Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

By Alissa Fleck

When the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) first discovered that developer Stephan Boivin intended to raze the 1824 federal style house formerly belonging to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, the group focused primarily on the house’s architectural merit. Boivin’s development group, Nordica, hoped to transform the house into apartments and retail space.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) responded to community advocates in favor of the building’s preservation by saying the house does not qualify as a landmark because it does not retain enough of its original material, though its general area in the neighborhood is still under consideration.

After this obstacle and further research, the GVSHP began to focus instead on the house’s rich history and ties to the LGBTQ community. As the group explained, the City has never before declared something a landmark based on the history of the gay and lesbian movement.

At a press conference outside the Spring Street house today, elected officials and community advocates came together to speak to this colorful history. Senator Tom Duane, the second openly gay member of the New York State legislature, appeared at the conference to make a statement, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn sent a letter in support.

Steve Ashkinazy, Stonewall Democratic Club executive committee member, said early leaders of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) formerly resided in the South Village home. The GAA group was the blueprint for the LGBT movement, he explained.

“Now they want to turn it into a mall,” said Ashkinazy. “The City says it does not retain enough of its original character…it’s clearly older than its surroundings. It’s visually and architecturally a standout with a story to tell.”

“The world has changed here and New York needs this landmark,” he added.

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman said, of former residents with ties to the gay rights movement: “People who lived here touched others’ lives.”

He added, as an openly gay man who has worked under Senator Duane and is well-versed in the region and the struggles of civil rights groups, even “for [him], this house was a lesson.”

Laurence Frommer, a licensed NYC tour guide, said he, and others, have been reaching out to queer historians, hoping to bring the matter to national attention. While the midday turnout was a relatively small spattering, Frommer said he had been hoping for “a cast of thousands.”

“As somebody interested in chronicling and presenting LGBT history, this is important,” said Frommer. “It should be landmarked. There should be a plaque.”

“There’s so much in the City we don’t know about,” said Frommer. “How did it get lost?”

As for the civil rights angle, Frommer said he believes the City is trying presently to make up for a lack of African American historical representation, but they should be focusing on LGBTQ history also, and every other group as well. He said the City usually preserves landmarks based on architectural merit and less so cultural matters or history, but culture should be “considered a lot more.”

In one of his “What You Should Know” missives to the press, Diaz Sr. cites Espaillat’s recent speech at a meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club, in which he promised to fight to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act at a national level if elected to Congress.

“Apparently now that Adriano Espaillat is running for a Congressional seat which covers a great part of the Bronx, he still thinks that the Christian and Catholic pastors and ministers are unimportant,” Diaz Sr. writes. “Once again, Adriano Espaillat is slapping us in the face by enthusiastically supporting gay marriage – now for the whole nation. He is clearly telling all of us, once again, to take a hike because he doesn’t need our vote.”

Interestingly enough, Espaillat made reference to Diaz Sr. in his speech to the Stonewall Democratic Club on Wednesday, noting that he led the push for same-sex marriage within the Latino caucus in the Legislature and was able to convince all the member except Dias Sr. to vote in favor of the bill.

“Not only did I vote for the bill, but I led the way. I made sure that other members of the Latino caucus  of senators that I chair, all but one were successful in coming together as a group and making sure we passed this historic legislation,” Espaillat said.

But Diaz Sr. says Espaillat’s support for same-sex marriage may inhibit his run for Congress.

“I suspect that with this news of Adriano Espaillat’s pandering to the Stonewall Democratic Club about his promise to bring gay marriage to the nation if he gets elected to Congress, will awaken some Catholics and Evangelical Christians who were planning to vote for him,” Diaz Sr. writes. “I am afraid that they will change their minds and even vote for Charlie Rangel or maybe just sit this election out.”

Rangel, of course, is also a supporter of gay marriage and LGBT rights. And Diaz Sr. is not a supporter of Rangel in any respect, blasting the veteran congressman recently for being insensitive to mentally disturbed individuals.

To read the full article at City & State click here.