 details hello hi happy July 1st happy Canada day for all our Canadian friends out there and I am Winston Welts delighted that you are joining us today for out and about a show where we explore a variety of topics organizations and events with the people who fuel them in our city state country and world as a disclaimer any views or opinions expressed by me are strictly my own and not connected with any organization joining me today in the studio I am honored to have Mr. Robert Gentry as my guest the keen watcher of the show will remember Bob as one of my first guests and many remarked on his wonderful personality and spirit of aloha and giving back to the community at the time we discussed having Bob back on the show and I am delighted that he is here today to share his thoughts on life the LGBTQ movement and some of his own incredible experiences including the groundbreaking groundbreaking being elected the first openly gay mayor of the US city period and that was back in the 80s so welcome to the show today again thanks for being my guest thank you Winston it's great to be here it's a pleasure to have you here and last time you were here you were here under the auspices of bash the visitor aloha society of Hawaii correct where you explained to us the wonderful work that that organization does and your your role in that is a volunteer and that was this really an amazing show to have so I I inspired by you as were my guests and then as we were talking and you said oh well I have this even a wonderful interesting history and so we talked about you getting back here and so we're here and I was just excited here we just are just on the tail and a pride month so I think this is as close as we could get based on our schedules so we'll just say this is an extension of my dear 50th anniversary of Stonewall how's that absolutely okay so we're celebrating the whole year and it's a it's a huge accomplishment obviously to have been elected the first openly and we it's a kind of strange to say that in this day and age isn't it openly gay or out mayor of the USA I think we're still getting there but it still is an important term and a concept mm-hmm because there are probably we know there are lots of gay elected officials in America but the ones that are open are the ones that are making a difference from my perspective mm-hmm because without being open and being at the table as an open person your impact is diminished well that's it and that's I agree with you on that exactly but there's a lot of people that say you know what what I what I do in my private life or who I'm married to or all that that's my that's my own that's mine I don't want that out there that's not that's not for public consumption you probably have a different take on it well of course because it's out there for every straight person in the country why shouldn't it be out there for gay people and I'll tell you why it hasn't been because it is still considered and was considered shameful so when that criticism would come to me for instance and say Bob we don't care about your bedroom I say yes you do or you wouldn't even have that as a criticism of my being open right if I was fully accepted and fully part of the fabric of society it would be no issue but there was and there still is an issue it's a lot less obviously but it still is an issue it's still an issue because even in this day and age in our own great nation we can still as LGBTQ people be fired it's correct in half over half the states if I'm not correct which is shocking when you think about this in modern-day America that this this open discrimination you don't even have to be gay you can just say you look a little gay to me that's right you're fired so and you don't have to even be gay to be fired for right I'm thinking you're gay which is incredible but you were groundbreaking here in 1982 was it I was first elected to the city council of Laguna Beach in 1982 and the council put me in the mayor's position the mayor's seat in 1983 and so at that time was Laguna Beach was this what we might use familiar terms of red or blue or neither actually the politics of the city were fairly balanced the position that I held for 12 years was non-partisan so I did not run as a Republican a Democrat or an independent I ran as Robert Gentry on my own platform and policies and whatever okay and you were reelected I was I was reelected three times like most California cities when you're elected to local office it's typically a four-year term at the end of that four-year term you can either not read not re-up for the election or you can stand again and you can do that for several times and so you are obviously a fairly popular mayor that you got reelected I did I was very fortunate I was reelected three times in the city of Laguna Beach so I served for a little over 12 years totally and I'm guessing a lot of that had to do with that you had a great police department and you paved the roads and picked up the trash and all the things that mayors do we did and we were and are a city manager form of government which means that we have a very strong administration and that administration in detail takes care of trash streets police all the rest of it and city council members who are elected are the policy people okay they set the policy and they hire and fire the city manager so very much like a board of directors exactly okay and how important was it how important was it to Laguna Beach or to California to the nation when you were elected was this big news was it even news how how was it received was it in was it even a an issue in the in your selection amongst your peers it started out to be a little bit of a problem before I was elected when I was campaigning and we were putting together campaign committee and people said well Bob what are we going to do about the gay issue and I said we're not going to do anything about it I will address it it's me I will be authentic and address it and I did and folks accepted it and starting with your peers and then was this picked up by the main mainstream media afterwards when when you were elected or did they just kind of was it not a non story it was a little bit of a story after the election when I was elected the