Donna summer lgbtq
Donna Summer’s Letter to Execute UP
When the news strike that Donna Summer had died, I was reminded of her little-known scrape with ACT UP, the AIDS activist group I joined shortly after its first demonstration in 1987. As many will recall, even though her music was hugely popular with the gay community, she faced an ongoing backlash after the Village Voice attributed some quotes to her from a concert in 1983, saying she slammed gays and claimed AIDS was a punishment from God.
As some in the community continued to welcome her, others grew angrier at her hedged denials (words like “misunderstanding” were used), and the issue continued to percolate (see this transcribed 1985 story from The Advocate).
By 1989, various ACT UP chapters started protesting at Donna Summer appearances, including this Boston Gay Pride event, as reported by Gabriel Rotello in Outweek Magazine (July 3,1989):
To everyone’s surprise, Donna Summer wrote a letter to ACT UP New York attempting to mend the divide. A few quotes from the letter were reported at the time, and appeared often in recent online obituaries, but the letter itself has never been seen publicly.
So I asked Jay Blotcher, who was ACT UP’
Why “Summer” Makes Me Angry
I entered a matinee show of the Broadway illustrate Summer: The Donna Summer Musical with expectations as low as temperatures this spring. Even though I’m part of a chorus of gay men who love disco and Donna Summer’s music, I had no interest in seeing this bio-u-sical, which I’d heard was bland and facile. (I hadn’t scan any reviews and still haven’t at the hour of this writing.) When a friend offered me a comp ticket, I thought, “How bad can it be.” The present exceeded expectations. It feels like a slick, glitzy well-produced spectacle at an amusement park but with less sex appeal. What I didn’t expect was to exit the theater as angry as Larry Kramer.
I was almost seduced when the show opened to the sound of the real Donna Summer singing “I Feel Love.” The stage was vacant, except for a turntable spinning a vinyl LP with that instantly noticeable Casablanca tropical paradise log label. It time-warped me to second grade in 1975. While gay men were listening to DJs spinning “Love to Cherish You Baby” at the Continental Baths (a breeding ground for disco, the careers of Bette Mi
Withherdanceable music and glamorous style, Donna Summer became an instant icon for the gay community during her 1970s heyday. So when she allegedly made a number of religion-inspired remarks about the gay community as well as HIV/AIDS during a 1983 performance, the "Queen of Disco" faced an immediate backlash.
"It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," Summer was quoted as having said during the Atlantic City performance by the Village Voice, according to The Advocate. She is said to contain also noted, "I've seen the wicked homosexuality come out of you people... AIDS is the result of your sins. Now don't get me wrong; God loves you. But not the way you are now."
Now, however, a letter of apology written by Summer to a prominent AIDS advocacy organization in 1989 has emerged in its entirety for the first time via POZ Magazine's blog. In it, the singer, who died of lung cancer at 63 last month, denies making the remarks about the gay group, but whether or not it would've been enough to appease those sullen fans at the time it was written is uncertain.
Calling the accusations "unjust and unfair," Summer notes in the letter addressed to members of Execute UP, "I did not say Proceed
Letter Shows Donna Summer Defending Herself Against Alleged Anti-Gay Comments
John McConnico/AP Photo
In a newly released letter from Donna Summer to an AIDS advocacy organization, the disco singer defended herself against long-standing accusations that she made repulsive comments about same-sex attracted people during a concert.
During the height of her fame in disco's 1970s heyday, Donna Summer, who died of lung cancer May 17, was an icon in the gay community.
That changed in 1983, when the "Queen of Disco" allegedly made several derogatory remarks about the gay group and HIV/AIDS during a performance. The comments sparked immediate backlash from both gay and vertical fans.
"It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," Summer allegedly said during the Atlantic City recital. Summer had recently announced she was a born-again Christian, and her alleged comments were based in her modern religion.
"I contain seen the evils of homosexuality," The Advocate reports she said. "AIDS is the result of your sins."
She later denied ever making the comments, and in a just-released letter from 1989, Summer calls the accusations "unjust and unfair."
The letter, dated July 26 th, was sent to Do UP,
Donna Summer’s ACT UP letter published
In a development that could impact all 50 states and the District of Columbia, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on July 1 announced a “nationwide roadway safety initiative” that political observers say could be used to require cities and states to eliminate LGBTQ supportive rainbow-colored highway crosswalks.
The South Florida Daystar Sentinel newspaper reports that the South Florida cities of West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach announced last week that they were removing rainbow crosswalks from their streets “as a result of directives from the administrations of President Donald Trump and [Florida] Gov. Ron DeSantis to get rid of street markings that commemorate the LGBTQ+ community.”
A July 1 statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation says Duffy sent a letter that alike day to the governors of all 50 states that followed an earlier letter sent to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser informing them of the department’s “Safe Arterials for Everyone” initiative to be carried out by the Federal Highway Administration.
According to the statement, Duffy pointed out that the new program targets “non-freeway arterial roads” wh