Scholarship Funds to Honor "Hero" Author and Narnia Executive Producer Perry Moore

Back in February I wrote about the untimely death of Perry Moore (pictured above), executive producer of the "The Chronicles of Narnia" trilogy and author of the young adult novel "Hero." Moore grew up in Virginia Beach and, as I noted at the time, reading the Virginian Pilot coverage, one would never know that Moore was gay and had a life partner. Not without irony, Moore had noted as follows about growing up in Hampton Roads: “I thought I’d have to kill myself,” he said. “Because I grew up going to church in the south and the pervasive message was that I had this terrible secret that I liked men and consequently I would go to hell for it and ruin my family’s life.”

Now, Hunter Hill, Perry Moore’s partner of seventeen years, and family and friends are in the process of establishing four scholarship funds that will benefit young writers and local Hampton Roads students. The Perry Moore Hero Fund will will award college scholarships to young writers who best express stories of understanding, tolerance and strength within the LGBT community. Next Spring, simultaneous donor gala launches will be held in New York City, where Moore made his home, and in Virginia Beach, where he grew up (details will be forth coming as available). The following is a summary of the scholarship programs being established provided to me by a close family friend, as well as links for information and making donations:

I. The Perry Moore Hero Fund

Hunter Hill, Perry’s partner of seventeen years, established the Perry Moore Hero Fund in partnership with the Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York. In line with Perry’s fundamental belief that there lies a Hero in all of us, the Perry Moore Hero Fund will award college scholarships to young writers who best express stories of understanding, tolerance and strength within the LGBT community. The Perry Moore Hero Fund is an artistic scholarship that celebrates literature’s ability to inspire and have a positive impact in the lives of young people. By publishing the winning stories on an official platform via the Perry Moore Hero Fund website, the content will have an immediate, powerful and global voice. The web page to make donations to the Perry Moore Hero Fund is: www.hmi.org/perrymooreherofund


II. Camp Chanco Scholarships in honor of Perry Moore.

Tally Sale Banazek established a special account at Camp Chanco to award camper scholarships in Perry’s name on an annual basis at Camp Chanco in Surry, Virginia. The web page to make donations to Camp Chanco in Perry’s memory is http://www.chanco.org/ Please visit the Chanco website and click on “Donate Now.” At the final payment page please indicate the “Perry Moore Scholarship Fund” when you are prompted to add any special instructions to the seller. Alternatively, checks may be sent to Chanco on the James (with the “Perry Moore Scholarship Fund” in the memo line) at P.O. Box 378, Surry, Virginia 23883.

III. The William Perry Moore IV Memorial Award at Norfolk Academy

Teacher Pat Hume, along with classmates Bretta Zimmer Lewis, Liza Berkley, and Trisha Shotten instituted the William Perry Moore IV Memorial Award at Norfolk Academy that will be given annually to a tenth grade student. The first award was presented in May of 2011. The recipient was honored with a handsome plaque, Perry's book on the making of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, plus DVDs for the three Chronicle of Narnia movies. Pat Hume wrote the inscription on the plaque that hangs in the upper school: “Given annually to a tenth grade girl or boy in honor of Perry Moore '90 whose love of film, language, and literature led him on an incomparable journey of the imagination throughout his life.” The web page to make donations to Norfolk Academy is: https://www.norfolkacademy.org/podium/default.aspx?t=1706&pk=707

IV. The William Perry Moore IV Second Chance Scholarship at Bryant & Stratton College’s Hampton, VA Campus

Christopher Sawyer, Th.D, and Campus Director as well as the Faculty and Staff of Bryant & Stratton College’s Hampton, Virginia Campus announced the creation of the William Perry Moore IV Scholarship. This scholarship will be awarded each semester, in the amount of $1,000 ($3,000/year), to a student who has overcome extraordinary odds in life and succeeded in the classroom. This scholarship is to be fully funded by the Campus and will be awarded for the Winter, Summer and Fall Semesters.

I take my hat off to Hunter Hill and Perry Moore's friends and family for these charitable endeavors. Having provided the initial endowment for the Hamar/HRBOR Scholarship in honor of my late parents and Hampton Roads Business OutReach ("HRBOR") to benefit local graduating LGBT high school students, I know that these memorial scholarships in honor of Perry Moore will make a lasting impact on many lives over the years.

