Preserving All of Our History, "The Pox Lovers: An Activist's Decade in New York and Paris", Anne-Christine d'Adesky, Silverlake, California, 2018/07/08
d’Adesky: Well, I document two things in The Pox Lover, which are my diaries, because I think both of them represent unexpected things. One extremely intense and the other one kinda funny.
The first one was that I went to cover a St. Patrick’s Day demonstration by ACT UP against Cardinal O'Connor, in New York, John O'Connor, who was opposed to the distribution of condoms and information about, basically, safer sex and prevention. And a lot of people were dying of AIDS at the time. So ACT UP decided to do an action in the church, which was very intense on a lot of levels. We had a lot of Catholic members of ACT UP, even, and they were really called to kind of think about whether they could participate.
So I went into the church with the idea that I would be writing about this. I was writing for OUT Magazine at the time, I was an editor there, and I guess–somehow I didn’t see anybody when I was in there, from ACT UP, I didn’t see people starting to act and O'Connor began to speak and he was basically ignoring this incredible demonstration that was going on outside and just instructing people to just totally ignore it. And I thought, wow that’s emblematic of his approach.
And I just felt like, oh God, I have to stand up. So I stood up and the people in the booth next to me, they were just like, “Oh my God, this person’s just stood up.” And I just began to speak. Loudly, because I had to reach him, he was far up in the church, and I just thought–I had this moment of sinking feeling, like, “Oh my God I'm gonna get arrested again and how am I gonna file my story.” I am such a not professional journalist enough. But I just felt like I had to do it. And luckily as I was coming out–I wasn't dragged out of the church in this case, but you know I was escorted and then arrested and then spent my time in the clink. But another of my colleagues was there and I said, “Do the story!!” And so it got coverage.
The second one was both the sort of hilarity and the part that’s not understood for most people–people think of activism as like, “Oh God, that must be so depressing” and “how do you do it” and “how do you maintain it,” and they don’t understand. The people who are activists–I mean, they have egos, some of them, and they're obsessive and they’re–but they have energy and they’re creative and they’re passionate, and so I’ve met amazing people in this movement.
So I went to this action to do–and I was–I had a girlfriend at the time but our relationship was, I guess–I didn't really know–not so great, and she was having an affair. And so I had just learned about this possibility and I went into the jail and it turns out I sat down to get arrested kind of quickly and we got separated and turned out I got locked up, you know, in handcuffs, to another woman who was just behind me. And it turned out to be, of course, the woman with who she was having the affair! And we both turned around and saw who the other person was, and it was one of those moments of like, “Oh my God”, like oh my God talk about lesbian drama, I mean, this is dyke drama writ large! And what could you do?! We were literally handcuffed together in a cell. So then you know what do you do? We bond. We bonded. So we talked about it, you know, I said, “Look I don’t hate you.” She’s like, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”
But the funniest part was when my lover started coming along–we hear her from the distance shouting and shouting for–the affair. And then I answered, “Oh, she’s in here. We’re actually together. We’re locked up.”
And to this day, to see her face, and the horror! I mean it was hilarious. Plus, then she got really freaked out because we’ve been talking. So it was just hilarious, you know, it’s the 90s, it’s young lesbians, but to show you that, you know, amazingly, lesbians can also quickly like–we address each other, we process, we talked, we worked it out, and to this day we all remain friends. She’s my best friend, my ex. This other person is in our lives. We’ve all continued to be really active and to this day we’re still on the front lines against Trump.
[caption: Thanks to Anne-Christine d’Adesky]
[caption: Thanks Angela Brinskele]
[caption: We promise to keep telling our stories]
[caption: The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives needs your support]
[caption: Donate now mazerlesbianarchives.org]
[END OF VIDEO]
Anne-Christine d'Adesky tells us her journal stories of activism and dyke drama. She published these stories in a new book called The Pox Lover: An Activist's Decade in New York and Paris.
Click here to open a PDF transcript.
Interviewee: Anne-Christine d'Adesky
Interviewer: None
Transcriber: Adriana T.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: Unknown
Release Date: December 31, 2018
Location: Unknown
Interview Length: 00:04:12