The £50 Turing banknote

I've got a £50 Turing banknote! 

I have written before about my interest in Turing. 

In 2018, the Bank of England decided they wanted a scientist on the new £50 note and invited nominations from the public. In six weeks, they received 227,299 nominations with 989 eligible names. With the help of public focus groups, their advisory committee determined a final shortlist of one dozen. The bank's governor, who makes the final selection, announced the choice of Turing in July 2019. The design was released in March 2021, and the bills were issued June 23^rd. 

Although the US Mint sells coins and bills direct to the public, the Bank of England does not. After declaring everywhere that I wanted one, a computer science teacher friend said she wanted one, too, and she asked another math teacher friend with family in England, and that connection worked.

Stonewall 1969

Today, June 28, 2019, is the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In San Antonio in 1969, I certainly heard nothing about this as it happened. It was the summer after my first year at Rice.

But in those years, I did make an effort to follow counterculture news. In particular, I occasionally visited one small bookstore / head shop (I can't remember the name, but according to notes by others, it might have been "Joint Effort") and browse and buy alternative newspapers. Sometime that summer, I bought an issue of the Los Angeles Free Press, and it had a small note about Stonewall.

I was not even fully out to myself yet, wondering whether I might be bisexual, but I definitely paid attention to this news.

After Stonewall

In my first summer in Los Angeles, in 1973, I made a point of going to Hollywood to watch the Christopher Street West parade.

It would still be years before I started coming out.

Years later, during a visit to New York, I attended a special gay pride program where several of the Stonewall Riot participants spoke. I don't remember their names. Based on this button I still have, this may have been in 1985:

In 2016, President Obama designated the area as the Stonewall National Monument.

Autographs — David Kopay

In November, I read that Dave Kopay lived near Occidental and frequently walked his dog on campus. I bought his book and hoped to catch him and get his autograph. I had read the book when it first came out, but I had not bought it at the time.

I kept the book in my car. When I stopped by Oxy this morning to pick up several newspapers, I saw him and his dog; he was talking to someone. I hoped he would keep talking long enough for me to run back to my car and get the book. 

It all worked out. He said he had just mentioned the book to the woman he was chatting with, and here I was with it.

When his book came out in 1977, I was an officer of the gay student group at USC, and we arranged for him to speak on campus. I think it was his first public speaking engagement; I remember he was a bit nervous before the talk. It was an overflow crowd. Here is the ad:

(I always thought that was a great illustration, too. I don't know who the artist was.)

(Index of autographs)

Irrationality about gay marriage

In 2008, the Mormon church and the Catholic church poured time, effort, and tons of money into stopping same-sex marriage in California. Irrationally, they feared that the mere existence of same-sex marriage in the state would greatly harm them.

Now, equally irrationally, I devoutly (!) wish their fears were true.

Autographs ― Alison Bechdel

I've long been a fan of Alison Bechdel. Her 'Dykes to Watch Out For' comic strip was always my favorite item in The Lesbian News, until she stopped it, and I bought her book Fun Home as soon as it came out.

This week, the Tony Award-winning stage musical based on that book came to town. I saw it two nights ago, and loved it.

Happily, as part of that, Bechdel also came to L.A. Today, I attended her talk at the Santa Monica Public Library, and I got her to autograph my book. She noticed that I had the first edition of the book.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Lillian Faderman

Stuart Timmons autographed this book many years ago, when it first came out, and more than a year before his stroke.

I finally caught up to his co-author, Lillian Faderman, at this year's LATimes Festival of Books.

(Index of autographs)

The latest on Victor not visiting the U.S.

As I had decided previously, we applied for a U.S. tourist visa again. Twice in the last five months, actually. After all, I think we have a compelling case:

Why Victor will not overstay a tourist visa and will return to Mexico:

I am a U.S. citizen. Victor and I have been in a long-distance relationship since 1993. I come to Yucatán multiple times every year to be with Victor.
If Victor wanted to stay in the U.S., we would apply for a K-1 fiancé visa and get married.
But his mother and other family are still in Yucatán, and he is not yet ready to retire, so he does not yet want to move to the U.S.
Victor’s salary is irrelevant. I pay for our trips together, within México and internationally (Costa Rica, Canada, Argentina, Netherlands, South Africa, Guatemala). If Victor receives a tourist visa, I will pay for his travels to and within the U.S., including his room and board. I paid for his visa application. I give Victor additional money when I visit.
Victor's hoped-for trips to the U.S. will be brief, 2-3 weeks, each devoted to visiting and sightseeing. No work.
All we want is to be able to exchange visits, instead of my always coming to Yucatán, as I've been doing now for more than 22 years.

