Corey Johnson.The clean-cut cocaptain of his high school football team and Tommy Hilfiger--handsome to boot, 18-year-old Corey Johnson was an instant gay hero when he came out in 2000. He was profiled in Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. and The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times, and he spoke at the Millennium March The Millennium March on Washington drew about 500,000 people to the District of Columbia in 2000. Demonstrators called for equal rights without regard to gender; specifically, most marchers identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. in Washington, D.C. These days Johnson is a seasoned Manhattan political operative--and he's still only 23. Was it hard to jump into a public role at your age? Yes. I'd just turned 18, and I left my hometown and my family four days after I graduated from high school. I was traveling the country alone, going from city to city. I got to meet some amazing people, though. At one event in Minneapolis I got to meet Paul Wellstone. It got me interested in Democratic politics. What are you doing now? I work for Mark Green, who's running for attorney general in New York. I'm his political director. I began working with him when he ran for mayor of New York City The Mayor of New York City is the head of the executive branch of the Government of New York City. The office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within the city. in 2001. I actually moved to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. to work for him. I was also involved in the Dean campaign early on, in Vermont and New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). . That's an amazingly rapid advancement, even for the world of politics. How did you do it? I'm not sure. I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I don't do "I Don't Do" was the debut single by glamour model Michelle Marsh, released on 6 November 2006. The single reached 27 in the UK in its first week, selling only 9,000 copies and over 16,000 copies as of January 2007. The single spend a total of four weeks in the Top 75. drugs, but the one thing I'm addicted to is politics and the media, and I've gotten some good breaks along the way. Your travels must have afforded plenty of opportunities to get a close-up view of the gay United States. How do you feel about the state of the movement? I feel really mixed about it. Some of the people I look up to most were trailblazers in the community for years: Michelangelo Signorile, Larry Kramer, and other smart, progressive lefty activists. They really paved the way for me. But there aren't a lot of role models for gay people my age. Being a young gay person living in New York, I see what scourges crystal meth meth n. Methamphetamine hydrochloride. and the explosion of new HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. infections have been. I also hate the political complacency of the community. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and stop trying to convince ourselves that things are wonderful when they're not. Do you encounter complacency firsthand? Yes, but it's somewhat understandable. Larry Kramer talked about how older gay men who could have been role models were wiped out by AIDS. It really left a void. I was very lucky when I came out because I had some older gay men who mentored me. How do you think the community should address this problem? There need to be more activities for all ages. I help organize the gay football league in New York. One goal for me is to try to get more young people involved. In New York City there are plenty of young people who don't have an outlet to do positive things with good role models. Are there a lot of young gay people in the league? Right now there aren't that many--I'm one of the youngest. Are you one of the best players? I'm pretty good--I'm actually a team captain but there are lots of guys who played college and semipro sem·i·pro adj. Informal Semiprofessional: a semipro baseball player. sem football. There are also people who never played before. It's a wide range of abilities. There are a lot of good friendships, and that's the most important part--though my team did come in first. Where do you hope to be in a few years? Hopefully, I'll get to work for a successful presidential candidate and ultimately make a move to Washington. |
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