Trucks7op: Adding short description: "Afro-Panamanian gay rights and AIDS activist"
{{Short description|Afro-Panamanian gay rights and AIDS activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gilberto Gerald
| other_names = Gil
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|11|27}}
| birth_place = [[Panama City]], Panama
| nationality = Panamanian
| citizenship = United States
| known_for = [[Gay rights]] and [[AIDS]] activism
}}
'''Gilberto "Gil" Gerald''' (born November 27th, 1950, [[Panama City]]) is an [[Afro-Panamanians|Afro-Panamanian]] [[LGBT rights in the United States|gay rights]] and [[HIV/AIDS activism|AIDS]] activist, [[Essay|essayist]], and [[architect]].
== Personal Life ==
Gil Gerald was born in [[Panama City]] and lived in [[Panama]], then [[Ghana]], then [[Trinidad and Tobago]], then moved to the [[United States]] to finish high school when he was 17.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Gil Gerald |url=https://theoutwordsarchive.org/interview/gil-gerald/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=The Outwords Archive |language=en-US}}</ref>
Gerald is the son of Dr. Alfred Nelson Gerald, a former [[World Health Organization|WHO]]/[[Pan American Health Organization|PAHO]] official, and Dorothy Whiteman Gerald. He has three brothers,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Alfred Gerald Obituary (2010) - Washington, DC - The Washington Post |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/alfred-gerald-obituary?id=5955435 |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref> including the former director of the [[Washington, D.C.]] Child and Family Services Agency, Roque Gerald.<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeBonis |first=Mike |date=2023-05-21 |title=D.C.’s child welfare director quits |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...director-quits/2011/05/09/AFRl63bG_story.html |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> His oldest brother, Alpha Gerald, passed away in August 1985.<ref name=":2" /> His family spoke spoke both Spanish and English while he was growing up.<ref name=":1" />
Gerald retired in 2016 and lives in [[Palm Springs, California|Palm Springs]], California with his husband, Jeff.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Gilberto Gerald |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/latinx/gilberto-gerald |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |language=en}}</ref>
== Activism ==
Gerald studied architecture at [[Pratt Institute]] in [[New York City]], where he was the president of a fraternity, and graduated with a Bachelors in Architecture, after which he moved to [[Washington, D.C.]] and became a full-time activist.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Sarah Anne |date=2015-06-05 |title=Get Organized |url=http://washingtoncitypaper.com/arti...s-first-coalition-of-black-lgbtq-individuals/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Washington City Paper |language=en-US}}</ref>
Gerald was a co-founder of the [[National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays]] (NCBLG) in 1978<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Mourning in America {{!}} Blindspot |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/blindspot/articles/mourning-in-america |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=WNYC Studios |language=en}}</ref> (initially named the National Coalition of Black Gays), alongside other activists including [[ABilly S. Jones-Hennin]], [[Darlene Garner]], Delores P. Berry, Louis Hughes, Rev. Renee McCoy, and John Gee.<ref>{{Cite news |year=1986 |title=Black/Out: The Magazine of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and gays |url=https://bcrw.barnard.edu/archive/lesbian/Black_Out_Magazine.pdf |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Black/Out |publisher=National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, Inc. |location=Washington, D.C. |format=PDF |volume=1 |issue=1 |no-pp=y}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Beam |first=Joseph |url=http://archive.org/details/inlifeblackgayan00beam |title=In the life : a Black gay anthology |date=1986 |publisher=Boston : Alyson Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-932870-73-5}}</ref>
In 1979, Gerald and the NCBLG organized the National Conference of Third World Lesbians and Gays during the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.<ref name=":4" />
In 1983, Gerald was elected as the executive director of NCBLG. He and activists like [[Virginia Apuzzo]] held a [[Sit-in|sit-in protest]] to ensure that [[Audre Lorde]] spoke at the 20th anniversary of the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]] when the march organizers were resistant to including LGBT organizations.<ref name=":4" />
In 1986, the NCBLG held a conference at the [[Walter E. Washington Convention Center|D.C. convention center]] on HIV/AIDS, resulting in the creation of the [[National Minority AIDS Council]], which Gerald founded alongside activists like Carl Bean. This same year, he left the NCBLG, which disbanded a few years later. On the disbanding, Gerald said that he believed that the organization just hadn't been designed to address the issues of HIV/AIDS.<ref name=":4" />
Gerald was the director of minority affairs for the National AIDS Network in Washington, DC, focusing on the needs of Black and gay people living with HIV/AIDS.<ref>{{Cite news |title=BLK magazine |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2018.108.5 |publisher=BLK Publishing Company |publication-date=April 1989 |issue=5}}</ref>After moving to [[Los Angeles|Los Angeles,]] California in 1989, Gerald became the executive director of the [[National Minority AIDS Council]] when [[Carl Bean]] stepped down.<ref name=":3" />
He founded the LGBT consulting firm Gil Gerald & Associates, Inc. in 1991<ref name=":4" />, which assisted non-profits and government agencies with LGBT topics until Gerald's retirement in 2016.<ref name=":3" />
== Writing and appearances ==
Gerald's work, "The Trouble I've Seen" (1987), is included in ''[[Freedom in This Village|Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, 1979 to the Present]],'' a 2004 anthology of [[Black gay pride|black gay]] male literature by [[E. Lynn Harris]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=E. Lynn |title=Freedom in this Village: Twenty-five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, 1979 to the Present |date=December 2004 |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |isbn=0-786-71387-9 |location=New York |chapter=Table of Contents |format=PDF |url=https://www.gbv.de/dms/goettingen/506837149.pdf}}</ref> His writing and essays have appeared in other anthologies and magazines, including several connected to activist [[Joseph Beam]], as well as the NCBLG's magazine ''Black/Out''.
