Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer on Lei Pua ‘Ala: Queer Histories of Hawai‘i
Transcript
- 0:14Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
- 0:16I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, June 5th, 2025.
- 0:20And we're joined this week by Joe Wilson and Dean hammer, Award winning filmmakers,
- 0:25human rights advocates, and the brains and hearts behind Lei Pua Ala
- 0:29queer histories of Hawaii, and really so much more.
- 0:32So thank you both for joining me. It's wonderful to be here.
- 0:35Thank you.
- 0:35Aloha, Brandi.
- 0:36Joe, if we could start with you
- 0:37before we get into this, really tell me a little bit about yourself.
- 0:40Where did you grow up? How did you get into storytelling?
- 0:43Anything that you want our listeners to know?
- 0:45Oh, sure.
- 0:46So I was born and raised in a little town in Pennsylvania called Oil City.
- 0:50It's in the hills of Western Pennsylvania, industrial town, etc..
- 0:54And I grew up there.
- 0:57I went to school in Pittsburgh, joined the Peace Corps, lived in West Africa
- 1:01for a couple of years, came back to DC where I worked in grassroots
- 1:06community, economic, social justice, work and philanthropy.
- 1:10And that's where I met this guy, Dean Hamer.
- 1:13And our story kind of starts together back in 1996, in DC.
- 1:18Yeah.
- 1:20And I'm Dean and,
- 1:22I was born and raised in new Jersey in a suburb of New York City.
- 1:27My dad worked in the city, and,
- 1:30I actually had a very different career.
- 1:32I was interested in science.
- 1:34I got interested in that when I was in high school.
- 1:36I love biology, and I ended up going to Harvard Medical School
- 1:40and then spending 35 years at the National Institutes of Health,
- 1:44and that is where I began our work on LGBTQ,
- 1:49because I was one of the first people to start researching
- 1:53the role of genetics in biology and sexual orientation.
- 1:57And, that was a very interesting period of research.
- 2:00We discovered a lot.
- 2:03It was also
- 2:03how I discovered that there's a lot of disquiet
- 2:07and misinformation about,
- 2:10gay people and gay life and what it means.
- 2:13And that's what really got me interested in being able
- 2:17to communicate ideas about that to the general public.
- 2:22And at first it was scientific, but then that, in fact, led me to meet,
- 2:26Joe Wilson here.
- 2:27And that's where our story started.
- 2:29Which I'd be happy to tell if that's. Yeah.
- 2:32So of course.
- 2:33So the way we kind of ended up doing what we're doing now, which is directing
- 2:38something called The Leap for other queer histories of Y project, has roots
- 2:42in the reaction to our marriage, the simple act of getting married.
- 2:46So in 2004, before it was legal
- 2:48anywhere in the United States, we went to Canada and got married.
- 2:52We did what most people do after they get married, which is share
- 2:56their news with their loved ones and their family in their respective hometowns.
- 3:00For Dean, our marriage announcement was published in the New York Times.
- 3:04We got nice notes of congratulations, etc.
- 3:06from friends and colleagues and things like that.
- 3:08Mostly people asking,
- 3:09how do you get your marriage announcement in the New York Times? Yeah.
- 3:12It's another.
- 3:13Yeah.
- 3:14That was when they were just beginning to do that kind of thing.
- 3:16Yeah.
- 3:17But for me, you know, I grew up in a small town and I felt like,
- 3:20you know, many people might relate to this in kind of small communities,
- 3:24you don't always feel like you can be your full self easily.
- 3:27So I wasn't my fault self back in my hometown.
- 3:30But at this age, you know, I'm getting married at 40.
- 3:33I thought, well, maybe it would be a nice thing for me
- 3:35to share that kind of news back in my own hometown,
- 3:38because there's probably kids just like me.
- 3:40They're looking for signs of hope and, you know, inspiration and people like that.
- 3:44So we put the news,
- 3:46the announcement in my little newspaper, in my hometown newspaper.
