Video Interview, Alan Davidson, August 2, 2012

  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So let's start late seventies.
  • I know that you came out later in life.
  • You were married, had children.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: That's right.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I don't really get so much into the coming out
  • experience.
  • I'm more interested in your experience
  • as a gay man out in our community.
  • What were you finding?
  • What was it like in the late seventies social life,
  • you know, beyond your professional life--
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Ready?
  • Well, when I came out in the seventies,
  • it was a very strange thing to me being a married man.
  • And then my wife died.
  • I turned to the gay scene just for an outlet,
  • just to try something different, and when I came out,
  • I had to be so secretive about it, so closeted.
  • I was really scared to say anything to my friends.
  • It made me very, very uncomfortable,
  • but I decided to bite the bullet and go to a gay bar that night,
  • and it was Jim's, and lo and behold,
  • when I walked into Jim's, I saw at least a dozen people
  • that I knew as friends that were there.
  • So much to my demise, and much to my shock,
  • I felt a little bit more comfortable.
  • And they made me comfortable.
  • And then, lo and behold, I left Jim's, and I got a phone call
  • from one of the gentlemen, and asked me
  • to come over to a dinner party.
  • And I said sure.
  • And, once again, 12 men sitting around a table having
  • the same likes and dislikes that I have,
  • I felt extremely comfortable and I felt more at ease.
  • So I decided that I would tell a couple of my friends
  • my experiences.
  • And by doing that, I was relieved.
  • I felt like a new person.
  • And then, all of a sudden in the seventies, some lady
  • by the name Anita Bryant came out,
  • and she said such derogatory things about homosexual
  • that it made me very aggravated and very concerned.
  • And I said to myself, hey, this has got to stop.
  • And we have to do something about this.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to back up a little bit.
  • So we don't rush through a lot of this.
  • How did you find out about what was out in the gay community
  • when you were first coming out?
  • How did you find out about Jim's?
  • How did you find out about some the other places
  • that gay people were going to?
  • How did you find the gay community?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Well, when I first came out,
  • it was very strange.
  • When I was leading a straight life, we would drive by a bar
  • by the name of Jim's, and we would yell,
  • I would yell, out the window, look at those queers!
  • At that time, queer was a very, very bad name.
  • And I made fun of those people.
  • And because of my experience with my own sexuality,
  • knowing that Jim's was a gay bar,
  • I then had enough strength to go there and see
  • what it was all about.
  • And lo and behold, a few years ago making fun of that,
  • and now, seeing what I saw in there, just
  • changed my whole opinion.
  • I said, really, these people are human beings.
  • They're just like me.
  • They're just like you.
  • They're no different.
  • So I became very, very relaxed in that situation
  • and I wasn't uptight, and I didn't
  • feel that I was being pressured, and I really
  • enjoyed my experience as being, quote, a gay man.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So let me ask you this, how--
  • back in that day and age, maybe even true still today
  • a little bit, how important were places
  • like Jim's for the gay community to seek solace
  • and to seek companionship?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Places like Jim's and other places
  • that I found out by being introduced
  • to by several friends was given me an outlook to be myself
  • and not to be hiding in the closet, as we say.
  • It gave me a chance for freedom, it
  • gave me a chance to realize that, yes, there
  • are other people like myself going through the same thing
  • as we all did when we first came out.
  • It wasn't easy.
  • Especially in the seventies, it was very, very difficult,
  • as a matter of fact.
  • I had to be very, very careful in what I said and what I did.
  • And I really didn't like that.
  • I was the kind of person that's very outgoing
  • and I really liked to express myself.
  • And I feel that I was forbidden to do some of the things.
  • And thank god there was the bars.
  • There was the GAGV that somebody introduced me to.
  • There was some discussion groups that I could go to.
  • And there was activities that I could go to.
  • I could go and just read books if I wanted to in the library.
  • I could enjoy some card games with some friends.
  • I could go to house parties where I would
  • meet other people like myself.
  • And it just became a little bit more
  • easy to do that every time I made that step.
  • And I was so thankful that I had people that really cared.
  • And that was important to me.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: There came a moment with Anita.