In January 2024, Gerald appeared on an episode of [[WNYC Studios|WNYC Studios']] ''[[Blindspot (podcast)|Blindspot]]'' podcast titled ''Mourning in America'' alongside people like [[Valerie Reyes-Jimenez]], [[Phill Wilson]], and [[Anthony Fauci|Dr. Anthony Fauci]] to discuss the history of the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|HIV/AIDS crisis]].<ref name=":0" />
== Works (selected) ==
* "With My Head Held Up High" (''In the life: a Black gay anthology,'' Joseph Beam, Alyson Publications, 1986, page 35)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beam |first=Joseph |url=http://archive.org/details/inlifeblackgayan00beam |title=In the life : a Black gay anthology |date=1986 |publisher=Boston : Alyson Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-932870-73-5}}</ref>
* "Hey, Joe. You Have "*****" To Tell the Story: Recalling My Brother/Sister Joseph Beam" (''Black gay genius: answering Joseph Beam's call'', Vintage Entity Press, 2014, page 40)<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://catalog.cwmars.org/GroupedWork/18b827d4-2db0-bd8e-84b4-28dfbcc9510b-eng/Home |title=Black gay genius: answering Joseph Beam's call |language=en}}</ref>
== References ==
<references />
== External Links ==
* [https://nmaahc.si.edu/latinx/gilberto-gerald Gilberto Gerald] from the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture|National Museum of African American History & Culture]]
== See also ==
* [[National Minority AIDS Council]]
* [[Black gay pride]]
* [[LGBT movements in the United States|LGBT Movements in the United States]]
* [[HIV/AIDS activism]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:American LGBT rights activists]]
[[Category
anamanian LGBT rights activists]]
[[Category:HIV/AIDS activists]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Categoryanamanian activists]]
[[Categoryanamanian architects]]
[[Categoryratt Institute alumni]]
Okumaya devam et...
{{Short description|Afro-Panamanian gay rights and AIDS activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gilberto Gerald
| other_names = Gil
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|11|27}}
| birth_place = [[Panama City]], Panama
| nationality = Panamanian
| citizenship = United States
| known_for = [[Gay rights]] and [[AIDS]] activism
}}
'''Gilberto "Gil" Gerald''' (born November 27th, 1950, [[Panama City]]) is an [[Afro-Panamanians|Afro-Panamanian]] [[LGBT rights in the United States|gay rights]] and [[HIV/AIDS activism|AIDS]] activist, [[Essay|essayist]], and [[architect]].
== Personal Life ==
Gil Gerald was born in [[Panama City]] and lived in [[Panama]], then [[Ghana]], then [[Trinidad and Tobago]], then moved to the [[United States]] to finish high school when he was 17.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Gil Gerald |url=https://theoutwordsarchive.org/interview/gil-gerald/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=The Outwords Archive |language=en-US}}</ref>
Gerald is the son of Dr. Alfred Nelson Gerald, a former [[World Health Organization|WHO]]/[[Pan American Health Organization|PAHO]] official, and Dorothy Whiteman Gerald. He has three brothers,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Alfred Gerald Obituary (2010) - Washington, DC - The Washington Post |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/alfred-gerald-obituary?id=5955435 |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref> including the former director of the [[Washington, D.C.]] Child and Family Services Agency, Roque Gerald.<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeBonis |first=Mike |date=2023-05-21 |title=D.C.’s child welfare director quits |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...director-quits/2011/05/09/AFRl63bG_story.html |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> His oldest brother, Alpha Gerald, passed away in August 1985.<ref name=":2" /> His family spoke spoke both Spanish and English while he was growing up.<ref name=":1" />
Gerald retired in 2016 and lives in [[Palm Springs, California|Palm Springs]], California with his husband, Jeff.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Gilberto Gerald |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/latinx/gilberto-gerald |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |language=en}}</ref>
== Activism ==
Gerald studied architecture at [[Pratt Institute]] in [[New York City]], where he was the president of a fraternity, and graduated with a Bachelors in Architecture, after which he moved to [[Washington, D.C.]] and became a full-time activist.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Sarah Anne |date=2015-06-05 |title=Get Organized |url=http://washingtoncitypaper.com/arti...s-first-coalition-of-black-lgbtq-individuals/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Washington City Paper |language=en-US}}</ref>
