Glenn Shadix; Rest in Peace, my friend

Glenn arrived at my house in costume earlier this year for a screen test being filmed in Tuscaloosa that I was accompanying him to, and asked me to take a photo.




Glenn Shadix, like all of us, was a product of his environment. Because my novels are about characters from the 1960's, and because Glenn grew up in the 50's and 60's, we had opportunity to talk about his past at length.

It's no secret that Glenn had a disturbing youth. In his first "Bio-Tale he told the story of growing up gay in a Southern Baptist family, and begins with:

"I spent the 1950's at Westside Baptist Church in Bessemer, Alabama and I was
one of the obvious sissies in the congregation. I remember skipping through the
hallways of the church at age six wearing an available choir robe and headscarf
pretending I was Loretta Young."

But his real troubles began at the age of seventeen:

"I knew I was attracted to boys rather than girls from my earliest memory. I
thought I was alone in this predicament and it was my deepest and most well
guarded secret until the fall of 1969 when at seventeen I told my parents the
truth and opened a Pandora's' box of drama and exiled myself from my childhood
religion forever."

You can read the entire story, but in summary, he was forced to undergo "concentrated psychotherapy" which included "electrodes attached to a large car-size battery," and, well, you can imagine the rest.




When I asked Glenn in May of 2008 to ride in the Alabama Stonewall Democrats truck in the Central Alabama Pride parade the following month, he immediately said yes, but then developed some reservations. He had never "come out", had never felt the need to. In Hollywood and in New York, it wasn't necessary and there were no reservations about being who you are, at least among those in the profession (whether one could be "out" to the public and still have a successful career in those days is a different story).


But this was Alabama, his home state. His mother and his siblings live here.



Riding to Birmingham from our homes in Bessemer the day of the parade, he told me that he had never taken part in an event or protest for gay equality, and it meant a lot to him to be doing this. In his tropical shirt and straw hat he met Libertee Belle and Patricia Todd and other high profile gays before adding a rainbow colored lei to his attire and taking his position as bubble machine operator in the truck with friends Jo and Cindy, and off we went.



You can see in that picture that Glenn, always the entertainer, was having a good time. But you can also see what troubled him till the end. On his right foot is a boot. He was recovering from one of many surgeries to repair, or to provide relief from, an old injury from a stunt gone awry during a movie filming. Two years later problems with the foot had him confined to a wheelchair and his mobility problems led to the fall that took his life.



The following year I approached Glenn about joining our effort to protest the Ex-Gay conference that was coming up near Birmingham. We had Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out coming to the city to give a lecture prior to our protest, and I asked Glenn to tell his story at the event. This was another first for Glenn, the telling of his story in front of a live audience, and he became emotional during his presentation.


This did not bother anyone in the audience, however, because we all understood the emotional lows that he had been through and the rejection that he had experienced. In fact, most in the audience gained a new respect for the actor for opening up like he did.



Those of us who had become recent friends of Glenn knew him to be a highly intelligent and informed person who would give you the shirt (or the robe) off his back if you needed it. Stephen, Michael, Dean and I, and others, would spend spend hours on the phone or in person talking to Glenn about anything from Sarah Palin and politics to gender non-conformity and religion. One of my last phone calls with Glenn was after I posted this piece on the mosque in New York. He praised me for taking a stand, for "saying what needed to be said," as he often said about my writings ("and from Bessemer, Alabama," he would say, in mock disbelief).



Stephen, shown here posing in Glenn's robe from Beetlejuice, had planned a dinner for this weekend and Glenn and friends were going to help Stephen celebrate his birthday. Glenn had just had a visit from Rufus Wainwright but was looking forward with as much enthusiasm to palling with his B'ham gay circle as he did to entertaining celebrities from New York. That's just the way he was.