  • Talk to me about that first time that you turned down the TV,
  • you heard something on the radio,
  • about this woman named Anita Bryant and how
  • that made you feel, how that propelled you to eventually
  • become an activist.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: When I first heard about Anita Bryant,
  • and even to this day, I don't even like to mention her name,
  • but you know what, Anita?
  • I want to thank you for what you did for me, because you gave me
  • the insight how stupid and how narrow minded people are about
  • homosexuality.
  • Your statements, your comments, your activities, your actions
  • were so juvenile and so stupid.
  • And you were proven wrong, weren't you, Anita, because
  • of certain people that got together
  • and fought against you.
  • You didn't think you were going to have that problem,
  • but believe me, you did have that problem,
  • and you know what?
  • You might have won the battle, but we certainly won the war.
  • And you made me so aggravated that I became an activist
  • in the gay community.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about those first days
  • as an activist.
  • What were your initial thoughts and where did you start?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Well, my initial thoughts
  • when I became an activist was, I couldn't necessarily
  • do this alone.
  • But because I met so many interesting people
  • in Jim's and other outlooks in the gay community,
  • we formed a group called coalition for change.
  • This was a group that was formed by gays and straights.
  • And believe me, at that time, there were a lot of straights
  • out there that were in favor of equal rights for everybody.
  • It wasn't just equal rights for gays, straights, black, whites,
  • pinks, it was equal rights for everybody.
  • That's what we were fighting for.
  • So we formed this group called Coalition for Change.
  • And the way that we could make this work was our main purpose
  • was to educate other people on what it means to be different.
  • And when I say different, once again, whether it be black,
  • whether it be white, whether it be gay,
  • whether it be straight, just different.
  • We were looking for equality, and that's
  • why we called it Coalition for Change.
  • And what we did, we gathered a nucleus of people,
  • like I said, and arranged certain fund raising events
  • to further education and promote equal rights for everybody.
  • One of the things we did, we were
  • very fortunate to find the number one
  • military activist whose name was Leonard Matlovitch.
  • Leonard Matlovitch was the first official officer
  • in the military to come out.
  • Well, we sent Leonard a letter asking
  • him to come to a rally for rights
  • that we were going to feature downtown at the Holiday Inn
  • at the crossword park in Rochester.
  • And lo and behold, he said, yes, he would come.
  • Well, this was a tremendous feather in our cap,
  • and we felt very honored and privileged
  • that he would attend.
  • He gave a keynote address that is still
  • earth shattering today, and just his main purpose,
  • and his main thoughts, were stand up for your rights.
  • It's not going to be easy, but stand up for your rights,
  • don't give in, don't let other people--
  • and I'll use the word-- bully you now--
  • because bully has become a big word.
  • And he used that word back in the seventies,
  • believe it or not.
  • So that was an experience that was just
  • a tremendous thrust in our movement for gay equality.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Moving forward a little bit in your activism,
  • you had some dealings with city council,
  • getting the policy changes there.
  • You had some opposition in city council.
  • Talk me through that.
  • Tell me the story about trying to make policy changes
  • at the city level.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: It as an expression that's used,
  • you can't fight city hall.
  • Well, let me tell you something, where there's a will,
  • there's a way.
  • City of Rochester had on its docket in city council,
  • a very important, anti-discrimination bill,
  • which would have been anti-discriminate against
  • housing, schools, benefits, anything
  • to do with equal rights that other people had.
  • And this was to free the gay movement.
  • It was against the gays.
  • In other words, the discrimination bill
  • was against the gays.
  • We were fighting anti-discrimination.
  • And we had to go to city council as a group from the GAGV
  • and talk to city council and make sure
  • that they were going to vote this into the power.
  • Rochester, New York became one of the first cities
  • in the country to approve the anti-discrimination bill.
  • And we made history by doing that.
  • And once again, the way that we did it was strength in numbers.
  • We didn't go one by one, but we went in numbers,
  • and we went in a force.
  • And it was a real, real battle.
  • And fortunately, it was passed.
  • And I think everybody in the Rochester community
  • can certainly be thankful for that.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You need to clear up for me a little bit.
  • This Anti-discrimination Bill was strictly
  • for anti-discrimination--
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Against gays.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Against gays.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Just gays.