next day I got a call from a reporter at the Los Angeles Times who said Bob I don't know if you know this or not but our research indicates that you are the first openly gay mayor in the nation what do you think about that well it just blew me away I never thought it would be never thought about it I just knew I was Bob Gentry I was gay I was responsible I had a life that I was responsible with and I was authentic and this is just one I think it's important to us when we think about this is this is this is one facet of you this is like you being an Episcopalian or you know Mormon or an atheist or whatever you know it's it's part of you but it's certainly not all of you but it's not all of me but it's in an elected position to me it becomes extremely important why because I come from an oppressed body of citizens and because I come from an oppressed body of citizens it has much more impact on what I say and what I do not only for those folks that I represent but for my own office and for the wider community at large were you contacted by people were you contacted by teenagers and 60 year olds and 30 year olds saying yes thank you so much for being brave and being out and being open yes yes I was yeah I'm and I spent a lot of my time educating folks not only in Laguna Beach but around Southern California whenever I was asked to about the issue of homosexuality so you were somewhat of a easy spokesman to call up and come and talk about yes because I I would never say no because I feel I was that important and and it is and it still is it's still important because I think people don't realize three people don't realize it that we still if we are if we're LGBTQ we still have to come out every single day potentially true when someone says I don't know it could be something like you're chatting with your neighbor and you say oh we are we enjoy living in this neighborhood very much and they say you and your your wife and they know my husband right and so we still are coming out all the time and it's those brave moments with people and I always challenge people if you're curious as to what it's like to be a gay person in America even in very liberal and free Hawaii take your your male friends hand and walk down the beach or walk down Bishop Street hand in hand and see what the perception is and then switch to a female friend and walk down the street same street going back the other way and you'll you'll understand what that's like of course is it is it different here in Hawaii speaking of Hawaii for gay folks or and the LGBTQ community I think it is I just think the nature of the culture in Hawaii is much more open and accepting than many other places in the country my sense is yes it is different and it is more welcoming when you were elected in 1980 I think California could strongly be described as sort of was Reagan country wasn't I think the state certainly went for Reagan and 80 and 84 Reagan was the governor and following him was Duke Majin another very conservative Republican who vetoed a statewide non-discrimination bill okay and when did that change do you remember I do remember very well it was in the first part of my term in the early 80s because the day that he vetoed that bill I introduced in the city of Laguna Beach an ordinance a law that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment housing and public accommodation it passed absolutely it passed unanimous unanimous and at that time I suppose we were seeing a lot of movement like that locally or just the beginnings of it beginnings of it yes the beginnings so very much Laguna Beach was a trendsetter in that we were along with the city of Los Angeles the city of San Francisco and a couple of other smaller cities in the state but yes those of us who were open and gay and particularly in office were very offended when the governor vetoed that particular bill because we had lots of testimony at the Capitol about it and how important it is like it is now in the federal government so very important and these these rights are being eroded I mean even when we have a national administration and that is refusing the embassies to allow you fly a pride like during this pride month you know and then all of the insults well not only that list of it's of but there's a new attack now on our community from the White House it it is it's an attack well we don't want to look far when we see that Mike Pence who signed the awful legislation in Indianapolis is the vice president is correct there is a concerted deliberate assault on LGBTQ rights I think that we see from the government and it's emboldened others that's why we're seeing spikes in hate crimes and all kinds of things like that but the tide is the tide is moving in this is just the little bit that's going back before it comes in all the way that's my feeling that's my hope anyway but I don't know are you are remaining optimistic very optimistic why basically the youth the youth of this nation will not put up for this kind of discrimination and lousy behavior when it comes to anybody who is considered different it so this is a last gas hopefully hopefully just react reactionary oppressiveness towards it doesn't really matter who you are if you're handicapped black Hispanic immigrants correct children in ages and don't forget the Obama administration did a tremendous amount of positive work for the LGBTQ community and I think that's why this administration feels the need to reverse some of that and I think we all need to stand together arm in arm and say absolutely not that's an interesting point so maybe if Obama really hadn't done much we might even see something that moved sideways and this or not really anything at all who knows yeah who knows I think it's this is the case of you say up this gonna say down or vice versa well besides you add into that Winston the philosophical difference that the current administration has based on the Christian religion the interpretation of the Bible etc that comes right into play and we'll we should qualify that with a particular I think interpretation of that of those religious because sure very many good people out there that are there are Christians of faith that are positive and progressive and believe in the