newspaper; I knew I could use some of my old contacts and get national distribution.  It worked.  We became the Coast To Coast Times with a print run of 110,000 and we were on the tail of The ADVOCATE. 

We had some wonderful columnists like Harvey Milk and our hearts bled when he was murdered by a Twinkied-up San Francisco City Councilman.  We were able to help young writers with assignments and watch them go to higher goals - - - like Randy Shilts with his great “The Boys In The Band”.  There was a bit of unhealthy competition between the gay brothers and our lesbian sisters in those days and I was happy when we introduced a section of the newspaper into “The Gai Woman” and help bring about more unity.  We also had an ever-growing straight readership which was kinda nice and new for a homophile publication.  I believed we needed them if we were going to make any headway toward our human rights. 

Look at what a few bar rags and news publications from 35 years ago have spawned!!  Do we not have great news publications, magazines and yes, even more bar rags today?  You bet we do!  And now, the new frontier for your pioneering efforts with the Internet - - - and who knows what you shall be creating for our brothers and sisters of tomorrow!

No wonder we can have pride parades today!  We have a vibrant, vital network of LGBT’s in colleges, universities and even high schools across the nation.  We have one of the fastest growing religious denominations in the world today with Troy’s little baby of the MCC.  We have Adele Starr’s baby with nearly 500 chapters in the U.S. with our parents and friends in support through PFLAG - - - plus so much more with great Organizations, gay-owned & operated businesses, and, more newspapers/magazines than we ever imagined in those early days!  It all makes my head swell with humility and pride knowing how a “nobody’s” life can really count when it becomes blended into the colors of the rainbow! 

Although I may not be what one considers a Christian, I am well aware of the fact the Christian movement began only 2,000 years ago with only twelve passionate followers of a charismatic leader.  We have more than twelve today.  Get the idea? 

In case you may really want to know about me personally, check out my www.acelundon.com web site; my autobiography, now out of print, is available in used or overstocked books on Amazon.

Our so-called gay movement, only a few decades old, really began with a bunch of angry drag queens overturning police cars and a defiant enough-is-enough attitude.  Others, like me, felt that anguish and that spark ignited us. 

In my short lifetime of seventy years, I have watched our community members in and out of their closets set national and international trends - - - trends in fashion, music, literature, film, interior/exterior design; I have watched slum neighborhoods revitalized by our brothers and sisters.  Now, towns and cities are even being affected politically because we dare to be ourselves and show compassion, because we know about oppression, subjugation and humiliation.  Here, in towns and cities across the world, we have a vision for the future LGBT’s to continue our trek in creating freedom and justice for all. 

We dare not become embroiled in ideologies however; that will separate us, as we learned back in the early days.  As we look toward a legacy for our heirs now, maybe we need to consider the political reality of Democans and Republicrats and look more closely at individuals rather than Party ideologies!?  We must seriously consider what might happen IF we ALL actually voted in elections - - - especially local and State. 

We have a task as educators of those who lack knowledge and facts.  We must persist.  We dare not be afraid to stir the pot and keep folks talking.  The lack of or inability to communicate, whether in a personal/family relationship or on the public social scene, will keep us in stagnation.  The pot needs to be kept stirring

Maybe we’re past our early day efforts of “shock and awe” with bare tits and ass - - and, maybe we’re not, but it brought folks then out of their hate closets to face us and we learned who they were.  Shock therapy should always be carefully considered though; it could totally turn off those with whom we may be hoping to communicate.  We must always keep our adversaries very close to our chest. 

And speaking of adversaries - - - don’t expect the organized Religions of the world to rush out and accept us with open arms.  It ain’t gonna happen unless their basic doctrines are altered . . . and that ain’t gonna happen!  We don’t need to push them to change.  We are the outsiders.  They will make changes when those on the inside realize there is something screwed up with their teachings.  We need to find our own spirituality within ourselves and this may be done without organized Religion.  If one desires a social religious life, we have the MCC and those other religious groups that have become our allies.

Today, so many in our community are hot to trot about legalizing gay marriage.  Maybe we need to concentrate upon the fact that what we really want is justice and equality.  That doesn’t have to arrive through the auspices of organized Religion.  It is a civil matter that should bring justice and equality for citizens.  To receive our legal equalities with regard to our life partnerships - - - what we need is legal, easy to navigate packages that would assure us of all that our non-gay married brothers and sisters receive in their Church-sanctioned legal marriages. 

Another personal opinion is: the visionaries creating the community of tomorrow are the LGBT groups in the institutions of higher learning today.  This means YOU.  Learn to know, really know yourself, so you’ll be able to really love others - - even our uneducated adversaries.  Seek knowledge.  It is power.  Then, let your creative juices of insight flow into the paths that will create the future - - - that crazy idiotic future of idealists!  Never underestimate the powerful potential of your inner beauty in your physical being and remember you are what you have been becoming.  Tomorrow’s LGBT’s will reap the rewards of you being.  

You are our community leaders of tomorrow.  Your potential is unlimited.  You are being granted the Degrees allowing you to step into those potential leadership positions.  You are our fortunate brothers and sisters being blessed with formal, incredibly costly educations.  And please don’t ever forget who you used to be when you were an adolescent.  Remember those times and those dreams; that real child is still inside and is still so very beautiful. 

Don’t be afraid to become a member of the “I didn’t inhale” group, so folks may laugh at us and with us.  (Yes, we laughed at him and he laughed back with us!  And we learned to know him better.)  It’s a part of the great process for folks getting to really know one another.  And I don’t know about you, but - - - to know me is to love me!!