The US’s first gay election candidate

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1961 the first openly gay person ran for public office in the United States. He was called Jose Sarria and he was a drag queen. He was determined that gay people would no longer be second-class citizens and paved the way for future openly gay candidates, such as Harvey Milk. Josephine McDermott speaks to Jose’s friend and fellow drag performer Mike Michelle. (Photo: Jose Sarria in drag. Credit: The Jose Sarria Foundation) Credits: Jose Sarria archive material from the documentary, Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria by kind permission of its director Joseph Castel. Black Cat monologue recorded by Ball Records.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On the podium season 2 is available now.
0:02.8	Like many people in this world I have never seen an Olympic medal before.
0:07.2	Bringing you more remarkable stories of Olympic and Paralympic athletes
0:11.8	and their incredible journeys to the podium.
0:14.4	This is my dream and it's came true that day.
0:17.0	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:25.0	Hello and thank you for downloading the witness history podcast
0:28.5	from the BBC World Service with me, Josephine McDermott.
0:32.7	Today I'm bringing you the story of how the first openly gay person
0:36.8	ran for public office in the United States.
0:39.8	I've been speaking to retired entertainer Mike Michelle
0:43.2	about his friend, Jose Sarria.
0:46.0	Hello, hello everybody.
0:50.4	I'm glad to see you are here to sing and dance and entertain you and me.
0:57.3	This is Jose Sarria. He wants to be elected, but he's not a politician.
1:02.0	I'm medical, she can rely.
1:04.7	So hello, hello everybody.
1:08.0	We are welcome you to black and welcome you.
1:10.8	We are glad to join here.
1:13.9	He's a drag queen.
1:17.4	It's 1961.
1:19.3	John F. Kennedy is president.
	...

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