- 3:50And there was quite a reaction.
- 3:51This is post, pre-social media or anything like that.
- 3:54So for a year, in the letters to the editor in that newspaper,
- 3:59there were daily 10 or 15
- 4:02letters, the majority of which were pretty
- 4:05shocking and terrible, you know, how dare you publish something like this?
- 4:11All of
- 4:12the, you know, the terrible expressions of homophobia
- 4:15you can imagine you should never should have been born, etc.
- 4:19but out of that visibility in that hometown,
- 4:23one day at our home in Washington, DC, about 300 miles away, we got a letter
- 4:27and it was from the mother of a gay teenager
- 4:30in that home town, and she wrote,
- 4:34my son is in 10th grade.
- 4:35He was out at school.
- 4:36He is being bullied terribly by not just kids, but administrators at the school.
- 4:42I don't know any gay people, but I saw your picture in the paper.
- 4:44Can you help?
- 4:46So that started Dean and I, on a journey
- 4:50of going back to that town, meeting with folks
- 4:53like that who were living in that environment, struggling
- 4:57to figure out how to not just have lives, have dignity and respect for themselves,
- 5:02but how to create a community that was more open in,
- 5:05inclusive and welcoming.
- 5:06So we ended up making a film
- 5:07about that experience that became our first documentary film,
- 5:10which launched us on a journey of storytelling,
- 5:14bringing marginalized voices, largely LGBTQ,
- 5:19voices, into the center
- 5:22of conversation, and then using those films as ways
- 5:25to raise visibility in communities across the country and create opportunities to,
- 5:31bring people together to have dialog about, well,
- 5:33how do we move this forward a little bit?
- 5:35And that journey brought us to Hawaii.
- 5:37Yeah, it was a funny story because, as part of that work,
- 5:42we set up a little competition for high school students, which was,
- 5:46do a screening out in the silence and then do some event
- 5:49that will help bring together people and educate people.
- 5:52And, it was a competition.
- 5:54And the winner of the first year was Farrington High School
- 5:57in Lehigh Valley in Honolulu.
- 5:59And we were like, oh, we should go give them the check in person,
- 6:03because then we can go to Hawaii and it'll be really interesting.
- 6:08We expected that the,
- 6:12the, the gay straight alliance here would be like
- 6:15most of the ones we had visited, which were kind of out of sight.
- 6:19And in the back of the school, small number of people,
- 6:22maybe one bowled teacher.
- 6:24So we were quite shocked when we walked into Farrington High
- 6:27and were ushered into the gymnasium
- 6:30for the football rally with the entire school there.
- 6:34And that was where we were going to present the check to the Gay
- 6:37Straight Alliance.
- 6:38And at the beginning of the ceremony, in walks the football team.
- 6:41And at the head, the lead is a kid who's twirling a baton
- 6:46and wearing high boots, who's just as mahu as you can be.
- 6:50And everybody was cheering them, and there was having a wonderful time.
- 6:54And we were like, we are not in Pennsylvania anymore.
- 6:57We are not in the continent anymore.
- 6:58Things are really different in Hawaii.
- 7:01And that's how we met.
- 7:02Kumu Heena, who were some Ahu teacher doing wonderful work,
- 7:07for Hawaiian restoration as well as what we would call the LGBTQ.
- 7:11And that started us really on the path of trying to listen to and give voice
- 7:16to Hawaiian voices that are very rarely heard outside of Hawaii.
- 7:21Because Hawaiian has Hawaii just has a different history,
- 7:24different traditions, and ones that are much more open and inclusive.
- 7:27And we thought that was really important for everybody to hear.
- 7:31Yeah.
- 7:31You know, when you talk about that reaction
- 7:33from Farrington versus, you know, Joe, when you went to your hometown,
- 7:36what was the reaction?
- 7:37Because it's different when you see a picture in the paper.
