nevada UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA PRESS
new in paperback
Friendly Fallout 1953 ANN RONALD paper | $21.95
community Schlegel: I was kind of the bookkeeper at The Gypsy, so I had all these deals with some suppliers, and put the whole thing on the owner’s credit line, but he didn’t know it, to buy the beer, secure the park, get the permits, buy the ice and cups, and pay for the soda up front. And I put in every dime I had. It would’ve bankrupted me if it hadn’t worked, and the owner would’ve killed me.
sideways at a gay bar or gave him any recognition, he would throw his beer bottle at you. He got 86’d from some of the bars.
Plotkin: That was a turning point for me, too. That was when I started getting involved. Somebody from Pride asked me for money to take out an ad in the R-J and I said, “Well, why would you pay for an ad? Just send them a press release and I’m sure they’ll run a story on it.” So I did a press release and within a couple hours I was doing interviews at Bright Pink Literature.
McBride: And there was Waylon Flowers …
DC: So that Pride was a success? McBride: Oh, yes. It was the first time any elected official came. It was (then-County Commissioner) Thalia Dondero. To see this person speaking on our behalf and in our favor was magnificent. She got terrible hate mail, and the newspapers had awful letters to the editor. She didn’t care.
Back to Bizkaia
a basque-american memoir
VINCE J. JUARISTI paper | $21.95
DC: There were all of these gay Strip entertainers. Were any of them out? Wilsey: Kenny Kerr. Plotkin: Breck Wall. Mulford: Jimmy Emerson. McBride: Yeah, there were a few big names, like Johnny Mathis and Rusty Warren, and another, Johnny Ray. These were pretty big names. They weren’t out, but afterwards, they went out to the gay bars and were very open in the community. DC: Johnny Mathis was? McBride: Yes, and Liberace of course.
updated
Alzheimer’s and Dementia a practical and legal guide for nevada caregivers
KIM BOYER
AND
MARY SHAPIRO
paper | $21.95
800.621.2736 www.unpress.nevada.edu
34 D e s e r t C o m pa n i o n S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1
Wilsey: Well, Siegfried and Roy, too. Mulford: They never participated in anything. Wilsey: Yeah, but I did encounter Roy over at the— Mulford: I’m sure you did. (Laughter) Schlegel: I recall one comedian — and I’ll leave his name out — who, if you looked at him
Plotkin: Why do you have to leave his name out? Schlegel: Well, it was Rip Taylor. Mulford: Who cares anymore?
Wilsey: …and Madame. He was probably the most out because (his puppet) Madame was always talking about being queer.
‘You act like that’s going to hurt me’ DC: Were there gay-bashings in Vegas back then? McBride: My car was vandalized with some windows smashed in and a note thrown in that said “AIDS Faggot” in the early 1990s. Plotkin: It was like a weekly occurrence if you were at Gypsy in the Fruit Loop area. Everybody would be screaming “Faggot” from cars. I guess it was the thing to do. Mulford: I had some friends visiting from out of town when I first got here, and we went down to Fremont Street, and people yelled “Dyke” at us. Schlegel: (Now-State Sen.) David Parks and I, in my first case of discrimination, were not allowed to become aides for Sen. Chic Hecht, the Republican who defeated Howard Cannon, because it was perceived we were gay. We both worked Hecht’s campaign, and that was the first time I ever experienced discrimination for being gay.
A Short History of Carson City Hurley: I remember one time, there was a
group who probably R Ijust C H AgotR Ddropped M O R EoffN Oaccidentally in the Fruit Loop when Lace was open, so these couples were coming in. I think paper | $21.95 we were doing New Year’s or something. And they’re like, “No, no, we want to come in there!” They’re totally wasted. So I come out, I’m in a tuxedo, and they start looking around and they’re like, “You’re a fag. A fag! A big fag!” And I’m just looking at them like, “Yes, I am, thank you very much! You act like that’s going to hurt me.” It was funny because my parents were there and my mom walks up, and she’s like, “Yeah, and that fag’s my daughter!” You know, it was, like, the weirdest circumstance, like, this kid, it totally deflated him from being so angry, | continued on page 68