No One Cared He Was Gay Except The Pentagon - A Soldier's Memoriam

In light of the bullshit taking place at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command near Charleston, South Carolina, a post done by my friend Lyndon Evans - one of the first LGBT bloggers I got to know when I started this blog nearly four years ago - is all the more poignant. It honors a gay soldier killed in Afghanistan. It also shows the toxic evil of allowing personal religious based bigotry to hold sway in the U. S. military such as is apparently the case of Capt. Thomas W. Bailey pictured in my prior post. Lyndon's post (which has been cross posted by Pam Spaulding as well) looks at the sacrifice made by Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt age 31 (pictured at right). Here is Lyndon's post from Focus on the Rainbow in its entirety (the bold faced emphasis is mine):
*
There were days I hated being a reporter or news/sportscaster as that was when I had to report on tragedy or death. All these many years later I have come full circle because today I hate my vocation as a journalist blogger.
*
I could have ignored this story, wrote something more palatable to ones senses or not posted at all today. But that would have been the easy way and going against the mission of this blog to focus on one person, issue or event in the Rainbow a day at a time.
*
Back then I would report such stories often with a damp eye. Today will be no different as I write this except you won’t hear my voice crack as I once spoke into a microphone.
*
It was a week ago today in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan that Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt age 31 was killed during an attack on his unit by insurgents with an IED. Wilfahrt was from Rosemount, Minnesota and this past Friday Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton ordered that yesterday all flags be lowered to half-staff to honor the state’s fallen son. A celebration of Cpl. Wilfahrt’s life was celebrated Friday at the Ft. Snelling Officers’ Club. He was a proud member of the 3rd platoon 552nd MP Battalion U.S. Army serving on patrol at the time of his death. But there is more to this story.
*
Up until the time some two years ago when Wilfahrt decided to enlist he was an out and proud gay man. But with finding himself in the quandary of wanting to serve his Country and the policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he decided for the sake of pursuing his wish to join the Army he would go back into the closet so he could protect the Constitution and all of us the American citizens. That is quite an irony. Protect the Constitution and a Nation which at best holds him as second class person and a military ready to kick him out.
*
In a radio inteview the other day his mother Lori Wilfahrt spoke to reporter Cathy Wurzer of Minnesota Public Radio (you can hear the interview and read it here) and when Wurzer asked her if she was concerned about her son being gay and in the military she replied, It did a lot. I think it concerned him as well. He spent a lot of time thinking about it and he came to terms with it. He knew he would have to go back in the closet, that he would have to keep that to himself. And he did, for at least part of his stay in the Army. But when I talked to him (or when he wrote maybe) when he was in Afghanistan, he said nobody cares. He said, ‘Everybody knows, nobody cares.’ He said, ‘Even the really conservative, religious types, they didn’t care either.’

*
Nobody cared that Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt was gay. Not the enemy, not his fellow soliders, only the Pentagon. Rest In Peace Corporal.
*
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. – General George S. Patton.
*

Narnia Producer, Perry Moore Grew Up in Virginia Beach

UPDATED: The Virginian Pilot has expanded its initial coverage and now reports on Moore's sexuality. Better late than never.

*

There's been a great deal of coverage in the blogosphere on the tragic untimely death of Perry Moore, executive producer of the "The Chronicles of Narnia" trilogy and author of the young adult novel "Hero," from an apparent accidental overdose of OxyContin prescribed to him following surgery. Although most of the coverage doesn't mention it, Moore grew up in Virginia Beach. And in terms of local coverage, reading the Virginian Pilot coverage, one would never know that Moore was gay and had a life partner. Apparently, the Pilot feels that knowing the full truth would be more than the local Bible beaters can handle. It's yet another sad case of many in society being prevented from knowing that figures that they know of - and possibly highly respect - are gay. Pink Paper.com also has tidbit that ought to be known as an indictment of this generally homophobic and backwards region:

*
Moore, who was waiting to hear news about a new screenplay proposal, revealed his anguish at growing up gay in a religious Southern community during an interview two years ago. “I thought I’d have to kill myself,” he said. “Because I grew up going to church in the south and the pervasive message was that I had this terrible secret that I liked men and consequently I would go to hell for it and ruin my family’s life.”
*
Unfortunately, the Hampton Roads region and Virginia as a whole continues to ingrain that same toxic message in LGBT youth. For those who want to honor Moore's memory, stamping out religious based homophobia would be a worthy under taking. MTV had this to say about Moore's passion on the topic:
*
Moore was passionate about the portrayal of gay characters in comics. Wanting to create a positive, gay super, Moore wrote "Hero," the story of Thom Creed, a high school basketball star who must simultaneously deal with both his emerging powers and sexuality.
*
One of the last things Moore ever linked to on his personal website was a 2008 story on MTV about "Hero" being turned into an hour long series. According to WTKR, Moore was still working on bringing "Hero" to TV at the time of his death.

*

The number of ruined lives and needless deaths from wars of religion demonstrates that more often than not, religion is one of the greatest forces of evil in the world.

