Walking down Castro Street

The year was 2001, but I'm still thinking about Castro St. Right now I'm miles away from there. I'm sitting by myself in a fashionable cafe in Chueca, Madrid's GLBT area. But eight years later I'm still thinking about Castro St. I remember walking down the street in November 2001, it was sunny, I was so young, so fresh, so bright, so full energy, my entire life was ahead of me and I had so many dreams and projects to realize. There was a big smile on my face. Yes, that was the first day of my life when I walked by myself through Castro St. I still remember the blue shirt I was wearing (yes, in those days everything was Tommy Hilfiger).

It wasn't long time ago before that when I came out of the closet to my family and friends. I felt very loved, all reactions were very supportive. Before that day my life was sad. I guess I was living somebody else's life but definetly not mine. Everything was in black and white- I thought love was for everybody but me. But then I came out, and color came in. Went to Germany right after, lived in some kind of a hippy-gay camp for some time. It was great, met so many people from all over Europe. But I was not expecting to be in San Francisco after a few months.

I got there thanks to one of my best friends. And yes, for the first time in my life I was 100% happy. I still recall that sunny day of November 2001 when I walked alone down Castro St. I remember the colorful Victorian-style houses. Gay couples holding hands, the hills (althought it can't be done, I thought there would be a moment where I would have been able to see the Golden Gate from the Castro). Well, I guess I didn't see the bridge, but at the end of the street I saw a giant rainbow flag. I started to run, like if the flag was calling me. I was so happy that I thought I was going to explote. When I got to the flag I read that it was a monument dedicated to a guy named Harvey Milk.

Who was Harvey Milk? I asked myself. Well, nothing I could not find at Castro's GLBT booksellers. Got into the shop and found out that Milk fought for gay rights in the 70's. He was the first openly gay person to be elected for office. You see, San Francisco became the gay capital of the world when, back in the 50's, a lot of gay men where discharged from the navy for loving people of their same sex. Afraid of coming back to their hometowns in the midwest, they remained in Frisco, where the Army would have left them. When Milk arrived there in the early 70's there was already a huge GLBT community in the area. But they had no rights, the police would beat them up, some of them were murdered in the streets just for holding hands with their boyfriends, just for loving another human being. It took a while for Milk to get elected member of the City Council. He became a celebrity in all the country and passed the first pro-gay laws, the people sudently started calling him "the Major of Castro Street" . Harvey was taken away from us when a former colleague, Dan White, killed him after shooting George Moscone, the Major of the "City by the Bay". Thousands of people marched from Castro to the Townhall to protest, that action along with the Stonewall riots shaped the contemporary Gay & Lesbian movement.

When I discovered that story, at the age of 23, I was so shocked. Why me and other young GLBT persons didn't know Harvey's story? How was possible that nobody made a movie about this? Well, more or less at the same time, another 23 y.o. guy made himself the same questions after taking the same walk through Castro Street? He did what I didn't- he wrote a script about it. When and how did this guy met independent movie director Gus Van Sant? I don't know. But one thing is for sure, Van Sant loved the idea. And decided to made the movie-- actor Sean Penn would play the role of Harvey.

The movie, titled "Milk" became a big success, not only in Castro St. but also in Main Street. And Dustin Lance Black, at the age of 31 (that's my age), won the Oscar for best script in the last Oscar's Ceremony. Dustin grew up gay in a very conservative enviroment (just like me) what made him very sad and even suicidal as a kid and as a teenager (same here). Later moved to LA and came out, and one day had this bright idea of writing a script about Harvey Milk, when, at the age of 23, was walking down Castro Street. A wonderful thing like that could only happen in Castro Street.

Yes it is 2009, I'm in a little cafe in Chueca, and every day when I go to sleep I think about Castro Street. Someone I know is coming to say "hi" to me, and... guess what? I'm going to speak with him about Castro Street. 

Pics- me in the Chueca cafe writting this post, me in Castro St (2008) and Dustin Lance Black with his Oscar