Despite the visa application being many pages long and asking about all kinds of things, there is no place to insert the above information. For our first 2015 application, I sent the note as an email to the consulate. I received a rote non-response, including "... your daughter-in-law must demonstrate to the interviewing consular officer... " WTF?!
When we arrived for Victor's interview, I asked whether I could join him, and was told no, only a potential employer could go. Victor answered questions, but was not assertive about saying more. He was told his salary was insufficient and he would not get a visa.
For our next attempt (yesterday), I gave Victor multiple signed copies of the above note, with firm instructions to insist that the interviewer read it, and if they did not, to insist again after the next question and hand over another copy. He did that, repeatedly, and the woman refused to look at it! Grrrr.

Of course, all other information being the same, Victor was again refused a visa.
So let me recap the stupid parts of the U.S. visa process:

• They wrongly assume all married couples must live together.
• They wrongly assume their lengthy visa application captures all relevant information.
• There is no space on the visa application for additional information.
• They won't let another relevant party join the interview.
• They won't accept additional information by email or on paper.

If you know someone in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) who will actually hear me out, please let me know!
Update, August 2016: As commenters below and others suggested, I contacted my political representatives. No luck.

Autographs - Luis Zapata

Luis Zapata's best known work is El vampiro de la colonia Roma (1979). The English translation (1981) is Adonis Garcia, A Picaresque Novel. I enjoyed it a lot.

My friend Kieran knew Zapata, and in December 1985, I went to Mexico City with him, and we stayed at Zapata's apartment in the Zona Rosa, while Luis stayed with his family for a few days.

Years later, I had Kieran get Zapata to inscribe a Spanish language copy of the book for Victor. I gave the book to Victor. He read it, then quickly lent it to an acquaintance, and it never came back. I was unhappy about losing an autographed book.

(Index of autographs)

Why Victor still isn't visiting the U.S.

It's past time for me to update "Why Victor can't visit the U.S."

Last June, the day after the Supreme Court overturned the "Defense of Marriage Act", I heard for the first time about K-1 fiancé visas. It was immediately clear to me that Victor would be able to use this to enter the U.S.

But I had questions. I wasn't sure how to show that Victor would not become a financial burden to U.S. taxpayers. If Victor once entered the U.S. illegally more than 20 years ago (hypothetically speaking!), would that be a problem? What would Victor's citizenship status be, in both Mexico and the U.S. after we married? If he returned to live in Mexico after we're married, could he then easily visit me repeatedly at length for years afterwards? Do I need a prenuptial agreement? And more along these lines.

I eventually did speak with a gay immigration attorney and got some answers. The biggest problem is that the U.S. State Department has a stunted idea of married living arrangements. They make no provision for a married couple who do not want to live permanently together in the U.S.

Victor is not quite ready to retire, and is not ready to move here permanently. We envision some years, maybe many years, of exchanging weeks- and months-long visits in one another's countries.

But if Victor used a K-1 visa to come to Los Angeles and we got married, in the eyes of the State Department, he is immediately an applicant for permanent residency, and could not leave the U.S. for more than six months at a time. We could probably work with that, but it's not ideal.

So we have decided not to pursue the K-1 visa at this time.

Instead, many years after we gave up on it in the past, we might try a simple tourist visa again. Maybe next year, or maybe when Victor retires. And, if that fails again, maybe then we will pursue the K-1 visa.

So there are more possibilities, but there's not yet a perfect solution.


[2015 update]

Popular voting and same-sex marriage (Nov. '12)

I sent the following letter to the Washington Post, hoping that if it was printed, Supreme Court justices would see it (not published):

The statewide approvals of same-sex marriage are a welcome breakthrough, but civil rights should still never be subject to a popular vote.

