Remembering a Gay Icon in Mother Bryant

Alexei Romanoff is a Ukrainian immigrant who grew up as an only child in New York City. As a kid in the 1950s, Alexei knew he was gay — but it wasn’t something he spoke about openly.

Now 82 years old, Alexei came to StoryCorps with his husband, David Farah, to remember the person who taught him to be proud of who he is.

We’re sharing this story as part of Stonewall OutLoud, our national effort to look back on life before the Stonewall riots in 1969, and to ask people to use the StoryCorps App to help preserve the stories of LGBTQ elders before they’re lost to history.

Photo: David Farah (L) and Alexei Romanoff (R) at their StoryCorps interview in Los Angeles, California in June 2015. By Jill Glaser for StoryCorps.

Originally aired June 7th, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

A Man Recalls Being Shot by a White Supremacist at Jewish Day Camp

On the morning of August 10, 1999, a white supremacist opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon at a Jewish day camp in Los Angeles. Five were wounded, including six-year-old Josh Stepakoff, who was shot in his leg and hip, and one person was killed.

Now an adult, Josh sat down with his father, Alan, to remember that day.

The shooter is serving two consecutive life sentences plus 110 years for multiple convictions. His actions were ruled a federal hate crime.

This story aired November 2, 2018 on NPR’s Morning Edition. A version also aired November 10, 2017 on the same program.

Bottom image: Josh and his father, Alan, in Washington D.C. for the Million Mom March rally in May 2000, the year after Josh was shot.

Kevin Fredericks, Isaiah Fredericks, and Josiah Fredericks

StoryCorps gives friends and family the chance to sit down together and ask questions they’ve always wanted to ask. Isaiah Fredericks and his younger brother, Josiah, made the most of that opportunity.

When this interview was recorded, Josiah was seven years old and Isaiah was nine. They came to StoryCorps in Los Angeles with their dad, Kevin, who fielded all sorts of questions from his curious sons — some of which we’ve never heard before.

Originally aired May 5, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Bottom photo: The Fredericks family in Reseda, CA in 2017. Courtesy of Kevin Fredericks.

Francisco Ortega and Kaya Ortega

Growing up in rural Tijuana, Mexico, Francisco Ortega was among the youngest of his family’s 10 children. In 1975, his parents made the difficult decision to leave him and his siblings in the care of his beloved aunt, Trinidad, and move to Los Angeles to find work. Once there, his father worked as a busboy and his mother as a seamstress in a clothing factory; each month they sent back money for food and clothing.

Only about 6 years old when his parents left, Francisco was an intuitive, energetic, and excitable boy. He spent hours playing in the hills and fruit orchards of Tijuana, and chasing rattlesnakes with his dogs. He also acted up a lot and often gave his aunt a hard time.

He didn’t see his parents for nearly three and a half years, and couldn’t understand why they left. He missed his mother terribly but through hard work his parents became more financially stable, and in 1978, 9-year-old Francisco joined them in Los Angeles.

At StoryCorps, Francisco—who works to strengthen relationships between the Los Angeles Police Department and the community—shares memories of his childhood in Tijuana with his 16-year-old daughter, Kaya, and tells her about the day he left Mexico to reunite with his parents in Los Angeles.

Originally aired December 16, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Above: Francisco and his younger sister Ana after arriving in Los Angeles in 1978. Photo courtesy of Francisco Ortega.

Rev. Troy Perry

On June 24, 1973, a fire tore through the Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Thirty-two people were killed in the blaze and many more injured. To this day, it remains the deadliest fire in New Orleans history and until the killings on June 12 at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, this act of arson was believed to be the largest single mass killing of gay people in U.S. history.

Unlike in Orlando where there has been an outpouring of support for the victims, following the Upstairs Lounge fire, there was overwhelming silence from politicians, religious leaders, and the local community. And while police conducted an investigation, no one was ever arrested for the murders.

After hearing about the tragedy, Rev. Troy Perry (pictured at left with his partner Phillip “Buddy” De Blieck in June 1970, at the first LGBT Pride Parade in Los Angeles), founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, a national Christian denomination dedicated to serving gays and lesbians, flew from his home in California to New Orleans to provide support.

