1991 Pride Tour

The Berlin wall fell in November 1989 and GMCLA decided to start the new decade of the 90s with plans to tour countries that were formerly behind the Iron Curtain. This would be ground breaking not only for the chorus, but extend a welcome hand to our gay brethren who lived in circumstances very, very different from our own.

This was the first time a Gay Chorus had visited any country previously behind the Iron Curtain. Our tour started in Copenhagen and then proceeded to Berlin where we also presented a plaque of remembrance at the Sachsenhausen Death Camp.
Covered by the LA Times, the tour then proceeded to Prague - awash in experiments with entrepreneurship (the Nike store had just opened)! Vienna was next where our concert was still an officially banned gathering of Homosexuals. Finishing in Budapest we also had to perform 'underground,' as the nascent Gay Community felt that too much publicity would possibly create a violent atmosphere.

These days were the dark, sad and troubling days for our community. We were fighting our own holocaust and burying our loved ones all too frequently.  One memory says so much: when we arrived at LAX to board the plane, our tour operator had luggage tags for all of us. But after handing them out, there was one too many--the luggage tag for Jon Radulovich. He didn't survive long enough to make the trip, so we carried his luggage tag for him. That and many other poignant moments helped create a tour event like none other.  Below are a sampling of memorabilia from the tour. 

View a PDF of the official Concert program! 

Photos:  James Geiger - Geiger Digital Photography