Autographs - Edmund White

Edmund White

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. (Chip) Delany is one of my favorite writers. I own more books by him than by any other author. I've read his science fiction, his memoirs, his other non-fiction, his literary criticism, and his porn.

On a visit to New York City, I happened to spot a notice that he was going to be signing this new book at a Manhattan bookstore while I would still be in town. I bought the book, got his autograph, and asked if he ever visited Los Angeles. He basically said, "Not if I can help it."

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Howard Cruse

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I always loved Howard Cruse's Wendel.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Stuart Timmons and Harry Hay

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Stuart Timmons is a personal friend. When The Trouble With Harry Hay was published, Stuart as biographer and Harry Hay as subject jointly signed the book at a bookstore event.



Stuart talked about and signed Gay L.A. at a get-together of our book discussion group. Stuart has attended the group irregularly. On this occasion, he brought a laptop computer and narrated a slide show about some of the stories in the book.

(Note: Years later, I got the co-author's autograph as well.)

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - MeatMen cartoonists

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A Different Light bookstore held a mass signing event for several of the contributors to this book. I've always loved cartoons and comic strips, both mainstream and not. This collection ranges from innocent to X-rated.



The above spread shows autographs by Gregoire, Jerry Mills, and Tim Barela. Of course, hand-drawn cartoons such as the one here by Mills are always a treat.



The above spread has an autograph by Sean and two autographs by Brad Parker. Parker's drawing on the left was printed in the book, and he added the personalized caption. Then, on the right, he drew the creature as I watched, and autographed it. Of all the autographs I collected that day in this book, the two by Parker are my favorites.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Ivy Bottini

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I think I first knew Ivy Bottini through the successful "No On 6" battle to defeat the 1978 Briggs Initiative. Later, in the 1980s, I worked with her and others to organize several conferences at Occidental for Whitman-Brooks (an LGBT organization of that era).

In 1990, Ivy was my real estate agent who helped me look for and then buy my first house, where I still live today.

P.S. See also this about Ivy's biography.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Andrew Hodges

First, some background: Since my college days, I have always been interested in Alan Turing and his work. His premature death by apparent suicide always made me wonder whether he might have been gay. By 1981, there were a couple of published mentions that he was.

In his May 1981 Metamagical Themas column in Scientific American, Douglas Hofstadter wrote, Turing "was homosexual and was much persecuted for it. In the end it apparently got to be too much and he killed himself."

A few months later, when I found an email address for Hofstadter, I wrote and asked him about his sources. (Yes, I've been on email a very long time!) He replied, "A fellow named Andrew Hodges, in London, is writing what will probably be the definitive biography of Turing, and it will give all the details ... Why don't you write to him? His [postal] address is ..."

I struck up a correspondence with Hodges, and after his book was published in 1983, I helped arrange some of his speaking engagements about it in the U.S. He even stayed in my apartment in L.A. one time.

By the way, this is the centennial year of Turing's birth. There are many activities. Click here for details.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - John Rechy

I'm pretty sure I got John Rechy's autograph when he spoke at USC (where he later taught creative writing for many years), and not at a bookstore. And I think it was a speech for the public, but it might have been for the Gay Student Union.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs - Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy

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I got Christopher Isherwood's autograph on two different occasions. I helped arrange a speaking engagement for him at USC's Gay Student Union. He agreed if we would provide transportation. I did the driving. My friend Kieran Prather (long ago dead of AIDS and still missed) and I went to Isherwood and Bachardy's Santa Monica Canyon home, where they invited us in for drinks. I remember Bachardy's paintings and drawings everywhere. Happily for me, Kieran provided most of the conversation while I drove. The GSU turnout was light, but Isherwood didn't seem to mind. Sometime during the evening, I got him to autograph The Berlin Stories.



Isherwood and Bachardy both came to A Different Light bookstore when My Guru and His Disciple was published. I bought a hardbound copy (gasp!) and got Isherwood to autograph it. When I saw the dedication and saw Don Bachardy quietly wandering the store's shelves, I asked for his autograph, too.

(Index of autographs)

On boycotting Target (April '11)

This letter of mine was published in the Los Angeles Times in April 2011:

Only one thing can get me to return to a Target store: The corporation must routinely tell politicians, "We really like your economic and tax policies, but we won't donate to your campaign until you also support gay civil rights."