Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Friday held a ceremony celebrating International Pride Day — unveiling a plaque memorializing the historic Glade Show Club in Chinatown.
The club was a venue for members of the LGBTQ+/mahu community during the 1960s and ’70s, celebrating their individuality amid adversity and persecution.
Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu blessed the plaque following its installation and unveiling on a column at the North Hotel Street entrance of Maunakea Marketplace, which formerly housed “the Glades.”
Installed by Maunakea Marketplace Chair Ave Kwok and his team, the plaque marks the inaugural stop on the Lei Pua ‘Ala Queer History Trail — an initiative envisioned by filmmakers Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer that aims to bring awareness about the queer experience through historical markers, digital experiences and performances.
“This plaque marks the first time that members of the LGBTQ+ Mahu community are being publicly acknowledged and honored in a permanent way on the landscape of Hawaii,” Wilson and Hamer said in a statement. “For too long our stories have been hidden, our contributions overlooked, our resilience taken for granted. We’re looking forward to continuing our work on the Lei Pua ‘Ala Queer History Trail to make sure that our struggles and victories are not forgotten or erased from public memory.”
“This is, yet again, one more step in recognizing the history and the respect we have for the history of this place,” Blangiardi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Certainly, Glades was a vital part of that — the whole LGBTQ+/mahu community that used to come here. It’s about recognizing that difficult past at this moment in time right now.
“In order to understand where you’re going, you have to understand where you came from,” he said.
Blangiardi recalled visiting the Glades years ago for fun, and enjoying his time there. He also noted that the societal circumstances then were very different from today’s.
“Hawaii is really great at accepting pride. I’ve lived here for a very long time, and I thought we will always be very good at that,” he said.
Blangiardi also said that especially in modern society, as someone in administration, he’s noticed increasing support for the LGBTQ+/mahu community.
Cocoa Chandelier, a queer dance teacher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said that even in today’s world, while the status quo has significantly improved, there are still times when people from the LGBTQ+/mahu community might feel unsafe.
“This past Sunday, there was an altercation with two of my other sisters, so it just goes to show that we’re not always safe, and we have to not be complacent,” Chandelier said.
Chandelier said Friday’s commemoration also serves to educate the community because “most people that attack us or have hatred towards us just don’t understand because it’s not part of their normal way of practicing and knowing.
“Recognizing places like this helps people to understand. It helps to demolish ignorance,” Chandelier said.
Maddalynn Sesepasara, manager of the Kua‘ana Project — a transgender services program at the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center — attended the ceremony representing a younger generation of the transgender community.
“Our trans folks back then had nowhere to go but the Glades. It was the only place they found refuge or felt safe or could be comfortable in their own skin and be who they wanted to be — it was a place that all trans and nonbinary folks could be themselves,” Sesepasara said. “They were being harassed on the streets, they were being told to stay on one side of the street and if they crossed the street, they would get beaten, thrown in jail or thrown in the river. It was horrible what they went through.”
Sesepasara said she appreciates the city’s efforts in memorializing the Glade Show Club and recognizing the older generation’s efforts in fighting for rights. She hopes to preserve and share the history of kupuna who faced social barriers within the LGBTQ+/mahu community.
“Chinatown is a special place. Every street and storefront is filled with a unique history, one of cultural, social, and ethnic diversity,” Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam said in a statement. “The Glade was a seminal part of this story. It served as a haven for artists, luminaries, and those who were considered ‘different.’ It’s part of the reason why Chinatown serves a similar role today.”