  • That's what it was for.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • So who submitted his bill?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Cal-- I don't know.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • I'm just trying to figure out how did this bill get the city
  • council to begin with?
  • EVELYN BAILEY: (unintelligible)
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: You know what, Evelyn, I think you're correct.
  • I mean, yes, Tim did.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You know, actually,
  • what I'm more interested in is that you
  • got up on the floor of city council and spoke, right?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Yes.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about that experience,
  • talk to me about the kind of things that you said to them,
  • and the argument that you were trying to make with them,
  • and what that was for you as an experience.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: When we talked about the anti-discrimination
  • bill with city council, I had the honor--
  • I guess I could call it the honor--
  • but I volunteered to speak out because I
  • felt so strong about this.
  • And when I got up, I was nervous.
  • I was scared.
  • But I also felt that what I was going to say
  • was going to be important because they
  • had to know that there were people out there that were
  • being discriminated against.
  • And that the only way that we, as the gay person,
  • can have our equal rights is to pass this bill so we
  • won't be discriminated against.
  • And it was a rather hard thing for me to do,
  • but I got up there, and I did speak,
  • and they must listened to myself and other people,
  • and the bill was passed.
  • And we did have a bill that fights
  • discrimination against gay people in Rochester, New York.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: That was under Johnson's administration,
  • right?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Pardon?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Bill Johnson, he was the mayor?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Bill Johnson was the mayor, yes.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Where is the music coming from?
  • Is somebody practicing out in the hall?
  • [SIDE CONVERSATION]
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: You've got good ears.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: All right, let's move on to early eighties
  • and this thing called gay cancer starts appearing in the news.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Called what?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Gay cancer.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Right.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: But ultimately is became known as AIDS.
  • Can you remember the first time you heard about AIDS here
  • in Rochester and what your initial thoughts
  • were regards to how we were going to respond to this?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Back in the eighties,
  • I had a very good friend by the name of Don Scalia who
  • lived in Rochester and he went to New York City
  • and became a doctor.
  • And one day Don called me up and he said to me,
  • hey, Alan, have you heard about AIDS?
  • And my answer to him was, yeah, of course, I have.
  • It's the diet pill.
  • Why?
  • Do you take it?
  • And he said, no, Alan, it's not the diet pill,
  • but even though there is a diet pill called AIDS,
  • we have something very important to talk about.
  • I said, what is that?
  • And he said that there is a sickness now
  • in New York City called AIDS.
  • It's a virus which is spreading rapidly to gay men.
  • And for some reason, we don't have a cure for this,
  • we don't understand it, and something
  • has to be done about it.
  • And he told me that he was coming to Rochester
  • in a couple of weeks and would like to talk to me about it.
  • He knew that I was active in the gay movement
  • and he wanted to have a little sounding board.
  • I said, sure.
  • So what I did is I called a very good friend of mine Sue
  • Cowell who was a nurse and who was also
  • a great, great activist in the gay community.
  • And I called Sue and told her what Don told me.
  • And she said, well, when Don comes in, why don't you
  • come over and we'll sit on my porch and we'll talk about it,
  • because I don't know that much about it myself.
  • And I said, great.
  • So when Don came in, we went over to Sue's house
  • and we talked about AIDS.
  • That was the first time that I heard about it.
  • It was a called a gay cancer, it was called an AIDS bug,
  • it was called an AIDS virus, but what we all
  • knew it was spreading rapidly and spreading rapidly
  • in New York City especially and on the West Coast
  • in California through gay men.
  • This is what was proven at that time,
  • but nothing else was known about it.
  • And Don felt very strong that because
  • of the spread of this that it was eventually going
  • to affect the whole country.
  • And Rochester, New York of course is part of the country.
  • So he said, what can we do about this?
  • So Sue and I got our heads together and we said, well,
  • why don't we start forming an organization and we'll
  • call ourselves AIDS Rochester?
  • Well, we called a couple of friends, met a week a week
  • later, and that was the beginning of AIDS Rochester.
  • At that time, it was very, very hard to get funding.
  • Grants had to be written.
  • It was an uphill battle.
