27-03-2025
Bolder than ever: The New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus presents 'The Unbreakable Harvey Milk'
Mar. 27—The New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus (NMGMC) presents its spring concert, "The Unbreakable Harvey Milk," at The Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe on Saturday, March 29, and at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque on Sunday, March 30.
The program consists of two pieces by Tony-nominated composer Andrew Lippa. "I Am Harvey Milk" tells the story of the first openly gay politician in San Francisco from his boyhood through his assassination, and its companion piece, "Unbreakable," celebrates 12 decades of LGBTQ+ history. Complementing the chorus are multimedia projections and choreographed dancers, who will create an immersive theatrical experience.
"It is more engaging visually and thematically than a traditional choral concert," said Aaron Howe, NMGMC's artistic director. "Although I do think we sound quite beautiful, that's only one part of what we do."
The history of gay men's choruses is inextricably linked to the gay liberation movement of the 1970s, and to the life and death of Harvey Milk, in particular. The first gay men's chorus was founded in San Francisco in 1978, the same year Milk was assassinated, and its first public performance was at a vigil for Milk on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall. That performance is what launched the nationwide gay choral movement.
"He laid the groundwork for these organizations to start, and then just as they were about to get going, he was assassinated," Howe said. "In a way, it was a shock that probably could have stopped the movement, but instead it galvanized people and made people want to fight back and be even more brave."
The New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus, founded in 1981, is one of the earliest and longest running LGBTQ+ choruses in the nation. Starting with just 16 members, the chorus now has approximately 80 members who regularly sing with the group, and they span several generations. The chorus today also includes members who are not gay men, including several women, but they retain the name in honor of their history.
Brian Lanter is the last of the founding members of NMGMC still performing with the group.
"It has been supportive in the way a family is," Lanter said. "For instance, when my mother died, the chorus came and sang at her memorial. During the AIDS epidemic, when a few chorus members died and many people were dying in the community, the chorus sang at any number of vigils and memorials and remembrance days."
"It's about being part of a group that's bigger than yourself, that's doing good in the world, changing the world through music," Lanter said. "What keeps people coming back is just the sheer joy of singing with other people. But we're doing it with people who have similar values and similar goals, so that gives a sense of belonging."
He said he hopes the current show will help younger generations come to know and appreciate the history he lived through.
"But the most important lesson is not the details of the particular people who tried to oppress us and who rose to help," he said. "The message is that we persisted and kept going in the face of adversity. When you know that what you're doing is just and right and joyful, then it is possible to oppose oppression and oppose it with a vision of the world that is kinder and more just."
Following the Santa Fe and Albuquerque concerts, NMGMC will take the production on a college tour in the first week of April, performing on the campuses of Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, Eastern New Mexico University in Portales and New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
"One of the big reasons we decided to take this music on the college tour is because we know there are LGBT youth in those rural markets. We want to let them know they're not alone, and it's okay to be your authentic self," said Jerry Matthews, the NMGMC board chair and a member of the chorus.
"We're partnering with a bunch of different organizations to have a resource table to let these kids know there's help there if you need it," he said. "The state did a study a couple years ago that showed that LGBTQ youth are really suffering from isolation, depression and substance abuse. So, we just want to be there to show them that there's positive examples of living authentic lives out there, and there's also a support system if they know how to find it. And we want to help them know how to find it."
Matthews said he's seen a dramatic positive shift in public acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in his lifetime, despite more worrisome trends in recent years.
"I'm old enough that I went through the AIDS epidemic. I did lose a few friends to that. And I was actually in California before the whole Prop 8 (2008 gay marriage ban) thing happened. I actually got married before then, as a way of showing support to the movement," he said.
When the Supreme Court affirmed same-sex marriage as a constitutional right in 2015, Matthews said, "We felt like we could finally exhale and drop our guard a little bit. But now we've had to go back on guard. But the main thing I keep telling myself is, I'm not going back. I am not hiding. I mean, I've got the biggest gay flag hanging in front of my house right now. I'm not gonna hide."
Howe said it is more necessary than ever to educate people about LGBTQ+ history in the face of current political efforts to erase that history.
"Now that Trump has been elected again, this time it seems like there is a much bigger push to try to erase LGBTQ people. And I really think that is exactly their goal. Taking us out of government documents and having to remove any mention of 'gay' or 'transgender,' is pretty significant," he said. "And this feeling of trying to be erased or put back in the closet feels pretty strong to me and to a lot of my friends. So, what this means is that we need to be bolder than ever. We need to go out there on this tour and say, 'You will not make us disappear. You will not make it so that people are afraid again.'"