- 7:40But when someone is sitting, standing right in front of you with,
- 7:43you know, a successful career with a respectable,
- 7:45you know, history of the Peace Corps, you guys did all this tremendous stuff.
- 7:49And then now you're right in front of them and they kind of have to listen to you.
- 7:53And you're like, you know, this is what we're going to.
- 7:54We brought this here because, you know,
- 7:55the letter that spurred this, what was the reaction from that school?
- 7:59Well, so I think what we saw then is similar to unfortunately,
- 8:04what we're going through again now is a new period of backlash when it comes to,
- 8:11inclusion and acceptance of many people who,
- 8:13you know, are affected by racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia.
- 8:18What we learned
- 8:21in terms of the negative reaction that was appearing in the paper, letters
- 8:25that were being written, they were being spurred on
- 8:29by a local chapter of something called the American Family
- 8:32Association of Pennsylvania.
- 8:34They claim to be a kind of Christian
- 8:38right organization that is aimed at protecting the family.
- 8:42But really, what they were doing was provoking people in the community
- 8:47to see gay and trans people as the other,
- 8:52that there was an intrusion
- 8:55on the so-called normalcy of life in a small community like that.
- 8:59And there had to be a reaction, backlash against us.
- 9:03So that's really what that was about.
- 9:05And I think the work that we then started doing,
- 9:08meeting people in the community, you know, across all faiths,
- 9:12local families and
- 9:14everything, what we found was there are a lot of people
- 9:19who are quite accepting and actually also like us.
- 9:23There were a lot of LGBT folks
- 9:24living in that community, but living kind of under the radar and quiet
- 9:29and what we figured out was that we just needed to find ways
- 9:33to create safer spaces for people to feel like there are others like them
- 9:39in their neighborhood
- 9:39and in their churches, in their schools and communities,
- 9:42and to support one another as we start to raise visibility,
- 9:45knowing that visibility matters,
- 9:50because there are many people who might not yet
- 9:52be in that comfortable place of saying, this is who I am
- 9:55and who I love, or how I feel and how I want to express myself.
- 9:58But they're looking for signs of visible,
- 10:03visible signs that say, oh, there,
- 10:05there are people like me, or there are people in my community
- 10:08who will see and understand and accept me too.
- 10:11So that's ultimately what our work, I think became and is really still
- 10:15about in the life of other queer histories of Hawai'i, project through.
- 10:19Yeah, well, we thought it'd be fitting to get you focus on.
- 10:21Not only is this the first week of Pride Month, the Progress Pride
- 10:25flag is flying above the Falls Municipal Building, but also this week
- 10:28we unveil a new plaque at Queen Surf Beach.
- 10:30Can you talk about that? What's special about that?
- 10:33Queen Surf Beach is a really special,
- 10:36almost magical place.
- 10:40It's a place that,
- 10:42it really began in the 1970s, after the then mayor,
- 10:46decided there should be a
- 10:47public beach at Queen surf, and had the old restaurant and mansion
- 10:52that had been there, was demolished, became a public beach,
- 10:56and it became a gathering place for everybody in our community.
- 11:02So it was a place for local folks,
- 11:06but also a place for all the visitors from California and elsewhere.
- 11:11It was a place for mahu and what we would call gender fluid
- 11:15people today, but also just for gay folks and for lesbians.
- 11:20It became a place where people went to do Hawaiian things like making lei
- 11:23and dancing hula.
- 11:25It became a place to play volleyball, and there were fierce games,
- 11:28and we were just hearing stories this morning about how
- 11:32well there was the Mahu volleyball players, that then
- 11:34there was the straight ones that were just down the way,
- 11:35and they would come over and have a match in the model.
- 11:37Always been done. Just
- 11:40the straights were afraid to win.
- 11:43And it was a place where young people could go because it wasn't a bar.
- 11:47You didn't have to be 21 or whatever, and it was a place where kupuna could go.