Glenn had plans. His latest film, Finding Gauguin, which I documented here, is set to premiere in September at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood on September 23. He was scheduled to go on a tour next year with the USO to entertain troops in Afghanistan. We had laughed about comparisons to Bob Hope and Ann Margaret for his USO trips. And recently he had been offered at part in a stage production playing Ernest Hemingway during the last year of the writer's life.

Glenn exposed many of us Alabama simple folk to a world that we know little about. But he approached his celebrity status with such a matter of factness that we felt like we knew Michelle (Phillips, of the Mamas and Papas) or Tim (Burton) or others who he would speak of in everyday conversation.

One of his most recent trips that he went on and on about was a road trip with his friends Diane and James to Baton Rouge to see Joan Baez, one of his (and mine) long time favorite singers. He got to spend some personal time with her and talk, and it meant so much to him, an Alabama boy who had to hide his Joan Baez records as a child from family members who considered her subversive. But he loved Joan and what she stands for and was so happy to have made the trip.

His memorial will be Sunday at 2:00, at Covenant Community Church in Centerpoint, AL.

His family is requesting that memorials be made to the theater department of the Alabama School of fine Arts .

Denial

Prominent black leaders recognize it.

Some progressive bloggers recognize it. Others do not.

The leaders of the Alabama Democratic Party do not.

Joe Turnham, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party wrote a piece that was published in the Birmingham News on Sunday's Viewpoints page. His purpose was not to acknowledge that the Democratic Party has a problem, or that racism contributed to a poor decision by the state Democratic Executive Committee; rather it was to blame the Birmingham News for "inciting racism within our party from your writings" and "writing racially charged editorials."

I can not say for sure that the following words were printed in the Birmingham News, but I know for a fact that they were spoken by Joe M. Reed at the meeting of the SDEC that nominated Elisabeth French over the "runner up" in the primary, Nikki Still, and I wrote about my disbelief.

"I'm from the brass knuckles wing of the Democratic Party, the 3 guys that
visit you after 12 o'clock at night wing of the Democratic Party."

He followed this intimidation with instruction to vote for "a family member...a sister."


The following words were also heard at the meeting.

"This is not a race issue. This seat was won by a black person because
a majority of people in Jefferson County chose a black person over a white
person."

That was representative Alvin Holmes that joined Joe M. Reed in putting forth the "racially charged" words; not the writers for the Birmingham News.

This is not a media problem, Mr. Turnham. You sound an awful lot like a Republican in making those charges.

The group of committee members cannot be judged as individuals who voted for Still or French for whatever reason they may have had. Turnham defends the committee members, and yes, they did do what was required of them by party and state rules. But as a body, they allowed "racially charged" words to influence them, or to intimidate them (brass knuckles) into voting a certain way.

Would the leaders of the committee allow men in white sheets and pointed hats to make a presentation or to nominate a candidate? Certainly not.

Would they allow the same individuals to appear before the committee without their uniforms and use anti-black rhetoric and 1960's style intimidation to promote a white candidate. Hopefully not.

But either due to political correctness carried too far, or naivety, or fear of losing their own grip on power, they allowed blatant racism to be expressed during the meeting, and the tactic worked.

Judge U. W. Clemon, retired federal judge for the northern district of Alabama, also had a letter in Sunday's Birmingham News. He recognized the racism, in part because he experienced the same thing in 1973 that Nikki Still experienced here. Clemon had run for a seat on the Birmingham City Council. It was an at-large election for three City Council seats, and Clemon placed fourth. One of the three whites who finished ahead of him died before his investiture, and both conventional wisdom and the black community thought (or insisted) that Clemon be named as the replacement.

"Instead, the largely white local unit of the Democratic Party chose one of
its own, one who had not run for the office. Only hypocrisy would permit me
to denounce the 1973 decision while silently acquiescing in the recent Democratic Executive Committee decision."

Clemon says the decision in racist, that the decision is unfair (based on Still's qualifying to run, her campaigning, and her place in the election), and that it is politically unsound (referring to the probability that the decision will result in fewer Democratic successes in the November election).