Gerald was a co-founder of the [[National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays]] (NCBLG) in 1978<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Mourning in America {{!}} Blindspot |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/blindspot/articles/mourning-in-america |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=WNYC Studios |language=en}}</ref> (initially named the National Coalition of Black Gays), alongside other activists including [[ABilly S. Jones-Hennin]], [[Darlene Garner]], Delores P. Berry, Louis Hughes, Rev. Renee McCoy, and John Gee.<ref>{{Cite news |year=1986 |title=Black/Out: The Magazine of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and gays |url=https://bcrw.barnard.edu/archive/lesbian/Black_Out_Magazine.pdf |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Black/Out |publisher=National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, Inc. |location=Washington, D.C. |format=PDF |volume=1 |issue=1 |no-pp=y}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Beam |first=Joseph |url=http://archive.org/details/inlifeblackgayan00beam |title=In the life : a Black gay anthology |date=1986 |publisher=Boston : Alyson Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-932870-73-5}}</ref>
In 1979, Gerald and the NCBLG organized the National Conference of Third World Lesbians and Gays during the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.<ref name=":4" />
In 1983, Gerald was elected as the executive director of NCBLG. He and activists like [[Virginia Apuzzo]] held a [[Sit-in|sit-in protest]] to ensure that [[Audre Lorde]] spoke at the 20th anniversary of the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]] when the march organizers were resistant to including LGBT organizations.<ref name=":4" />
In 1986, the NCBLG held a conference at the [[Walter E. Washington Convention Center|D.C. convention center]] on HIV/AIDS, resulting in the creation of the [[National Minority AIDS Council]], which Gerald founded alongside activists like Carl Bean. This same year, he left the NCBLG, which disbanded a few years later. On the disbanding, Gerald said that he believed that the organization just hadn't been designed to address the issues of HIV/AIDS.<ref name=":4" />
Gerald was the director of minority affairs for the National AIDS Network in Washington, DC, focusing on the needs of Black and gay people living with HIV/AIDS.<ref>{{Cite news |title=BLK magazine |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2018.108.5 |publisher=BLK Publishing Company |publication-date=April 1989 |issue=5}}</ref>After moving to [[Los Angeles|Los Angeles,]] California in 1989, Gerald became the executive director of the [[National Minority AIDS Council]] when [[Carl Bean]] stepped down.<ref name=":3" />
He founded the LGBT consulting firm Gil Gerald & Associates, Inc. in 1991<ref name=":4" />, which assisted non-profits and government agencies with LGBT topics until Gerald's retirement in 2016.<ref name=":3" />
== Writing and appearances ==
Gerald's work, "The Trouble I've Seen" (1987), is included in ''[[Freedom in This Village|Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, 1979 to the Present]],'' a 2004 anthology of [[Black gay pride|black gay]] male literature by [[E. Lynn Harris]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=E. Lynn |title=Freedom in this Village: Twenty-five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, 1979 to the Present |date=December 2004 |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |isbn=0-786-71387-9 |location=New York |chapter=Table of Contents |format=PDF |url=https://www.gbv.de/dms/goettingen/506837149.pdf}}</ref> His writing and essays have appeared in other anthologies and magazines, including several connected to activist [[Joseph Beam]], as well as the NCBLG's magazine ''Black/Out''.
In January 2024, Gerald appeared on an episode of [[WNYC Studios|WNYC Studios']] ''[[Blindspot (podcast)|Blindspot]]'' podcast titled ''Mourning in America'' alongside people like [[Valerie Reyes-Jimenez]], [[Phill Wilson]], and [[Anthony Fauci|Dr. Anthony Fauci]] to discuss the history of the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|HIV/AIDS crisis]].<ref name=":0" />
== Works (selected) ==
* "With My Head Held Up High" (''In the life: a Black gay anthology,'' Joseph Beam, Alyson Publications, 1986, page 35)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beam |first=Joseph |url=http://archive.org/details/inlifeblackgayan00beam |title=In the life : a Black gay anthology |date=1986 |publisher=Boston : Alyson Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-932870-73-5}}</ref>
* "Hey, Joe. You Have "*****" To Tell the Story: Recalling My Brother/Sister Joseph Beam" (''Black gay genius: answering Joseph Beam's call'', Vintage Entity Press, 2014, page 40)<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://catalog.cwmars.org/GroupedWork/18b827d4-2db0-bd8e-84b4-28dfbcc9510b-eng/Home |title=Black gay genius: answering Joseph Beam's call |language=en}}</ref>
== References ==
<references />
== External Links ==
* [https://nmaahc.si.edu/latinx/gilberto-gerald Gilberto Gerald] from the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture|National Museum of African American History & Culture]]
== See also ==
* [[National Minority AIDS Council]]
* [[Black gay pride]]
* [[LGBT movements in the United States|LGBT Movements in the United States]]
* [[HIV/AIDS activism]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:American LGBT rights activists]]
[[Category
anamanian LGBT rights activists]][[Category:HIV/AIDS activists]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category
anamanian activists]][[Category
anamanian architects]][[Category
ratt Institute alumni]]Okumaya devam et...