- 11:52So it's really fascinating to hear the stories of this place.
- 11:57For me, what was fascinating is that, in the 1970s,
- 12:01I was, in Boston, I was going to med school.
- 12:04There was a gay beach on the North Shore.
- 12:06You had to drive there, and then you had to walk through the dunes
- 12:09in the forest for like 45 minutes, because it had to be hidden.
- 12:13It had to be secret, had to be way quaint beaches in the middle of Waikiki.
- 12:17It is in the middle of the tourist zone.
- 12:20Everybody's there and it's just like you're walking by
- 12:22and all of a sudden like, oh, there's a lot of guys together
- 12:24and a lot of girls together all of a sudden.
- 12:27So that is really it's just so Hawaiian.
- 12:29And it sounds like such an absolutely wonderful place. So
- 12:33we thought that was a, an important part of queer history here to be celebrated.
- 12:37What I love about it is, as Dean said, it's incredibly public.
- 12:41But if you remember too, what's the context?
- 12:43So this is early 1970s,
- 12:46the lives of
- 12:47gender and sexual minorities are still criminalized.
- 12:50At that period. It was risky.
- 12:53It's post World War two, and the conservatism of the 1950s
- 12:58and the 1960s, there was something called the Lavender Scare,
- 13:02which was a period like the Red scare, when, the federal government,
- 13:08people in the federal government was trying to root out communists.
- 13:11The lavender scare was when there were specific efforts to root out,
- 13:16gay, lesbian, you know, and trans people from federal employment.
- 13:21It was a very scary and threatening period for people.
- 13:25So the fact that something like a place like Queen Surf Beach has the incidence,
- 13:30it felt free and open and it wasn't regulated like a private establishment,
- 13:35like a bar or anything like that, where people could just be in public.
- 13:39I mean, it's it's really extraordinary.
- 13:42And I just think it's it's just such a beautiful symbol.
- 13:45It really symbolizes Hawaii in a way.
- 13:48Yeah.
- 13:49Queens was also the first site of organized
- 13:53LGBTQ activity in Hawaii.
- 13:57So in the 1970s,
- 14:00the Stonewall Revolution was going on, and it came to Hawaii,
- 14:05and the very first pride parade was held in 1974.
- 14:10It was about 25 people.
- 14:11They walked down the street in Waikiki, and afterwards they all went to Queens
- 14:15Beach and had a picnic.
- 14:16And that was the celebration.
- 14:18So it played an important role also in the beginnings
- 14:22of sort of political and social organizing that eventually led
- 14:26to such great changes in Hawaii all the way up to same sex marriage.
- 14:30So it's important for that purpose. And it's incredible.
- 14:33But this marker isn't the first that you two have collaborated on with the city.
- 14:37I want to go back to October of last year.
- 14:39Another plaque was unveiled
- 14:40right here on the Fossey grounds, actually, at the Rainbow shower Tree.
- 14:43Can you tell us about that and why that one was significant?
- 14:47This is a,
- 14:48really sort of, interesting story.
- 14:52The rainbow shower tree
- 14:54was important to us because of its name.
- 14:59It's actually the Wilhemina tenny rainbow shower tree.
- 15:03Cassie. Nicholas.
- 15:05And the Wikimedia attendee part is named
- 15:08after the daughter of that famous person here.
- 15:11One of the, you know, big industrialist.
- 15:14But she was a rather outward lesbian.
- 15:18She was called Pretty Boy by her friends.
- 15:21And even in the newspaper, she was like,
- 15:24in, in the army, and she wore men's army clothes.
- 15:27She had a girlfriend, a long one.
- 15:29And, one of the first trees of that particular hybrid was planted in her yard.
- 15:33So she got the name.
- 15:35It later got the name, Nicholas from a very well
- 15:39known botanist at the, Bishop museum, who gave it the name?
- 15:44Her name is Marie Neal, and she also was a lesbian.