  • But we fought that battle, once again,
  • and, through the help of key people that wrote grants,
  • we were able to get some funding and start to do
  • things to raise awareness.
  • That was our first concern, raising awareness and educating
  • people about this and how serious this was.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to go back.
  • That following week after you met with Dr.--
  • what was his name?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Scalia.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Scalia.
  • You and Sue got together and talked.
  • Then a week later, you got together the board of people,
  • right?
  • Again, was that on Sue's porch a week later?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: It was again on Sue's porch that time.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Was Dr. Valenti there?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: No, he was not.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Who was there?
  • EVELYN BAILEY: Don Scalia
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let him tell me.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Don Scalia, myself, Sue, Mark Elingwood--
  • I'm trying think who else--
  • Buddy Wegman.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, you don't have
  • to go through all the names.
  • Just give me a sense of what it was like sitting on that porch
  • that evening, what the conversations were like, what
  • was going through your heads about how we were going to do
  • this enemy we haven't seen yet.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: This was very confusing to us
  • sitting on the porch.
  • We really didn't know where to go or what to do.
  • And we were very confused because we
  • didn't have the avenues of thrusting out for help.
  • It was so brand new.
  • And not knowing the cause and not knowing what was happening
  • made an even more perplexing.
  • But we knew that it was a serious problem.
  • We realized that until we could educate
  • people of what was going on we'd be fighting a losing battle.
  • So the first thing we had to do was somehow
  • educate and get the word out through flyers,
  • through discussions, through people
  • that we could feel that would be interested in talking
  • to us about this, schools, industry, businesses,
  • and people like that.
  • So we called.
  • We sort of had like a telephone hotline
  • calling people up, informing them what our plan was,
  • and they said that they would be interested in talking
  • to us further some of them.
  • And that was really the beginning of what we did.
  • And once we got the understanding,
  • that we learned more about the disease,
  • we were able to tackle more serious problems
  • like fundraising, which was a very big concern
  • because there wasn't any money that was established for this.
  • So we decided that we would do a fundraising event at Friar's
  • Inn on Monroe Avenue.
  • This was the first AIDS benefit in the city
  • and it was very, very successful.
  • We raised hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
  • We had an outpouring of people coming to the bar,
  • having a good time, but realizing what they were there
  • for was to fight this disease.
  • So this was the beginning of really the AIDS funding
  • and that helped AIDS Rochester at least get some kind of grass
  • root movement going.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to talk about the impact of AIDS
  • on the social scene in Rochester,
  • particularly the bar scene.
  • Later on, you actually wound up owning your own bars,
  • but you became very involved with a lot
  • of the establishments in Rochester.
  • What were you seeing over the course of the eighties
  • and early nineties?
  • What was happening to gay men?
  • What was happening to our community?
  • What was happening to our social life?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Well, during the times
  • of the eighties and nineties when AIDS ran rampant, really
  • out of control, some people in our community
  • would be very serious about it.
  • And unfortunately, some people would just laugh it off.
  • We had to take a step for safety in sexual orientation,
  • sexual movement.
  • And it was very hard to prove to people that this is happening,
  • and look at the figures, and look at the stats.
  • It's becoming an epidemic.
  • And if we don't do something through education
  • and through stopping this, it's going
  • to be devastating to everybody.
  • So it was really an uphill battle to educate people.
  • And some people listened and some people didn't.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about working
  • with AIDS Rochester, and Jeff Kost,
  • and getting that AIDS walk together.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: One of the things we
  • did to raise some money was we decided
  • we would have an AIDS walk.
  • And Jeff Kost, who was very active
  • in AIDS Rochester at that time, said, that's a great idea.
  • So we organized our first AIDS walk.
  • And it was just a tremendous, tremendous event
  • where we expected maybe one hundred people.
  • We had about 300 people.
  • Yes, it doesn't sound like a lot right now,
  • but three hundred people at that time was excellent.
  • And I'm going to brag a little bit,
  • but I was the number one contributor for our donations
  • for the first walk and brought in the most money.
  • And it was a very gratifying and rewarding thing.
  • And that really started the beginning of many,
  • many more AIDS walks because they were so successful.
  • And each one was more successful than the next one.