message of you know love your love your neighbor and this it's a it's very deep issues it's it's getting right at our courses as a society as our individuals and and people that we know that are affected around us and this thing is it's also when you have this it's we're set an example for the world good bad or otherwise so but fortunately we're seeing other places around the world that are saying oh no we're not going down that path we're we're increasing and cultures that are older particularly that's what's important to me cultures that are older that have been dealt with this issue for many many years and now are obviously doing the right thing it's it's an exciting time and I'm looking forward I'm I'm basically positive sometimes I get a little bit down and pessimistic but then when I see like you and everybody else that's coming out and saying I'm my authentic self it's really important for all of us and we're going to touch more on these and what we're seeing nationally and about the community and just other societal things in a moment we're going to take a short break I am Winston Welch this is out and about on the things like live streaming network series and we are talking with Mr. Robert Gentry the former mayor of Laguna Beach, California we'll be back in a minute so stay tuned for more the story. 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Hey we're back we're live happy Canada Day and July 1st 2019 I'm Winston Welch and this is out and about on the Think Tech live streaming network series where you will always find the most exciting and interesting people like my esteemed guest today Mr. Robert Gentry so welcome back thank you being here today so you were the first outmare in a U.S. city that we know of in Laguna Beach California in the early 80s at that same time just dovetailing with it was a tragic epidemic of HIV and AIDS that just rained down hard across the land across the world it's still raging in many places what was that like it had some wonderful times and some horrible times when I went into office I never expected to be in the middle of a pandemic where my city had the highest per capita of AIDS patients in the country now that that was a lot because we were a city of 25,000 and per capita we had the highest what that meant for me was I was literally watching my constituents drop drop and drop and I felt like we as a city needed to do something about this even though it was a public health crisis and we weren't in the business of health we needed to be there because the federal government at this point had done nothing silent president Ronald Reagan had said nothing health and human services had said nothing and the gay community around the nation was starting to coalesce around how we're going to save lives and take care of our brothers and our sisters who were ill and I proposed to my city that we establish a group of people to advise the city council on what we should do in our town about HIV and AIDS and it was a tough fight but I got it got it through and we did some pretty wonderful things to help people first thing we did was we extended our non-discrimination law that I had authored a year early so that there can be no discrimination based on HIV determination in housing accommodation or employment now that took a load off of hundreds of people in my community who were worried about being evicted losing their jobs and all the rest of it because that was happening around the country and still is and not just if you have HIV yep right so that's and I think that has now morphed and it's and it's become under 88 actually at this point but at the time it was it's need to be written in and probably still dozens in some places it does so you saw I mean it was just you know the plague years and and coming out of it the other side it was like a war in many ways and we didn't see really any relief on that until maybe what the mid 90s would you say when they came out with some well I would say some relief there still isn't a hundred percent relief what we found was as the public health folks got into it and CDC got into it and we put research money into it that research money generated protease inhibitors which helped control the virus in the body what that meant was that you became then a slave to medications and they're all their side effects so it wasn't just wonderful we now have pills it was yes we have some pills but we also have new things to deal with so it it wasn't all rosy but there were some good parts to it and that was indeed a wonderful part to it how do you do you think we're gonna get to AIDS new zero new infections yes we will yes and optimistic for actually a cure just stopping this thing like it will happen it it could have happened a lot earlier yes had we gotten on to this quickly we would have been able to be much far ahead now that we are why because we had all those cases right up front all of them the research arena was ready for Pete ready for all the scientists to work on it but the money wasn't there and you discrimination I'm just positive I think yeah well and what they were still facing today you can have those challenges of the LGBT community what we've had faced say and the baby when you were growing up I'm guessing you were in California you've probably probably laws of California said you could have been put in prison or or being gay probably I forgot probably I could have been fortunately I wasn't I wasn't raised in California though I was raised in suburban Boston which is a very Victorian community and there was no word the word gay was not there right you were a homo yes that was what you were you were a homo yeah or faggot yeah or faggot yeah right yeah exactly that's why it's interesting because when the young people have they call themselves queer right I think a lot of older gays think oh I don't like queer because that was such an insult but I think it's sort of taking it back on some when you have to do that it's an important thing to do yeah terribly important thing to do well and and so as we're facing we move forward to being completely illegal to being semi-legal or not illegal but certainly not protected in any comprehensive scheme nationally what are you thinking the challenges