- 15:48She had a long term partner that was known, not advertised
- 15:51by any means, but, it was well known that they were together.
- 15:54And so, when we heard this story
- 15:58from DeSoto Brown at the Bishop museum,
- 16:01who had personal connections to their families.
- 16:04In fact, I think de Soto says he exists thanks to well-meaning attending
- 16:08because his parents met at one of her and her partner's party parties.
- 16:12And so actually,
- 16:15we were like, oh, that should mean something.
- 16:17Yeah, maybe it could be called the Pride Tree.
- 16:20So we proposed to the mayor that he name or proclaim
- 16:24the well, I mean, a tiny shower tree is the pride tree.
- 16:27And he did.
- 16:28And we wanted to mark that with a plaque.
- 16:30So there's actually two of them.
- 16:31One is here, one is just in front of the FRC building.
- 16:34There's a beautiful shower tree there.
- 16:36And then the other one is planted in front of an important
- 16:40rainbow shower tree, one of the earliest that's in Foster Botanical Garden.
- 16:44So, it's really amazing to be in a city
- 16:47where, we have our own pride tree, I don't think.
- 16:50I don't think I can say that. And any other city in the United States.
- 16:52I think it's true. And what?
- 16:53You know, I think it's important to note that this is,
- 16:56you know, the first and I think still the only official pride tree in the world.
- 17:01And so thanks to the mayor's office, that's,
- 17:03you know, something we're really proud of. Yeah.
- 17:06And a few months prior to that, we were also in Chinatown in downtown.
- 17:12It was pretty much like a party atmosphere
- 17:14for that unveiling, but I, you know, I wasn't aware of the history as well.
- 17:17For the Glade.
- 17:19What was the glade for those who aren't familiar.
- 17:22So the glade was one of many nightclubs that the Glade
- 17:27was really a legendary nightclub in Chinatown.
- 17:32In the middle of Honolulu.
- 17:33That in the 1950s, 1960s
- 17:38became the place where what was then called female impersonators, people
- 17:43in our mahu and transgender community,
- 17:46performed fabulous shows.
- 17:48And they were so elaborate that they became
- 17:51a main staple of many, tourist,
- 17:56excursions, visiting celebrities.
- 18:00But more importantly, it became a real home
- 18:04for people whose lives were,
- 18:09sequestered in many other parts of the city.
- 18:12They were welcome there.
- 18:13They created family there,
- 18:15but they also went through some very difficult times there.
- 18:18So in 1963, the state of Hawaii passed a law,
- 18:22called the Intent to Deceive law.
- 18:24This grew out of what I spoke about regarding the Lavender scare,
- 18:28where there were efforts to criminalize people who lived outside of,
- 18:32the the norms of gender and sexuality.
- 18:35And this made the lives of many people that we would now
- 18:39call transgender mahu,
- 18:42risky.
- 18:43They feared being arrested or being targeted in many ways.
- 18:47So the Glade was kind of a home for them.
- 18:51And there are still many surviving performers from that era.
- 18:56Brenda Lee is one and many others.
- 18:58So we thought it was really important, important
- 19:01to, to note and mark that place
- 19:04on the landscape, even though that the original building doesn't exist.
- 19:08It's now the Mount Cam Marketplace in Chinatown.
- 19:11It's a place that deserves to be honored and remembered for what it represented.
- 19:15Yeah.
- 19:16What are the great things about unveiling the plaque
- 19:18there was that it was this sort of party atmosphere.
- 19:21And what we were especially surprised to learn
- 19:23is that Mayor Blangiardi said, oh, he used to visit the like.
- 19:28So I think that's just it's such a Hawaiian story,
- 19:32because where else would a city owned building be bragging about its,
- 19:38its history?
- 19:39As you know, one of the first drag clubs around.
- 19:41And by the way, the mayor checked it out when, you know, back in it
- 19:44back in the day, I think it's, that's why it was such a celebratory atmosphere.
