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Mark Segal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Allan Segal
Born (1951-01-12) January 12, 1951 (age 73)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, Journalist, Gay Rights Activist, Columnist
WorksAnd Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality (2015)
Spouse(s)Jason Villemez

Mark Allan Segal (born 1951) is a social activist and author.[1] He participated in the Stonewall riots and was one of the original founders of the Gay Liberation Front where he created its Gay Youth program. He was the founder and former president of the National Gay Newspaper Guild[2] and purchased the Philadelphia Gay News.[3] He has won numerous journalism awards for his column "Mark my Works," including best column by The National Newspaper Association, Suburban Newspaper Association and The Society of Professional Journalists.

Early life and education

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Segal was born January 1, 1951, in Philadelphia. He is Jewish and originally from the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. He attended Germantown High School and Temple University.[4]

Career

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Gay rights activism

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Segal was a participant at Stonewall in 1969 and help found the Gay Liberation Front that same year. He was also a member of The Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day committee, which organized the first Gay Pride parade in 1970. 

In 1972, after being thrown out of dance competition for dancing with a male lover, Segal crashed the evening news broadcast of WPVI-TV, an act that became known as a "zap" and that he helped popularize. He repeated the action during many other television broadcasts.[5] On 11 December 1973, Segal interrupted Walter Cronkite's broadcast of the CBS Evening News when he ran in front of the camera and held up a yellow sign saying “Gays Protest CBS Prejudice.”[6]

In 1975, he went on a hunger strike on behalf of the passage of a law to guarantee equal rights for homosexuals.[7] In 1976, he founded the Philadelphia Gay News, a LGBT newspaper in the Philadelphia area. The publication was inspired by activist Frank Kameny, whom Segal first met in 1970. In 1988, Segal had a televised debate with a Philadelphia city councilman, Francis Rafferty, about Gay Pride Month.[8]

Segal partnered with the Obama administration to create and build the nation's first official “LGBT Friendly” Senior Affordable housing apartment building. The 19.8 million dollar project known as The John C. Anderson Apartments opened in 2013.[9]

On May 17, 2018, Segal donated 16 cubic feet of personal papers and artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.[10]

Author

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Segal is the author of And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality, a memoir of his life and experience as a gay rights activist.[11] The book was named "Best Book" by the National Lesbian Gay Journalist Association in 2015.

Personal life

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Segal's friends include several gay activists, including Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, Harry Hay, and Troy Perry.[12]

On July 5, 2014, Segal married his partner of 10 years, Jason Villemez.[13] At the time, Villemez was 29 and Segal was 63. The ceremony was officiated by Judge Dan Anders, Philadelphia's first openly gay judge.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Bernadicou, August. "Come Out!". The LGBTQ History Project.
  2. ^ "About Mark Segal". Erie Gay News. Archived from the original on January 2, 2011.
  3. ^ William Bender. "Phila. Gay News articles examine homosexuality in U.S. history". The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/13/2011.
  4. ^ Segal, Mark (6 February 2013). "You're right: I'm Gay, Jewish, and old". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  5. ^ Edward Alwood. "Walter Cronkite and the Gay Rights Movement". The Washington Post, 7/26/2009.
  6. ^ "'GAY RAIDERS' INVADE CRONKITE NEWS SHOW (Published 1973)". The New York Times. 1973-12-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
  7. ^ "Gay Activist Goes on Hunger Strike". Daytona Beach Morning Journal, 12/1/1975.
  8. ^ "On TC, Rafferty and Segal debate gay pride month". Philadelphia Daily News, 7/7/1988.
  9. ^ Saffron, Inga (16 January 2014). "Changing Skyline: John C. Anderson Apartments, LGBT-friendly and urban-friendly". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  10. ^ Cohen, Adam. "Mark Segal, LGBTQ Iconoclast, Activist and Disruptor, Donates Lifetime of Papers and Artifacts". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  11. ^ And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality. OpenLens. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-23 – via amazon.com.
  12. ^ Adam Satariano. "Barbara Gittings, Pioneer Gay Activist, Dies of Cancer at 75". Bloomberg, 2/19/2007.
  13. ^ "Wedding: Mark Segal and Jason Villemez". Philadelphia Gay News. 2014-07-10. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  14. ^ Shister, Gail (11 October 2007). "First openly gay male judge in Phila. to take oath today". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
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