We Were Here Page #2

'Cause I had been somewhat

political in college.

I'd gotten sick of it...

Because all my roommates

were s. D.S...

And it was very militant.

And harvey was just

a lot gentler...

And a lot more fun.

My partner at that time,

steve...

Was also fairly political.

Any time there was a march

or a demonstration.

Or a candlelight thing,

we were always there.

Um, it was important to us.

Those were the things.

That made us feel connected

to the community.

Castro street was just

starting to happen...

And you would always

run into people you knew...

And it really felt

like a village...

And the castro

just started to feel.

Like the village

you always wanted.

- If you took

a bunch of young men.

And said, "have as much sex

as you can have,"

How much sex

would they have?

A lot of sex.

The sense was if gay is good,

gay sex is good, you know?

And more gay sex

is even better.

And people often say of...

Of my generation...

We came to san francisco

to be gay.

- I remember, like,

january, 1977...

I went right down

to castro street.

Here I've lived in greenwich

village all these years.

"This... This

is gonna be amazing. "

And I went down,

and, yeah, as you know...

It's, like, one block long...

And, like, a block

in either direction.

And, like, there were

a lot of gay men.

And, as with

any group of people...

It was already pretty quickly

falling into little cliques.

You know, there was, like,

this kind of military look...

And the kind of the...

The outdoorsmen look...

And there was a preppy look...

And there was already this,

like, kind of western look...

And a leather look.

It was already

starting to happen.

People quickly identifying

as certain male images...

And i, you know,

i just didn't, like, fit in.

There wasn't, like,

a long-Haired...

High-Voiced basketball look,

or something, you know?

I was just kind of me.

I mean, I tried.

I would go and pick up guys

and bring them home...

And, like,

they would want to go.

From zero to 60 so fast.

I couldn't do it.

I was terrible

at anonymous sex.

I didn't know how to go,

like...

"all right. "

You know, I just...

I couldn't do it.

I was like, "hi, my name's ed.

Who are you?"

You know, and it just...

It didn't...

it didn't click.

- I tend to be somebody

who has a partner.

Almost my whole life...

But I've always been

in open relationships...

So my sexual outlet

was always the bath houses...

And they were there,

and they were fun.

And I would go

with my friends.

It wasn't, like,

something I would sneak out.

And go on my own.

It was... It was something

of an outing.

We would go with friends.

I remember coming out

of one bath house...

At, like,

3:
00 in the morning...

And walking home across the city

in the middle of the night...

And just thinking...

"Gee, if my mother

could see me now...

She'd be just shocked,"

But it just felt so good.

It was, like, a club...

And we... We called it church.

It was going to church.

- Part of it,

you're having sex to have fun.

Part of it,

you're having sex to find love.

Part of it,

you're having sex to, uh...

...to... To rebel

against the people.

Who said

you couldn't have sex.

All of america

was feeling very confident.

That you could be

much more sexual...

And that was okay.

Venereal diseases

and unwanted pregnancies...

It's all curable

with a shot or a pill.

Or something to that effect.

It's may of 1979...

And the verdict has come down...

A verdict on dan white

for the murder of harvey milk...

And we're all at city hall

protesting.

There's this enormous rage.

Thousands of people arrive.

The police attack.

We're tear-Gassed,

we're beaten.

Police cars are burned.

So this is not a community.

That's feeling really good about

the political establishment.

Going into the 1980s.

The next night is harvey's

birthday party...

And so the streets

close off...

Tens of thousands

of people show up...

And they give very,

very angry speeches.

Anne kronenberg

gives a very fierce speech...

And at the end

of her speech...

She starts a chant,

"welcome to the '80s...

Welcome to the '80s. "

We couldn't know,

of course...

That even then

hiv was present.

Hiv arrived first

in san francisco.

Probably in '76...

And by 1979,

probably 10%

Of the gay men

in that crowd were infected.

And by the time we discover.

That there is such a thing...

Aids is even happening,

in june of '81...

Roughly 20% are infected.

By the time we actually

get the test...

So people can find out

if they're infected...

Close to 50% of the gay men

of san francisco.

Are already infected.

- '81 was a big year.

I landed a really good job...

And, for the first time...

I was part

of a large office staff.

With a lot of other gay men.

I was finishing my graduate

degree in creative writing.

I went to europe.

I had this great job.

All these new gay men

i was working with.

And, um, I felt like...

"Oh, the '80s.

Something's gonna shift. "

Like, I moved

to new york in '71.

Now I'm really here

in san francisco in '81.

And... And so that is

when everything changed...

Because that was, you know,

that was the year in the castro.

Running down,

I'll never forget...

I went to

the castro theatre.

Great double feature.

Two... I think it was, uh...

It was, like,

now, voyagerandcasablanca.

On the big screen...

And I remember, like,

running down to the...

The old star pharmacy...

'Cause we're gonna

smoke some pot...

And we didn't have any papers.

And I remember

looking in the...

...i remember looking in the window

of star pharmacy...

And there were these little

polaroid photographs.

That this young man

had made of himself.

There were at least three,

maybe four of them.

The first one was like this.

And inside...

...these big,

purple splotches.

And then there was

another picture...

And he had taken his shirt,

and pulled it up like this.

It was of his chest...

Big purple splotches.

They were just on the window...

And underneath,

there was a hand-Written note.

That said something like,

"watch out, guys.

There's something out there. "

Something like that.

And, uh, oh, my god.

It made...

huge impact on me.

And then, like,

i was really stoned...

And I went and watched

the movie, and...

...but the whole movie.

I was just

thinking about that.

It really made

an impact on me.

I went to see the movies with

a friend of mine named michael...

And he and i

worked together...

And he had woken up

kind of recently.

With this, like,

red splotch in his eye.

And he kept going, like,

"what is this? What is this?"

And, um, he, um, he had been

going to the eye doctor...

And they hadn't been able

to figure out what it was...

And...

You know, i...

...it turned out to be ks.

He had ks in his eye.

So it was right there

in the movie line with us.

Like, already.

Like, it was already there.

- The pictures

show the progression.

Of how a few red bumps.

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