- 19:49Yeah.
- 19:49And, you know, my favorite part of that, it's still unfolding.
- 19:52So the property manager of that site, you know, that's the local produce
- 19:56and fish market and everything, just a wonderful place in Chinatown.
- 19:59He was so thrilled with the community aspect of just unveiling that plaque
- 20:05that he asked us with, the surviving members of the clan
- 20:09to put together a whole history wall inside the marketplace.
- 20:12So we've created a replica of the neon glazed sign is going to hang on the wall.
- 20:17There'll be a video running
- 20:18that show, some of the live performances and a photographic wall
- 20:22and, you know, kind of deeper histories about, you know, kind of why
- 20:25these kind of community spaces are so important.
- 20:27Yeah. That's awesome.
- 20:29And I think the very first time that I met both of you
- 20:32was when we were over at the Stones of Corporate Marvel.
- 20:36For those that don't know what changed.
- 20:39And then what was the genesis of that?
- 20:41The stones occupied my who are really a very special place
- 20:45and really the beginning of our work in this whole area,
- 20:48because these are four stones that represent the living spirit
- 20:52of four remarkable healers who long ago brought healing arts to Hawaii.
- 20:57And part of the reason they were such good healers is they were all for mahou kubi.
- 21:01Mahou means the role of Mahou, and it was that duality of spirit
- 21:07that made them able to treat both males and females,
- 21:10that made them so powerful that extra little mana.
- 21:13Those stones have been here for five, hundreds and hundreds of years.
- 21:17The story about them is what got suppressed, and over time,
- 21:22the part about them being Mahou, it was what was left out.
- 21:26So we were lucky to be working with Kumo Kita.
- 21:29You know, they want to want. Hello.
- 21:30Who knows? This story very well?
- 21:32Who is Mahou herself?
- 21:34Who is really our guide?
- 21:36And wanted to to bring that story back to life.
- 21:39So we did that through a film in a museum exhibition.
- 21:43And then, we started talking with the city about the need
- 21:47to mark that story at the stones themselves.
- 21:51Because place is so important,
- 21:53and the story is an important one, and it needs to be told at the stones.
- 21:57And so we are really happy to be able to work together with the city
- 22:00and with many other groups to add just a small amount of,
- 22:05of information at the site, that lets people know more.
- 22:09And that was in the form of a new marker
- 22:11on a small new stone just outside the main enclosure.
- 22:15That just tells people that these healers were remarkable
- 22:18for their abilities and for their duality of male and female spirit.
- 22:22And then since, you know, it's modern day a QR code, and now people can go
- 22:27and see the animated film and read the whole story and learn a lot more.
- 22:30There's a little more to that story, though, that I want.
- 22:32I just want to make sure we convey, which is it's
- 22:35why sites, physical sites that represent that people
- 22:42Mahou and and and people across the spectrum of,
- 22:46of gender and sexuality kind of have always, you know, been here.
- 22:51But people don't always know that.
- 22:53And so what's interesting
- 22:54about this story, as Dean said when he was telling us about it,
- 22:58we thought, wow, that's amazing.
- 23:00There's like a monument, you know, to these great healers
- 23:03who are recognized because of their duality.
- 23:07So then, of course, we go to see them and read the plaque.
- 23:11But the plaque did not say any of that.
- 23:13That aspect of that beautiful Lalo and that history
- 23:17had been erased in the telling.
- 23:21Over time, all the changes that came to Hawaii, those kinds of things
- 23:24were marginalized and suppressed and erased out of the telling of stories.
- 23:28Well, early on, Mundine did his introduction.
- 23:30He said, you know, he was a research scientist.
- 23:33That gave him, I think, the impetus
- 23:35to say, well, what's the story behind this story?
- 23:38And in the University of Hawaii Library
- 23:41Archives, you know, thanks to Dean's research,
- 23:44we found really the only written document that shares the fullness of that story.
