San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus Truly Brave
[Music]
it was a beautiful
evening october 1978
in san francisco about a hundred men
gathered in the basement of everett
middle school
they were there because they’d seen
flyers around about the formation
of a men’s chorus they sang their first
song a beautiful piece by mendelssohn
and the excitement was palpable then the
discussion turned to
what shall we call our choir that was
the first
major crossroad for this chorus
the discussion ended up with two
nominations
one was men about town and one was
the san francisco gay men’s chorus in
those days
anyone could be fired for being gay but
at the end of the discussion they
decided
let’s call ourselves what we are and
they stepped out of that room into a
beautiful clear night
with courage taking a huge step
that would indeed change the world
it was just a few weeks later that the
chorus on a monday night
gathered and it was the day that harvey
milk and george musconium
were murdered they went down to the
candlelight vigil
and someone knew that there was a new
choir and they gave their first
performance
on city hall steps at the candlelight
vigil
three years later they decided that they
would take this message
of courage and of gay coral movement
to nine cities across the country and
they did
the day they left it was big news the
full page
in the car and the chronicle had gay
men’s chorus takes national tour
and in the corner was a small article
mysterious cancer found in 41
homosexuals in new york city it was a
subtext
on that day and by the time we had
returned
it was indeed the headline and would
remain that
for the next decade the chorus has found
itself at many crossroads
in the 43 years of its existence in 2016
it was our 40th anniversary
and we decided we would take a big tour
we had planned on
mainland china and then with the
election
our board chair actually stepped up and
said why are we spending to do the
mission work
there when our lgbtq members
and family in the south need us and so
we embarked
300 of us to mississippi alabama north
carolina
south carolina and tennessee it was a
crossroads
for this chorus but we stepped out with
the two things
that have held us together the first
is authenticity we believe
that we need to show our true colors
everywhere we go and the other is
bravery
it’s taken a lot of bravery to be the
san francisco gay men’s chorus
even in a city like this but around the
world
we salute you we salute those
who have been so brave in this time
truly brave
[Music]
it’s hard to take courage
[Music]
you can be amazing you can turn a phrase
into a weapon
or a drug you could be the outcast
or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of
love
but i wonder what could happen to see
our true
[Music]
them gods
[Music]
is
[Applause]
[Music]
is
[Music]
want to is and let the words fall out
[Music]
honestly
[Music]
i can’t remember when
[Music]
them
[Music]
oh
i just want to see you
i want to see you i want to see you
[Music]
[Music]
you