The Advocate's special cover story “Remembering Sept. 11: Our Heroes"

[left-of-center2012]

We look back in time via after the tragedy on September 11, 2001.

In the hours and days that followed the catastrophe, life for gay men and lesbians in New York City and Washington, D.C., completely changed—as it did for the rest of the nation.

The southern tip of Manhattan—including the gay mecca of Greenwich Village—became a militarized zone. Only residents flashing photo IDs could pass beyond the patrolled border. At the far end of Christopher Street, military and fire trucks zoomed up and down the West Side Highway. A closed sign hung in the window of the famed Stonewall Inn.

Overnight, “thousands of fliers of missing persons went up,” recalls Jeffrey DiGangi, a 36-year-old designer from the West Village. Lampposts, sides of buildings, and telephone booths were wallpapered with the images of lost strangers.

But in the devastation, there was also a sense of community that many had not seen since the worst days of AIDS. Another West Village resident, 39-year-old Gary Spino, says he walked around the neighborhood those first nights “because I wanted to be with others, and the streets were filled with gay and lesbian people. Everyone was crying and hugging.”

Read more at:
http://www.advocate.com/cover-stories/2016/9/11/our-911-heroes

[LeftofObama]

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