Our oldest participant, the novelist and cultural outlaw John Rechy, turned 30 in 1961, before gay pride was a phrase, a concept or much of a possibility; our youngest, the nonbinary poet and performer Danez Smith, reached that threshold toward the end of the Trump administration.
The artists who shared memories of their earlier selves were all on different journeys because 30 can mean almost anything. They were dating. Breaking up. Searching. Together. Alone. Finding a job, finding a therapist...
And they were everywhere, although, naturally, New York City was a magnet, as it has always been for L.G.B.T.Q.+ people looking for a place in which they can be themselves.
One was joyfully participating in West Village orgies a decade before anyone knew about AIDS, one was touring in The Wiz during America's bicentennial while another was fleeing red-white-and-blue jingoism for the drag and trans scenes of Berlin.
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