A few months ago, I met Gale Davis, 70, of Urbana, Il. He’s a member of Illinois Public Media, and a longtime viewer and listener of our station. Davis said he knew he was gay when he was four years old.

“I had no interest in girls at all, but you had to keep that under the whatever,” he said.

Davis said 1969 was an important year for him. Right after the Stonewall Uprising in July, gay groups started forming across the state. It was around this time when Davis came out. A couple of years later, Davis spoke to the Mattachine Society in Chicago, one of the earliest gay rights organizations. He then began traveling across the country visiting gay churches, and meeting with gay rights activists. While Davis admits gays are represented more today than they were in 1969, he said many of the struggles facing the LGBT community back then are still relevant.

“Things have changed a lot, although not quite enough,” he said, reflecting on his memories about being thrown out of the air force because of his sexuality. “I was perfectly happy to donate my time and energy and even blood to protect the country, and they didn’t want me because I was born gay.”

David said people today are more comfortable coming out about their sexuality, but he added that there needs to be more of an effort to share the gay experience to the rest of the world.

I told Davis about the Stonewall Uprising project through WGBH in Boston and American Experience, and how the public would really benefit by hearing his perspective about what it is like being gay in America. He was eager to contribute, but did not have the means of uploading his own user-generated content. This seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. I set up a time to interview Davis at his home. We spoke in front of a wall coated with his ‘sermons’ describing the long-standing history of same-sex couples.

Davis’ story will hopefully encourage other openly gay people to come forward and share their stories to help guide the conversation of 21st century issues in the LGBT community.

-Sean Powers, Illinois Public Media


More about the Stonewall Uprising project:
thewgbhlab.org/open-call/stonewall