- 23:50And it had been published in the
- 23:53Thrums Almanac back in 1906, I think.
- 23:57And it told that whole story, and indeed
- 24:01it connected it to the royal family
- 24:05of Hawaii, in that the person that had that committed to paper
- 24:09was involved with Queen, the little colony,
- 24:14Princess Leakey, like a and Archibald Cleghorn, who were very important
- 24:18figures at that time, with kind of
- 24:22Hawaiian history and knowledge.
- 24:25They were the ones that saved that story.
- 24:26But it was buried in an archive, and Dean found it.
- 24:29And that's what helped us think about how we can bring that story
- 24:34forward with actual documentation and start to bring it to life
- 24:37in different ways in the book, and a new plaque at the stones
- 24:41or the Bishop museum exhibition and now, you know, partnership with the city,
- 24:45the return of Claremont, who's in the form of a live hula
- 24:48telling that story on the Cahuilla beach all around.
- 24:50And it matters because when people see this story
- 24:54being brought to life in this, you know, pretty beautiful way,
- 25:00it's reflective
- 25:01of Hawai'i as a place where people can see themselves
- 25:04and see themselves reflected in the life, the public life of our community.
- 25:09Yeah, this is excellent that these stories are now being brought to light.
- 25:13And, you know, you said, you know,
- 25:15prior Tree, you know, no one else has something like that.
- 25:18The way that we're able to make strides now is excellent,
- 25:21but I know that there's so much more that still needs to be done.
- 25:25What is that? That needs to be done?
- 25:27One of the things that we've been hearing a lot
- 25:30now is the need for a, a permanent
- 25:35and a substantial place of memory for our community in Hawaii,
- 25:41a place where people can gather,
- 25:43a place where people can, talk
- 25:46and remember the past and look forward to the future.
- 25:49And we're now working together with,
- 25:52Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center to start thinking
- 25:55about such a place with a focus as an HIV Aids memorial.
- 26:00It's hit
- 26:01Hawaii very hard, like it did every place.
- 26:05That's largely been forgotten.
- 26:06We were reminded by the return of the of the Aids quilt to Hawaii this year.
- 26:11But it needs to be remembered, in part because of all of the loss
- 26:15and the sadness, but also in part
- 26:18because Hawaii was different than any other place in the United States.
- 26:22It dealt with HIV Aids
- 26:24through public health and through science and through education.
- 26:28Hawaii's the only place in the country that had needle exchange, and as a result,
- 26:32was one of the safest place to get HIV Aids in the country.
- 26:36I was terrible, but it was much better than other places.
- 26:39And that's a history that really needs to be remembered.
- 26:42So we're hoping to work together with people to create a permanent memory site
- 26:48that will be a place to mourn, as well as a place to look toward the future.
- 26:53Yeah, yeah.
- 26:54We're lucky.
- 26:54The city, typically living in Honolulu.
- 26:58It's a place of great beauty.
- 27:00There's, a site at Kakaako.
- 27:02It's a waterfront park.
- 27:04It's particularly of interest, and,
- 27:07although it's still at the very early stages,
- 27:09we're really looking forward to working with the city to, to develop
- 27:14and to create a new space there,
- 27:15that it will be something important for our community and for all of Hawaii.
- 27:20And for folks that are interested.
- 27:21Where can they go to find out
- 27:22more about Lake Paula, or maybe if they want to get involved,
- 27:26if there's anyone they can help, where can they find more?
- 27:28Oh, yeah. Thanks for mentioning that.
- 27:29I mean, like
- 27:30for all the queer histories of Hawaii is really a community rooted project.
- 27:34So stories can only be told when stories are shared by members of the community.
- 27:38And people are coming forward.
- 27:39And we have a lot of things on the website,
- 27:41and we invite people to be in touch and get involved.
- 27:45The website address is Queer Histories of Hawaii, Dawg.
