Q&A with Mark Segal, author of “AND THEN I DANCED – Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality”

Mark Segal is celebrating LGBT history month in a big way. The notable gay journalist, who is the founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News and recent inductee to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association’s Hall of Fame, released his memoir And Then I Danced: Traveling the road to LGBT Equality. Here’s what Mark had to say about the book, and the community.

What is the significance of the title And Then I Danced?
It’s a message of hope for LGBT Youth. When I was 18 I left home, moved to NY to end the isolation I felt due to my being gay. In New York in 1969, I found myself with little money, no place to call home except the YMCA, no job and no prospects. Yet, 46 years later this gay man was able to dance with the man he loves at the White House.

What was the hardest part about putting your story down in writing?
Coming to terms with parts of my past that I hadn’t had to deal with. For someone like me, I was working steadfastly to get to the next project that I didn’t have the luxury of time to look back. Writing the memoir gave me a view and perspective of past actions and how those actions affected others. It also made me realize how I was treated or mistreated by people in my past.

Which do you think was your most influential “zap?”
Goes without saying, The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. It not only changed American media, it changed me and gave me a lifelong friend in Walter, who was one of the most generous people I’ve ever met.

What kind of cultural changes have you seen since the Stonewall riots?
More then any of us who were part of the Gay Liberation Front could have imagined back in 1969. At that time if you were LGBT, you were invisible. You were considered immoral by religions, illegal by law enforcement, mentally ill by the medical profession and unemployable by the government. Much of that has changed today, but I caution people not to get complacent. Much still needs to be achieved.

Why is now the time to publish this book?
Our community is beginning to look at our past and how we got to where we are today. For the last nine years in coordination with many LGBT publications around the country we’ve produced the LGBT History Project each October. Many of those I’ve worked with to produce these features knew about my past and asked when I’d finally put it on paper. With the completion of The LGBT Friendly Affordable Senior building I was working on, I discovered I finally had the time to take a breath and take a look at where I had been.

What inspired you to write your memoir?
My friends in Gay Liberation Front and Gay Youth NY, people like Randy Wicker, Kay Lahusen (Barbara Gittings’s widow) all kept reminding me to put my papers in order.

What have you learned during the process of writing and publishing And Then I Danced?
The enormity of friends I found along my personal journey, and how supportive they were even in times that were dark. I’m truly blessed by the people I’ve had the honor of working with to create change.

How do you think pop culture has affected the perception of the LGBT community?
Guess one word here is enough, Stonewall. People are attaching today’s terms to it and applying their imagination. What has been lost in the cultural discussion, it seems to me, is a certain joy. We were joyous in our actions of the struggle. That joy has been lost in the latest film translation, it seems.

What is the next step for LGBT equality?
Non discrimination is still an unresolved issue. Today you can get married anywhere in the U.S., but you can also be fired in much of the U.S. for just getting married. In most states there is no protection from discrimination based on sexual orienation and gender identity.

How do you hope your story will influence others in the LGBT community?
Get involved and don’t be afraid to be creative.