  • And it was a lot of fun to do, but more important,
  • it was a very rewarding experience
  • for everybody and anybody that participated in it.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: What did you feel
  • when you saw all these people coming to walk?
  • That first one, you weren't expecting that many people,
  • but then, over the course of years,
  • it just kept growing, and growing,
  • and growing until we got thousands of people.
  • What does that say about Rochester and our response
  • to the whole AIDS epidemic?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Rochester, New York
  • can really have several feathers in their caps.
  • It's a community that, when something happens, it really
  • bonds together.
  • The support that people gave Rochester with the AIDS problem
  • was a major, major thrust that made
  • us really known in the map.
  • We have people that told us, Rochester, AIDS
  • was like the top three in the country
  • as far as grants, as far as donations, as far as giving,
  • and as far as education.
  • And we're very proud of that fact.
  • And Rochester, New York is known today
  • for being one of the outstanding gay communities
  • in New York state, if not, the country.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: AIDS quilt, you worked during the AIDS quilt
  • here for the first time?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Yes.
  • The AIDS quilt was a wonderful way
  • to remember somebody that unfortunately died of AIDS,
  • and it gave a tremendous outlook, and deep feeling,
  • a way to grieve.
  • I personally made, with help of friends, two quilts.
  • Should I mention their names or no?
  • I made two quilts.
  • And they are now being shown with the AIDS quilt.
  • We thought it would be a wonderful idea--
  • this is when I was with the GAGV--
  • if we could bring the AIDS quilt to Rochester.
  • It wasn't that easy to do because you
  • had to fill out a lot of paperwork,
  • naturally, send it in, get approval, and lo and behold,
  • they did approve Rochester, New York for the quilt.
  • At that time, there was about ten thousand panels.
  • Today, there's forty-seven thousand panels.
  • We were able to bring in almost ten thousand panels showing
  • at MCC for the first time in New York state.
  • This was the first viewing in New York state.
  • So it was a tremendous, tremendous feeling,
  • and especially to see the quilts that a lot of people
  • worked on locally were on this display.
  • And it was just mixed emotions of good feeling and, of course,
  • a sad feeling over people that we lost to AIDS.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Why did you think
  • it was so important to bring it to Rochester?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: I thought it was important to bring
  • to Rochester because Rochester had worked so hard in the AIDS
  • movement.
  • And this was one way to show the results that have happened
  • with what we were working on.
  • And it was a very eventful occasion.
  • Yes, this is how people have answered some of their needs,
  • some of their grieving, some of their
  • are calling for what's happened with some of their loved ones.
  • And it was very important to bring it to Rochester.
  • Not only for Rochester, but surrounding areas
  • that could come to Rochester and also see it.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So in the middle of all of your AIDS activism,
  • you also became the president of the Gay Alliance.
  • Like you didn't have enough to do.
  • Talk to me about the deadlines at that time, '86, '87.
  • You know, what was it like?
  • What purpose was it serving in the community?
  • And then we'll get into your involvement with them.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: OK.
  • The Gay Alliance was one avenue that gay people could
  • come to if they needed help with housing, if they needed help
  • with education, if they needed to help with attorney fees,
  • if they needed any kind of help where other people would look
  • at them and say, oh, you're gay, I can't help you.
  • So the alliance was there to help people.
  • I think when I was there, one of the important thrusts that we
  • had was youth.
  • Because we realize that eventually we
  • were going to be going on in years,
  • but the younger people were going
  • to be having to take over with their ideas and their thoughts.
  • So it was very important that we really strive
  • for the youth to get involved.
  • And we did set up some youth programs for them,
  • where we had them come for social events like bowling
  • and movie night, and cards and become active
  • in the gay movement, because they
  • were, once again, like I was when I first came out, scared.
  • And they needed an avenue to come to.
  • And we provided that avenue for them.
  • And I think the alliance did an outstanding job with that.
  • Today, they are very successful in the gay movement.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about becoming
  • the president of The Gay Alliance and talk to me
  • about that experience.
  • More importantly, what do you think you greatest achievement
  • under your direction?
  • The Gay Alliance--
  • [SIDE CONVERSATION]
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: When I took over for The Gay Alliance,
  • I was on the board, and there came an opportunity for me
  • to run for president.