Two Gay Heroes Thwart Assassinations 35 Years Apart

Last month I wrote about Oliver Sipple, a gay Marine who save Gerald Ford from an assassination attempt. Now, in the wake of the mass shooting in Tucson, another gay individual is being lauded for his actions in the face of an assassination attempt, namely 20 year old Daniel Hernandez. At the time of Sipple's heroic action, he was outed and his life seemed to spiral downward. This time around, even Tony Perkins at FRC - although perhaps unwittingly and subject to a possible retraction - spoke well of Hernandez. The Los Angeles Times looks at the contrasting treatment of these two gay individuals. While Christianists fight any reference to the contributions of LGBT citizens in school curriculum, these individuals demonstrate why the larger public needs to learn a complete, LGBT inclusive history. Here are some story highlights:
*
A 20-year-old congressional college intern with only five days on the job saved Gabrielle Giffords’ life. Daniel Hernandez ran toward the sound of gunshots. He pressed Safeway workers’ aprons against the congresswoman’s head wound to stanch the bleeding, and lifted her and held her upright so she wouldn’t drown in her own blood. Photos show him evidently covering her hands with his as he walked alongside her as she was carried off on a stretcher.
*
Daniel Hernandez is gay, a member of Tucson’s city commission on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. I bring this up not only because gay websites are talking it up, but because it reminds me of another gay man who thwarted an assassination attempt -- but in a very different time and cultural climate.

Oliver Sipple was in a crowd outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco more than 35 years ago, on Sept. 22, 1975, as President Gerald Ford was leaving the hotel. . . . Outside the San Francisco hotel, a woman named Sara Jane Moore was standing next to Sipple. She raised a .38-caliber pistol and aimed it at the president. She evidently got off one shot at Ford, and missed, before Sipple, a former Marine, grabbed her arm and took her down.
*
By taking the action he did, the courts found, Sipple, and thus his sexual orientation, had become news. Sipple’s mother never spoke to him again, and Sipple died in 1989.
*
Daniel Hernandez wasn’t even born when Oliver Sipple died. His heroism, too, is incontestable -- and this time, his sexuality is apparently uncontroversial, which may be one of the few hopeful things to come out of these murders and attempted murders. At least we won’t add character assassination to the actual ones.

*

The reality is that LGBT citizens are found in every walk of life and time and time again we play just as important of roles and engage in acts of heroism. It's past time that society got this message and moved on from prejudice and homophobia.

The Boyfreind

I tease him frequently and affectionately call him "Martha Stewart" because of his amazing cooking, house keeping and design skills, but the boyfriend is a true treasure. He truly rates as one of the sweetest, kindest, and most compassionate individuals I have ever known. I came across some lyrics to an old song from the movie Footloose that aptly describe him even though he protests that he is nothing special. I disagree. Here are the words that I found descriptive of him:

*

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
*
I am a very lucky man - the boyfriend is truly an amazing guy and I think he greatly depreciates how unique and wonderful he is. I just wanted to tell the world that I love him and I think that he's very, very special. He holds my hand trough good times and bad and he means more to me than he will likely ever know.

National Memorial for LGBT Hate Crime Victims Launches

This story from from Towleroad will surely get the fundies foaming at the mouth - they never want to admit that the hate and intolerance the disseminate has consequences and costs people their lives as in the case of the victims shown at left:

Scott Hall, longtime activist Frank Kameny, US. Representative Barney Frank and Amazing Race winner and activist Chip Arndt are spearheading the launch of Gay American Heroes, a national memorial to honor LGBT people murdered because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Supporting them are a large number of gay and straight public figures who have lent their names to the project. The memorial's goal is to honor and remember LGBT people who have been murdered in anti-gay hate crimes, engage and inform the public about LGBT hate crimes, and "inspire compassion and greater appreciation for, and acceptance of, diversity," according to Arndt.

Founder and president Scott Hall, a hate crime victim himself, came up with the idea after hearing about the brutal homophobic killing of Ryan Keith Skipper, a 25-year-old from Polk County, Florida. Hall contacted pioneering gay activist Frank Kameny, whose extensive collection of gay rights papers and memorabilia was recently donated to the Library of Congress, and noted writer and historian James T. Sears. Several others, including Arndt, and Fort Lauderdale's Stonewall Library and Archives executive director Jack Rutland came on board and the project gained steam.

Said Hall: "We want to reach out to communities as soon as possible following a deadly anti-gay hate crime. We want to support the family and friends of the victim, as well as to work with local officials, law enforcement and service organizations to provide counseling and outreach." Several high-profile figures have thrown their support behind the project as an "Honorary Board of Directors" including U.S. Representative Barney Frank, Matt Foreman of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, U.S. Marine Staff Sergeant Eric Alva, the first American wounded in the war in Iraq, actors Alan Cumming, Chad Allen and Bobby Gant, former professional baseball player Billy Bean, political strategist David Mixner, and novelist Christopher Rice. I have also agreed to serve on the Honorary Board.

Cyndi Lauper and T.R. Knight have also expressed a desire to help in whatever way they can.
Elke Kennedy, whose son Sean William Kennedy was killed in a homophobic attack in May in South Carolina, has joined the group's Board of Advisors.