There have been calls for Elisabeth French to reject the nomination. Whether she does or not will go a long way in revealing how she feels about the issues raised by Judge Clemon and others.

There have also been calls for Nikki Still supporters to ramp up a write-in campaign, but Still herself so far is not enthused about it. However, letter after letter in the paper and voter after voter in person tell me that write-in is exactly what they are going to do. Many feel like a vote for French is a vote for the race based system that has infected the Democratic Party.

So we will write in our vote for Nikki Still.

Some progressives have demonstrated their unwillingness to address the problem as found on Progressive Electorate. (Emphasis mine)

Left in Alabama has video from yesterday's SDEC Meeting in which
Elisabeth French was appointed to replace Kenya Marshall on the Democratic
ballot. A number of folks I've talked to are disappointed that the nomination
did not go to Nikki Still - the 2nd place finish in the July 13th Runoff. I'm
confident Liz French will competent just as I thought Nikki Still would. The issue we should all agree on is the need to rid our State of the parasite called partisan Judicial elections.

Rather than looking inward to solve their own problem, they say focus on the unrelated but also important problem of partisan judicial elections.

What the Alabama Democratic Party should do is form a committee of SDEC members and outside people (such as Judge Clemon, James Laster, and me) to get to the meat of the issue and find out exactly why such attitudes still exist, how prevalent they are in the committee, and develop recommendations to overcome the problem. Just because these people are members of an elite group does not mean they are too good for some personal development, sensitivity training and common sense instruction. To do otherwise just means that the attitudes of the 1960's are alive and well in 2010, and will continue to control the party.

Many of the old folks won't mind if the party does not evolve, but the young voters that the party desperately needs (especially in Jefferson County) will not want to be a part of a "movement" that refuses to budge.

The mayoral election of 2002; part 2

Yesterday I began a two part series on the 2002 Mayoral election.

Here is part one, where I looked at what we were looking for that year as the election approached.

After the election results came in those who were hoping for change were ecstatic. I was at Ed May's campaign headquarters, and spoke with several supporters. I wrote another letter to The Western Star, based one the promises Ed May had made during his campaign, and what I heard that night as he celebrated victory.

Here is that letter. (For some reason the letter is not appearing yet, it will later. In the meantime, click on the title and you can read it.)


Letter ToThe Western Star September 25, 2002 Mayor May

Here are some of the promises outlined in the letter, and the outcomes as I see them.

Mr. May has outlined a plan whereby he, working with the school board and
superintendent, will improve our schools and offer our children a solid
educational foundation.

Our schools have certainly made some improvements over the last 8 years, but it is not in any way attributable to Ed May, as this administration and council has refused to address the withholding of taxpayer generated funds belonging to the school system that the city refuses to pay them.

This led a city watchdog group, Citizens for Better Schools, to sue the city in January, 2008. The city government responded by considering a repeal of the ordinance that gives a portion of sales tax to the schools. Classy.

That's not just the mayor, but he sure didn't do anything to assure the schools got their money.

He has pledged to revitalize our historic neighborhoods and the downtown area.

I live in a "historic neighborhood" and I visit the "downtown area" almost every day. While I am proud to say there is some revitalization in a portion of downtown, this has all occurred within the last year and a half and much of the city center is still peppered with empty storefronts and abandoned or burned out buildings. And other than the destruction of some abandoned (historic) homes in the neighborhoods, there have been no initiatives toward restoration or improvements in the areas where people live.

He believes in the rule of law, and will enforce our laws fully and fairly, and
will support our police and firefighters.

His efforts to combat crime and reduce the murder rate depend on everyone coming to Jesus and telling their neighbors about him.

And he actually said that increased police presence would not make our area safer.


In reality, his strategy has not worked, as crime in Bessemer was addressed here.