  • And I took that reins and I said, yeah,
  • I would like to run for president
  • and see if I can do a little bit more as reconstruction
  • and construct certain things.
  • It wasn't easy at that time, because, once again, we're
  • talking about a lot of closeted things,
  • and a lot of things that just aren't said and done.
  • But because strong people on the board, we were able,
  • and I was able, to accomplish things
  • like the discrimination thing.
  • I mean, that was during my tenure
  • when I was president of The Gay Alliance.
  • And I really think that that was a tremendous accomplishment.
  • It was just trying to get equal rights.
  • Not asking for a lot, but just equal.
  • That's the difference between begging and asking
  • or the difference between equal.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, of course, we
  • can't talk about The Gay Alliance
  • without talking about the gay picnics.
  • It's a big part of what they do.
  • First, tell me about your experiences at the gay picnic.
  • Why is this such a great event for Rochester to have?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: The gay picnic is a real great event
  • for Rochester and a couple of folds.
  • Number one, it brings people together.
  • Men, women, straights, gays.
  • It brings the whole community together now.
  • It used to be just, quote, a gay thing, if you know what I mean.
  • But now, it's just a happy, happy occasion for everybody.
  • And by bringing everybody together,
  • it just brings a wonderful feeling of unity.
  • When you go to the picnic and come home from the picnic,
  • I don't think anybody doesn't feel a side of them that
  • is unified and feels strong about who they are
  • and what they are.
  • And it really just rejuvenates everybody and gives everybody
  • a wonderful feeling.
  • That's one feature of the picnic.
  • The second and just as important feature
  • is raising money, money that has to be raised for the GAGV
  • to continue, and for the businesses, like the business
  • organizations that support the alliance, to continue, also.
  • One of the things that I really enjoyed about the picnic, even
  • though it was a lot of work, is I was called the raffle man.
  • I would have raffle tickets around my neck
  • and I am going to use the word pester everybody until they
  • bought a raffle ticket from me.
  • But yet, we raised hundreds and hundreds of dollars
  • through those raffle tickets.
  • And the raffle, very fortunate, brought
  • in a lot, a lot of money.
  • So besides being a good feeling about the picnic,
  • it's also an extremely important fundraiser
  • for the city of Rochester and for the alliance.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So I'm just going
  • to throw some names at you.
  • I just want your own personal feelings or experiences
  • with these people.
  • The first one goes way back, Gordon Urlacher.
  • Talk to me about Gordon and the kind of work
  • that he did for the gay community.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Gordie Urlacher was, of course,
  • a the chief of Police.
  • I, in my business opportunities, owned several bars
  • in the city of Rochester.
  • It was so important to have the police be
  • a liaison with us working in the bars and with the police.
  • Gordon and I and all the other bar owners
  • would get together on a monthly basis and talk about problems
  • and talk about what is going on so they, the police department,
  • were involved and in tune to what was happening,
  • and in turn, they would tell us what is going on,
  • how we could possibly improve the safety
  • and make it more accessible for people to come to the bars.
  • So there was a very close, close contact
  • with Gordon Urlacher and the bar owners.
  • And I felt very honored, very privileged to have him
  • in our corner.
  • And he did fight for the gay community.
  • He was a very, very honest, sincere man.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Tony Green.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Tony Green.
  • Oh, it's going to bring a smile to my face,
  • because that's what Tony Green is all about.
  • When I see Tony, I have to laugh,
  • and I have to smile because the had
  • wonderful jokes, wonderful sense of humor,
  • and he was just down to earth Tony Green.
  • And God bless him.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, back to AIDS Rochester--
  • Jackie Nudd
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Jackie Nudd
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: She got the organization going.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Jackie Nudd we could put on a pedestal
  • because she was really the flower child, I would call her.
  • She was an activist.
  • She was friendly.
  • She was smart.
  • She was low key.
  • Where we would all get excited and nervous,
  • she would come out with her hand and say, stop, and just
  • put a stop to everything that was going on, and calm us down.
  • She had a calming effect.
  • She really did.
  • She made us feel very strong and very tall.
  • And she was the pillar, I would say, really, the pillar.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, I'm going to ask this,
  • I mean, I wasn't going to go there, but what happened?
