Cheryl Spector has left us a legacy of memories.  Memories of Cheryl and memories of ourselves.

Since the early 1980s, Cheryl has preserved memories of her friends, her community, and the history of that community's struggles and accomplishments.  Almost from the time that she came out as a lesbian in December 1982, six years after arriving in Washington, Cheryl collected images and documents.  She was at the first AIDS candlelight vision in 1983, photographing slides that she turned into a slideshow with a script read by Dana Terrell and produced by John Szumigala.

No one's life, or death, was to be a waste if Cheryl could do anything to preserve the memories.  By the summer of 2007, her collection of slides, photos, and over 1,000 videos covered nearly every event of significance in more than two decades of community history: Pride celebrations, parades, drag shows, pageants, parties, dances, protests, marches, meetings, and speeches.  She covered not only Washington but also Baltimore.  It is a treasure house of people and events.  She saved as well the documents of every group in which she was involved.

The words of Holly Near's song A Gentle Angry People seem to have been written with Cheryl in mind.  Her hugs were large and enveloping.  Her enthusiasms were equally large, for people, for music, and for events.

She was gentle until her fury was stoked by injustice.  In the early 1980s she was a self described "bar bunny" in love with R & B music, working as a dj at The Phase and the Hung Jury, and hanging out at The Phase, .  But her personal experience and the death of her brother and her friends sharpened her awareness of the growing AIDS crisis. Her impatience with indifference to AIDS is nearly legendary.  In her 2002 oral history Cheryl recalled,

"I couldn't even enjoy being a lesbian because I was so busy trying to learn what was going on ... Already in 85 I was getting so frustrated with the whole thing: that you never heard about it in the media, that the President wasn't talking about it, that the government wasn't doing anything, that no one was educating anyone, and that my friends were getting sick ... It was starting already,  The fury, the pain, the anger was brewing."

After working on the local committee for the 1987 March on Washington, Cheryl and friends from the committee desperately wanted to do something so they created OUT!, Oppression Under Target.  Within  three years, Cheryl was an active member of OUT, ACT UP-DC, and Queer Nation.  In the early 1990s she joined the first local Lesbian Avenger group and helped organize the first Dyke March in 1993.

For such a public person, especially one with a background in public relations, performance came naturally.  In the mid-1990s she organized the first drag kings contest at the Hung Jury.  Late in the 90s, she herself tried her hand at performing as a drag king.  When she joined DC's oldest social organization, the Washington Academy, it was as a drag king, taking the name Dick Hurtz.

The memories of Cheryl go on and on and will undoubtedly become legends of a sort: her days at Tracks, her work for Roadwork and at Sisterfire, her ardent support of the transgendered and others she felt needed support and so much more.

Among her current commitments, Cheryl was on the board of Rainbow History and the Max Robinson Center's Community Advisory Board.

to share your memories of Cheryl, email us at info@rainbowhistory.org:

Memories of Cheryl:

• Cheryl - We will miss your smile and wonderful hugs. You have been a pillar within our community for so long. The way you captured the moment at each event through your lens will never be forgotten. As you lived you gave a legacy of memories.  May you rest peacefully in the arms of your creator.

          Sadly submitted - Reverend Dyan Abena McCray

• This is truly a sad  moment and we have all lost a terrific friend.

            - Jim Harvey

• I am just overwhelmed at hearing of the passing of Cheryl Spector who will be remembered as a life time advocate and friend to all.  On behalf of the Transgender community I send my deepest condolences and prayers.


I am sure that one thing that can be said ... is that she lived her life and to the fullest.  I know that the statement "Let The Life I live, Speak For Me" is applicable to Cheryl now.  I will miss her charming smile and just warm care free spirit of when she sees you its with a big greeting and hug.

At this time I call out on our community to pause and give a moment to remember this remarkable woman who has lived and lives on with us.  It is fair to say that we loved and cherished her, but God Loved her most and he has sent his angel to transition her to be with him.   God Bless Your Spirit Cheryl.  You will truly be missed.

Always,

-  Earline Budd and the Transgender Community
 

• I have to admit, for years I had thought that Cheryl Spector had actually developed time travel, or cloning, or both, for it seemed that no matter what event was taking place in Washington, and no matter how many, there she was. But, in fact, it was simply Cheryl's passionate commitment to her community that has given her the seemingly boundless energy to be a fixture of Washington's activist and social life for over two decades. She has been a major force in groups such as OUT!, Queer Nation, and the Lesbian Avengers. Indeed, when I was involved with OUT!, Cheryl was always an inspiration to me to kick my energy level up even higher. Cheryl has been described as "a soft and gentle militant," and I would say that is accurate, and appropriate for those of us who are, in the words of Holly Near, a gentle, angry people.

This is perhaps most evident in her work with ACT-UP, moved by the death of her brother and too many friends over the years from AIDS-related complications. As Cheryl reminds us, words and symbols are not enough: "You have to earn your red ribbon."

Cheryl is responsible in a significant way not only for the creation of our community's history through the groups with which she has been involved, but also for the preservation of our community's history, because for over two decades Cheryl has documented the history of gay and lesbian life in Washington in all its aspects through still and video photography.

-  Barrett Brick,  from remarks on presentation of the 2004 GLAA Distinguished Service Award

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