He knows that our parks and recreational facilities are a reflection of our
pride and values, and will seek to restore those facilities to top condition.

We have an improved Roosevelt Park and a new track that a diverse group of citizens enjoy. Ed May and the council may be responsible for this, but did the mayor have to lie about it?

Ed May says on his current campaign literature:

Improved and renovated City Parks - building the only outdoor fitness facility
in Jefferson County.

I remember when I was dating my partner that we would sometimes use the exercise trail at Montclair Hospital (now Trinity) near Crestwood. It was a trail through the wooded area with several fitness stations positioned around the wooded property. I called Trinity to confirm that the trail is still in place, and it is. So this "outdoor fitness facility" or any other that the mayor may be referring to is not the only such facility in the county.

He has promised to end favoritism at Bessemer Utilities and to set up a consumer
advisory board to hear complaints and make recommendations to the
management.

If there is a "consumer advisory board" then it is the worst publicized organization in the city, because I know nothing about it. I called Bessemer Utilities and the person I spoke with had never heard of it either.


I'm sure there are other promises that have not been kept over the last eight years. But the issues addressed in my letter, especially regarding crime, education and revitalization, and the failure of the mayor to follow though, are enough for me.

The mayoral election of 2002; part 1

This is the first of two articles about the mayoral election of 2002, when Ed May was first elected.

Eight years ago Bessemer was at a crossroads. Of course, we say that every time an election rolls around, don't we? But during the summer of 2002 the nation was still recovering from 9-11 and the country was more united than we are now. The people of the 7th congressional district had just elected Artur Davis in the primary to represent them. Some of us ended up being disappointed in Artur Davis. I could write about that, but he's already moving toward the history books.

In the summer of 2002 we were entering the election season for our city offices, and Ed May was the main challenger to Mayor Quitman Mitchell. Many of us wanted change, and in a letter to the Western Star I outlined some of the problems and the solutions we were seeking.



Here is the letter I wrote:

Letter ToThe Western Star July 3 2002 Upcoming Election


An excerpt:

Our city is listed as one of the poorest in the nation. Our city core, the
downtown area and older neighborhoods are in disrepair. We need a mayor
who will work to solve these problems and restore the earning potential of our
citizens. This will involve improving our schools, improving safety,
restoring our neighborhoods and downtown. But just as important, we need a
mayor who will restore our faith in our city and in ourselves. Our self
image is dealt a blow each time we hear about how poor we are, or how unsafe we are, or how bad our schools are. We can’t be proud of our city when we
drive through it and see buildings crumbling. And we can’t expect people
to want to return to our city when they don’t feel safe here. We need a
mayor who will do things that will restore our pride and improve our quality of
life so that those who live here will have better lives and that those who don’t
live here will want to move here to enjoy what we know our city can be.

Eight years later, the problems remain.


We elected Ed May that summer. Like Artur Davis, elected that same year, he has turned out to be a disappointment. Seventy two per cent of respondents on a poll on this web site say that Ed May has not addressed the important issues of the city.


In part 2 of this series, I will outline Ed May's promises as reflected in another letter I had published in The Western Star after his election, and how those promises have not been fulfilled.

Part 2.

The end of war

Well the unjust war has ended. The work continues. The problems are not solved. The troops responded to the call honorably.

I wrote a letter to The Western Star in March 2003 before the war began, but President Bush didn't read it. Or if he did, he ignored it.

Here is the letter, which followed an editorial the week before about patriotism.

March 5, 2003

I agree with your editorial comment about dissent being patriotic. It is hard to speak out against war when those who do so are criticized as being pro-terrorist. No one denies that Saddam Hussein is evil, or that he needs to be removed from power. But why is war the answer?

When we see or hear of violence among young people, everyone agrees that people need to be taught, at an early age, about conflict resolution, that violence is not the answer. Yet, what kind of example are our leaders setting for them when they have tunnel vision that can only focus on war? They are saying that violence is the only answer and do not want to give diplomacy and inspections a chance. Either they are blinded by this “ratings grabbing” war and their desire to control more of the world’s oil, or they just don’t have the brain power to think of any other way to resolve this crisis.

