Stonewall: A Personal Memoir
That night, standing in Stonewall, I could not have imagined what the next few hours would do to change the gay and lesbian community around the world. I doubt anyone else could have known. How could we have kn...
The Stupid Question: Are You Clean?
I took a shower this morning. I am clean. I might work out at the gym later, or maybe the trash bag will break on the way outside and cover me in coffee grounds. I will then be dirty. I will shower again. I wil...
Mark S. King: Stop Bludgeoning Young Gay Men with our AIDS Tragedy
Lesley was my closest friend to become sick in the 1980s, and he fought bravely until his death from AIDS. Today, there are little rituals I have to honor his memory, and I often write about him, the first of m...
The Armorettes Taught Me What it Means to be a Man
The musty gym bag stays in my closet, ironically enough. Inside, a crumpled black wig fights for space with a sequined dress, heels, a string of fake pearls, and a bag of makeup. After more than 20 years since ...
Once, We Were Heroes
My brother Richard smiles a lot. He has an easy laugh. But there was a time, years ago, when he held a poisonous drink in his hands and begged his dying lover not to swallow it. A time when Richard held the con...
Mark S. King: Those offended by #NoJusticeNoPride should learn LGBT history
Hell hath no fury like a privileged white gay man who has waited too long for the next Pride parade contingent to sashay by. When #NoJusticeNoPride blocked the D.C. Pride parade route on June 10, causing an ...
When Atlanta AIDS activists hijacked the Olympic rings
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a very touchy organization, most especially when it comes to the Olympic rings. They guard their trademark jealously and litigiously, commonly suing anyone who dares...
Mark S. King: I learned my brother was gay from The Advocate
It was 1975 and I was 14 years old, all gangly limbs and stubborn acne, and I was sitting in the passenger seat of his parked car. Splayed across my lap was the magazine, open to the page he had selected. I was...
Health Alert: Why I wiped HIV off my face
Some years ago, I told someone that I was HIV positive before I agreed to his invitation for a date. “Yeah, I know,” he casually replied, and then he looked a little embarrassed, as if he shouldn’t have said it...