  • Eventually she had to step down.
  • You know, so many people talked so fondly about her
  • and what she did to get that organization going.
  • How did that change?
  • What happened?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Unfortunately, in organizations, there's
  • a lot of politics involved.
  • And Jackie might have done things
  • that rubbed people the wrong way even though she was right.
  • But there is also the right way--
  • and also, when I mention the word wrong way, it's not wrong,
  • it's just a different way of doing things.
  • Because Jackie was such a forceful,
  • inside kind of person, she stepped on some people's toes.
  • And unfortunately, those toes got hurt
  • and they were stronger as far as the politics involved.
  • And Jackie stepped down.
  • (piano playing)
  • Does that pick up everything?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, it does a little bit.
  • But we'll work around it.
  • You talked about you were doing the first AIDS fundraiser
  • at Friar's.
  • Was Jesse Vulo around?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Jesse certainly was around.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Tell me about Jesse and what kind of person
  • he was.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Oh my god.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: --who he was to work with.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Jesse Vulo was, and I'm
  • going to say still is, one of my best friends.
  • As a matter of fact, he's the one
  • that really made me do a lot of activism.
  • I became very, very close with Jesse.
  • And he really was the first person in Rochester
  • to be diagnosed with AIDS.
  • And unfortunately, I have to say, he passed away.
  • I made a quilt for Jesse and I can still see it to this day.
  • It's with musical notes.
  • It's with a disk jockey playing.
  • It's with a picture of him in the middle.
  • And he was a very special man and would do anything
  • for anybody, and I mean anybody.
  • He was very, very special to me, that's for sure,
  • and I really thank him for everything that he did for me.
  • Love him.
  • Love him.
  • Love him.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Looking back at the years, whether it's
  • your involvement with political activism, AIDs
  • activism, the GAGV, what is your fondest memories?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Oh, boy.
  • You know, it's hard to say what my fondest memory is,
  • because I have so many of them.
  • When I attend events, for example, I
  • become really emotional, and really, it
  • gives me a chance to look back in the past
  • and look to the future and see where we've come.
  • But I would say one of my fondest memories or the memory
  • that I'm really the proudest of, I would say,
  • would be one of the co-founders of AIDS Rochester,
  • knowing how we started from a little talk on a certain Sue's
  • porch to what AIDS Rochester has become today.
  • I would really say that was really my fondest memory.
  • Among all the other things that when I go to gay events,
  • and just see what's happened, it gives me the time
  • to reflect and say, thank God.
  • Thank God.
  • And we haven't even talked about the pinnacle, or the top thing
  • that's happened recently, and that's gay marriage.
  • And that's something way back way I never, in my lifetime,
  • and I can honestly say this, in my lifetime,
  • would think that this would happen.
  • And New York state made me believe.
  • And because of that, it just rejuvenated me
  • and I'm ready to go and fight again if I have to.
  • That's how I feel.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And what do you think
  • we still have to fight for?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Well, there's no question about it,
  • gay marriage is in New York State,
  • but what about the whole country?
  • I mean, we still have people on the roadsides with picket
  • signs, and bigoted signs, and just
  • recently we had a restaurant, I won't even mention their name
  • to give them publicity, of how stupid
  • and how ignorant people can be when it comes to that.
  • So the battle is not over, but we're
  • going to win the war, as I said.
  • And we certainly are going to win the war.
  • We still have a lot to fight for.
  • We still have a lot of equal things to fight for.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: When history looks back
  • in your life, what do you want them to know about who you are
  • and what you've done?
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Oh boy.
  • That's a good question.
  • I just want them to know that I've just
  • enjoyed my life to the fullest.
  • I'm happy today.
  • I've had great family, great friends, and I don't know,
  • I just want them to remember me as the person that
  • had fun at things.
  • I think that's it.
  • I want to have fun.
  • I enjoy life.
  • I love life.
  • And to have fun, you have to suffer some of the hard times.
  • But if you can get over the hard times and continue,
  • then fun is out there.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Thank you.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: OK.
  • That's it.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Good.
  • ALAN DAVIDSON: Good.
  • Ah.
  • CREW: Let's get that off of you.