We hear over and over that terrorism is the enemy, yet the worst terrorist in the world hunkers down and hides for a year or so, and we forget all about him, while he regroups and makes plans for more acts against us. How many times have you heard President Bush speak of Osama bin Laden in the last year? All he had to do is hide and he is forgotten.

Saddam will probably do the same thing…we tear up his country, he tosses a few chemical weapons at our troops or Israel, killing our troops and our allies, then he can go into hiding for a while so we can forget about him.

How many of those leaders, from the president on down, have a son or daughter in the armed forces that is on the way or already in the Middle East? Probably none. I would be willing to bet that a large majority of citizens whose children or spouses are about to enter this war are not for it. Yet they, and the rest of us, find ourselves in the position of being loyal and supportive to our troops, while not supporting the cause for which they might die.

If we find, through war, that Saddam has no weapons of mass destruction, we will have spent billions of dollars and killed thousands to discover what we could have learned through peaceful means. If fact if he does have weapons of mass destruction, no one thinks we will be able to find and destroy all of them before he has used them on someone, somewhere. Iraq is like Pandora’s Box, and by opening it who knows what the consequences will be.

Unfortunately, we will probably soon find out.

Then the war started and two weeks later the Western Star published another of my letters.

March 26, 2003

The war against Iraq has begun and our attention must now focus on supporting our troops and praying that this conflict will end quickly with minimal loss of life.

We do not know how far the effects of this war will reach, so let us remember in our thoughts and prayers not only for our soldiers and their loved ones, but those who are affected throughout the world, including the innocent citizens of Iraq, who have already suffered through two recent wars and years of repression and sanctions.

As we learn of the tragedies and casualties of this war, let us use this as motivation to become adherents of nonviolence, and to study the works of Gandhi and King, who taught us that we must be the change we wish to see in the world.

President Obama was very generous in his speech last night, avoiding placing blame for the unjust invasion or saying "I told you so" about the weapons of mass destruction or the obvious truths about Iraq not being responsible for 9-11 or any of the other made up reasons that the prior administration used do fight "daddy's war."

I'll just be generous too, other than that last paragraph, and wish only the best for the troops returning home, that they will be able to return to normal life, and for those who are being re-deployed to Afghanistan, I wish you safe passage and a quick resolve to the conflict in that country so that you, too, can return home safely, soon.

And let's not forget the 50,000 troops that remain in Iraq. We hope for your safety and await your return home as well.

SDEC - unbelievable

I come in from a week in Nirvana and discover that the world did not stop spinning while I was gone. I had planned to bore you with details of our trip to New Mexico, but then I looked at the newspapers that had collected while I was gone.

Something happened that makes me lose all faith in the state Democratic Party. Maybe the Party can do something to reverse this, but I don't know what it might be.

The Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee met and handed down an unbelievable, race based decision to replace Kenya Lavender Marshall with Elisabeth French (who did not run in the primary during which Marshall defeated Nicole Still, who came in second both in the primary and in the runoff) as the party nominee for Jefferson County Circuit Judge place 17. Still had gobs of endorsements, including Stonewall Democrats and Bessemer Progressives.

Still also had the support of French during her campaign.

I don't know Elisabeth French (and neither do a majority of the Jefferson County voters) but I understand she considers herself qualified. But Nicole Still was determined to be the most qualified of the candidates who ran for this office by the Birmingham Bar Association, plus she has a few month's experience, having been appointed to the position by Bob Riley.

I understand the voting among the committee members did not fall along racial lines, with both white and black members voting for both Still and French, and French winning 90 - 41 - 1 (Peter Johnson Davis got 1 vote). Still is white. French is black.