Offering comfort and assistance to the victims in hospitals, Rev. Perry recalls speaking with one badly burned man who told him that the school he taught at had fired him after learning that he was present at the Upstairs Lounge. That man died the next day.

Not wanting to return home until he held a service, Rev. Perry remembers the difficult time he had finding a church willing to act as a host. Eventually, the St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in the French Quarter opened its doors and mourners came to fill it. When the service ended, cameras outside confronted attendees and Rev. Perry offered them a way out the back. But in a show of strength, pride, and courage, “Nobody left by the backdoor. And that’s the legacy. We never ran away.”

The initial reaction to the fire is something that New Orleans has had to come to terms with in the ensuing years. In 1998, a plaque was placed on the spot where the Upstairs Lounge once stood to mark 25 years since the fire, and in a Time Magazine piece on the 40th anniversary of the blaze, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans apologized for its silence.

Rev. Perry came to StoryCorps to recall what he saw upon his arrival in New Orleans.

Originally aired June 24, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Top Photo: Inside of the Upstairs Lounge on June 25, 1973. Associated Press/Jack Thornell.

Photo of Phillip “Buddy” De Blieck and Rev. Troy Perry courtesy of Rev. Troy Perry.

Willie Harris and Alex Brown

For the past few years when Oscar nominees have been announced, there has been outrage both online and in the press. In 2016, all 20 individuals nominated in the acting categories were white. The outcry was so great that the governing board for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to add new members in order to increase diversity in the coming years.

For some African American people who have spent decades around the film industry, this continues to spotlight an age-old problem.

Willie Harris (pictured below) and Alex Brown (pictured above) came to Hollywood in the 1960s dreaming of breaking into the movies as stuntmen. Both were athletic and strong, but despite their qualifications, stunt coordinators repeatedly turned them away.

Realizing that movie studios had little interest in hiring black stuntmen—many wouldn’t even open stages and gyms for them to practice in—they continued to hone their skills training and practicing in public parks around Los Angeles. They would leap from bleachers onto donated mattresses and practice elaborate driving maneuvers using rented cars.

Eventually, Willie and Alex were able to break into the industry. They became original members of the Black Stuntmen’s Association, spending decades in Hollywood taking and throwing punches in films like The Color Purple and the James Bond classic Live and Let Die.

Willie and Alex came to StoryCorps to remember how they broke into the movies.

Originally aired February 26, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Photos by Luisa Conlon for StoryCorps.

Chassitty Saldana and Noramay Cadena

Noramay Cadena is a mechanical engineer with several degrees from MIT.

Her family came to the U.S. from Mexico. They settled in Los Angeles where her parents worked in factories.

Noramay (pictured above right) came to StoryCorps with her teenage daughter, Chassitty Saldana (pictured above left), to remember one summer when, as a teenager, her parents brought her to work.

During her engineering career, Noramay has worked to improve conditions at factories like the ones where her parents still work.

Originally aired September 25, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Photo courtesy of the Cadena family.

Roberto Olivera and Debra Olivera

Roberto Olivera grew up in the 1960s just outside of Los Angeles, California.

As a teenager, he worked multiple jobs to support his family, but would come home to a physically and verbally abusive stepfather.

At StoryCorps, Roberto tells his wife, Debra, about how his mother helped him escape.

Originally aired August 7, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Santiago Arredondo and Aimee Arredondo

Santiago Arredondo, 32, grew up in Southern California, where he learned his strong work ethic from his family.

He recently recorded a StoryCorps interview with his wife, Aimee, to honor the most influential person in his life: his grandfather, Jose Guadalupe Enrique Sanchez, whose portrait he has tattooed on his arm.

Originally aired May 29, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

You can read more stories like this one in our book Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, a collection that celebrate the passion, determination, and courage it takes to pursue the work we feel called to do.

Callings is now available from Penguin Books. Get the book at our neighborhood bookstore, Greenlight Bookstore, or find it at your local bookstore.

Juan Castillo y Carmen Santos

Carmen Santos y su hermano Juan Castillo crecieron en Los Angeles pensando que su madre los había abandonado cuando vivía en Guatemala. Un día, descubrieron la verdad sobre lo que pasó.