major colleges facing our community from within and without our at this point well I think the immediate need for the lgbt community right now is to have federal protection that's key because once we have federal protection for our work and our places to live that's going to explode all over the country and other states and so forth are going to adopt that that haven't so far then I think we need to really work on the local level of getting to know each other and again coming out coming out coming out and being authentic because our movement would not be where it is today had it not for starting at Stonewall people being authentic and saying I'm gay I'm lesbian I'm transgender I'm whatever it was and I'm in your family I'm in your church I'm in your place of work and that helped that helped the attitudes around the nation as did the HIV epidemic us see the HIV epidemic as you well know brought so many people out into the open that never would have been nor could have been now it was horrible that they had to do this because of a virus we're starting nonetheless nonetheless if you look back on the big picture it was very helpful and very powerful and very important and still is I think of it as a galvanizing moment for the community because people were forcibly outed by a disease and you think well how did Charles can't be gay Charles is gay he's just hidden it very well right and of course never put out a picture of his you know partner or whoever because that wouldn't have well he could have been fired number one but just stigma of that and so and then suddenly he's sick and well there it is so it and that this movement that we need to come together get some money gets some power gets some you know the people that do it act up heroes heroes the people making the noises out there the other thing I think that we need to focus on and here in Hawaii particularly to and it becomes part of my background being at the table is that we need more leaders to get elected we need to have people in the public office public limelight public sector at the table of policy at the state level at the county level city level making decisions for the people and that also helps a great deal now yes Hawaii is very accepting our laws are good we've had wonderful pro gay governors we've been very fortunate that we need we really need more of the grassroots folks at the table I do you think they need to be gay or LGBTQ or allies or both or as one more important than the other yes I think it is I think it's more important to be part of the community the gay community that's the basic authenticity right now a few years from now it may not be as necessary but it is necessary and I think when you say gay you mean big gay the big umbrella yeah I think LGBTQ yeah and I think we we shorthand it for gay sometimes and people think oh well I'm not I'm not in your alphabet but no I think it's it's kind of become a shorthand for me anyway so apologies to anybody who didn't hear the their alphabet because the kids today I mean what we're really seeing now is fascinating with the gender queer the gender neutral the non-gendered non-binary where even if we're inside of this community where they go whoa these the the kids coming up or have a totally different frame of reference for them I said somebody said hey sorry Winston but he is pass a it's and that was what it was it's all about trans I think maybe it's almost kind of moving beyond that to these new things where I go to conferences now and it says my preferred pronouns are and this is very interesting you know and these are main getting to be mainstream prone of the conferences so you know you're you're an amazing volunteer just to throw out a couple things that you do board member and past president of the Waikiki health which is an awesome organization which we had here before president the Gold's most neighborhood association a bash volunteer which is immensely gratifying and president of your condo board and we were talking earlier about which one was the hardest one you said the condo board was not the hardest one which was great what would you say if you were to leave us with some words of wisdom what what would that be your you're obviously been very active and engaged in public and private volunteer communities all of your life is there anything that you'd like to leave our audience with before we have you back again to follow up this conversation with a lot of other questions that I have well I just yes I would I I am of the belief that being involved in society and your community wherever you can be is extremely vital to the health of that community and to the growth of the individual person and if you are if you identify with the LGBTQ situation it's more and more important to be authentic out there and seek leadership positions because when you're in a leadership position you can affect your community at the micro and the Magno level no question about it so that's the key I think and it's fun and it's exciting and you can make a difference it's not a power business it's not an ego situation it's helping your society and that's what I think we're all here to do in our own way small large medium however we can do it we got to do it up up to the plate that's exactly right well I think you're the perfect example of someone who has stepped to the plate who lives authentically who's an example for all of us it doesn't matter what our age gender sexual orientation ethnicity is you're the real deal this is exactly a hero to follow so folks if you're out there and you're you're listening we've got had Bob Gentry today on the show he is an awesome example of someone who does live authentically and a perfect guess for out and about on I think live streaming show and I would like to thank you very much for coming in today you will come back again absolutely we're gonna have a lot of maybe we can have some more in-depth discussion about a lot of things so with that we do have to close so I will say thank you very much to all of the folks that put on our shows here broadcast engineer Robert McLean our floor manager Hayley Ekeda and J. Fidel our executive producer who puts it all together I'll see you every other Monday here on out and about