As we put the finishing touches on our November print edition, I was struck by how many of the stories, directly or indirectly, illustrate how much is at stake in this year’s presidential election.
It is our 12th annual Pride Issue, and all of our Pride stories this year all touch upon the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community, past and present.
Our lead piece is about the new Q+ Art initiative at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Why does Adam Lerner, the museum’s executive director, feel the need for such an initiative?
“We feel it’s important to send a message to the general public, especially today, where there is so much prejudice in the world,” he told Haleemon Anderson. “We think that museums can be important forces in our culture, where we can affirm a plurality of voices.”
Next up is Kevin Fitzgerald’s interview with Renae Punzalan, the director of youth services at the Marsha P. Johnson Youth Drop-in Center, which is part of the Transgender Health and Wellness Center.
“Even though we’re here in Palm Springs—which is supposed to be the gay mecca, right?—there are still students who face discrimination for being trans or gender-diverse,” she told Kevin.
Our third piece, also by Kevin Fitzgerald, is an interview with Michael G. Lee, author of When the Band Played On, a biography of pioneering gay journalist Randy Shilts. Lee will be interviewed by another iconic gay journalist, Hank Plante, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center on Nov. 16. Lee talked about his experiences working in HIV health.
“There was always this recognition that our work, even though a lot of it was standard human service-type work, was imbued with a certain political edge because of the process it took to get funding for AIDS research and community-based services,” he said. “It was still a partisan topic, even into the early 2000s, and we continually had to press against opponents in legislative bodies. … Depending on what happens with the climate of this country, we could be revisiting those fights sooner than we think.”
We conclude our Pride section with Matt King’s feature on Great Autos, an LGBTQ+ car club.
“A lot of our members, when we first started, were closeted,” said Mike Parente, a Great Autos board member and the club historian. “We used to send out the newsletter in a plain wrapper, (and members) didn’t want to be listed in our roster, because homophobia was such a bigger thing.”
Beyond the Pride section, Matt wrote a preview of the Reel Women’s Film Festival, which benefits Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest.
“We are all humans going through so many things, so many problems, and reproductive health care and reproductive health access, and having that bodily autonomy—it weaves itself through all of our narratives,” said Jacque Casillas, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest’s donor relations manager. “Every single person has sexual reproductive health, and it is so critical that you have not just access, but safety and security.”
We currently live in a country where, in many places, LGBTQ+ freedoms and womens’ bodily autonomy have been taken away or are being threatened. One major presidential candidate has made it clear that she supports the LGBTQ+ community and a woman’s right to choose; the other has made it equally clear—with his words, his actions and the people with whom he surrounds himself—that he’s happy to take away abortion rights, demonize trans people, and elevate judges who want to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, including gay marriage.
As I write this, pollsters say the presidential race is as close as it can get—Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are equally likely to win the election. I am legitimately afraid.
Note: This is a slightly edited version of the editor’s note that appeared in the November 2024 print edition. Much of this was originally published online in the Oct. 24 Indy Digest.