While French herself did not campaign for this position along racial lines, her supporters sure did. Joe M. Reed (not the Joe Reed you are thinking of) said by voting for French "we (blacks)will have a friend, we will have a loyal friend, we will have a family member ... a sister."

Alvin Holmes said "This is not a race issue." Then he kept talking and proved that it was. "This seat was won by a black person because a majority of people in Jefferson County chose a black person over a white person."

Watch the video of the proceedings, recorded and uploaded by Left in Alabama.



But even if it wasn't a race issue, they also claimed Nikki Still was a Republican, and had supported Republicans, something she denies.

But even if she did, since when does the SDEC regard prior support of Republicans a reason not to support a candidate? Two words. Charlie Grimsley. He was chief of staff for Republican Lt. Governor Steve Windom and contributed at least $25,000 to Republicans and their special interest groups, including the Bush-Cheney campaign and Roy Moore.

When this was brought before the SDEC earlier this year, they rejected a motion to keep him off the ticket, and allowed him to run for treasurer. He is now your nominee for treasurer, having won the primary (over a much more progressive candidate Jeremy Sherer), because the SDEC did not care that he supported Roy Moore and George Bush and Dick Cheney.

And do the Democratic voters of Jefferson County care that Nikki Still was appointed by Bob Riley? Would they rather he appoint a Republican?

Did they not prove they don't mind a Riley appointment when they elected George Bowman as county commissioner?

And this race for Circuit Court was to be only voted on by Jefferson County voters.

Jefferson county voters made Nikki Still their second choice.

The Jefferson County Democratic Party Executive Committee recommended Still to the SDEC over French. The Jefferson County chapter of the New South Coalition voted to support Still. Grover Dunn, chairman of the Jefferson County ADC, was selected by their executive committee to nominate Still to the SDEC, and he did.

Rep. John Rogers warned the SDEC about what this result in come November. Democrats in Jefferson County will not be as excited about the election. This will greatly reduce Ron Sparks chances of being elected governor, and some are saying Jim Folsom may even lose his bid for Lt. Governor if the race is close, if Jefferson County voters are not inspired.

And there is nothing inspirational about a race based, demonizing campaign within the bowels of the party.

Update: The Jefferson County chapter of the Alabama New South Coalition has called on Elisabeth French to reject her appointment as the nominee. They say that Nikki Still is a victim of racism.

James Laster, their president, made the case in an opinion article in today's Birmingham News (the column is not posted online yet).

"Now, Democratic leaders Joe Reed, Joe Turnham and John Rogers no longer need to concern themselves with how many people will show up to the polls, but with retaining Democrats thinking of fleeing the Democratic Party after such a blatant show of racism."

Rejecting her appointment would be a radical thing for French to do. But it might also save the Democratic Party from this self inflicted wound, suicide, if you will. An online poll on al.com currently has 88% of respondants saying the SDEC made the wrong choice.

Alabama AG office responds

If you remember, in July I attended a Town Hall meeting after being invited by mayor Ed May. And if you remember, he asked me to turn off my video camera, after telling me it wasn't a "public meeting." And I thought that may have been been a violation of Alabama's Open Meetings Act. And I sent an inquiry to the Attorney General's office.





Well I received a response today and let's just say the mayor is being put on notice.

Mayor Ed May at another meeting held in a church.

I won't give details, but the office of the Attorney General tells me the steps necessary to bring action against the mayor.

It included this:



In response to your correspondence regarding Alabama's Open Meetings Act, as stated by Section 36-25A-6 of The Alabama Code, "A meeting of a governmental body, except while in executive session, may be openly recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic, photographic, or video reproduction provided the recording does not disrupt the conduct of the meeting.


Since May is so close to being voted out of office I think I will hold off on pursing anything.



But I guess all the Bessemer office holders should realize that Open Meeting Laws are to be observed.

Be sure to take part in my new poll to the left, which explores why Ed may did so poorly in the election.