- 27:49We're also on Instagram and Facebook, and there's numerous ways to to be in touch.
- 27:54And when it comes to La Paula, what does success look like for the two of you?
- 27:59Success looks like
- 28:02the rest of the world.
- 28:03Looking at Hawaii as a model
- 28:05for a progressive treatment, for a right attitude, for aloha,
- 28:10instead of Hawaii having to look out at the rest of the world and
- 28:13complain about it, they should be.
- 28:16They should be looking here.
- 28:16And I think, you know, understanding
- 28:21history and,
- 28:23you know, the struggles, but also the beautiful ways
- 28:28in which people live their lives bravely contributes
- 28:33to the ability of people now to do the same,
- 28:37knowing that people have done it before, we can do it together.
- 28:40What success looks like to me is that we don't need a project
- 28:44like the Queer Histories of Hawaii Project, because we don't need
- 28:48to mark such things, right?
- 28:51We live in a world where there isn't such serious levels of,
- 28:58homophobia, transphobia,
- 29:00you know, sexism, racism, discrimination, the ways those things play out.
- 29:05So through telling stories, we hope we can help create a place
- 29:09that it's just, you know, what Hawaii represents to the world,
- 29:13a place of aloha, more respect and dignity for everybody.
- 29:16As more and more of these stories do come out, though, and you do,
- 29:18you know, kind of,
- 29:20bring these landmarks to people's attention.
- 29:22You know, I lived here all my life,
- 29:23and there's some stories that I didn't know about either.
- 29:26But what's been the most difficult part about bringing these stories,
- 29:29bringing this project to fruition, and how have you both
- 29:32navigated that?
- 29:35There really isn't I mean,
- 29:37shockingly, there hasn't been we haven't run into community opposition.
- 29:41The difficulty is just, you know, maintaining,
- 29:44you know, the capacity to do as much as needs to be done.
- 29:47And, you know, we're getting up there in our years. So
- 29:51every day is a struggle to just, you know, do as much work as possible.
- 29:54But it's fun and exciting and we think it really matters.
- 29:58Yeah.
- 29:59I've been doing this work.
- 30:02For Keith 50 years now.
- 30:06And when I started the first pride parade I went to in Boston,
- 30:09people were throwing beer cans and stuff like that at us.
- 30:12There's been tremendous change, but in all that time, I haven't worked
- 30:19in a government, you know, a controlling government situation
- 30:23where there's so much support at all levels. And,
- 30:28so whatever difficulties there are,
- 30:31there are a lot worse every place else.
- 30:35So we feel really lucky to live here, I guess.
- 30:37For sure.
- 30:38Yeah. Well, thank you both for your time.
- 30:39Is there anything that we missed?
- 30:41Well, Randy, you said there were some stories that you might have to share.
- 30:44Is there anything you would like to share with us?
- 30:46No, I mean, I just I wasn't aware of the history
- 30:47of a couple who I wasn't aware of the Glade I was in,
- 30:51And then even the back story behind the rainbow shower tree.
- 30:55Yeah.
- 30:55When I went to the Bishop museum,
- 30:58and I saw that was actually the first time I saw the film for a couple
- 31:01who as well, you know, I and I passed by Waikiki all the time.
- 31:03So I did see those stones, but that was.
- 31:06Yeah, I'm just there.
- 31:07Yeah. Just like all the other stones.
- 31:09Oh, okay.
- 31:10Good. Yeah.
- 31:11So thank you. Okay. So you're right.
- 31:14Thank you both for your time.
- 31:16Thank you.
- 31:17Appreciate it.
- 31:18And Mayor Blangiardi
- 31:19next town hall meeting is tonight, June 5th, at Kalani High School.
- 31:22Start time is set for 6:30 p.m..
- 31:24This will be the last one of 2025, so we hope to see you there.
- 31:27Mahalo for listening. Mahalo to Joe and Dean.
- 31:29And until next time, Aloha.