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By Jack Nichols
I met John Paul in the fall of 1969, shortly after the Stonewall rebellion. We were introduced by Al Goldstein, the publisher of SCREW. John Paul had just turned 40 and had penned a memorable article critiquing ageism, the first such essay I'd ever read. He was celebrating rather than bemoaning his age, a welcome change from denigrating talk of elders who were called "aunties" in the pre-Stonewall era. Tall, handsome and debonair, he was always full of tickling good humor. Of Austrian decent, the articles he thereafter regularly contributed to the original GAY showed off his talents in impeccable English.
To Lige and Jack, crusading editors of GAY, America's first gay weekly, and authors of the first regular column on homosexuality to appear in a popular national heterosexual publication, SCREW- for seeing the potential of my 'Barfly's Baedecker' as a valuable service to the half million gays of metropolitan New York, the countless thousands of transients, and to the gay community in America. Being of service to others was central in John Paul's outlook, perhaps the essential ingredient in his happy demeanor. He and Lige soon became the best of friends, sharing, it appeared, their interest in body-soul unity. In John Paul's second book, The Gay Insider USA, he described Lige as "a very old soul, into Oriental mysticism." In Lige's face he could see, he wrote, "the mysteries of the Far East in his smile of recognition of all emotions as you talk to him. He knows everything, and I always feel I am expressing unnecessary angst, for instance, fully prepared to hear 'Take time to breathe.' "
 John Paul Hudson (left) and Angelo d'Arcangelo (both standing)
and Lige Clarke, Jack Nichols, Marcia Blackman and Perrin Shaffer (all seated)
during New York's first annual celebration of the Stonewall rebellion (1970)
The Gay Insider USA (which, like The Gay Insider, he wrote under his pen name: John Francis Hunter) was also the first of a genre, describing John Paul's gay journeys across the continent. In the opening chapter of this remarkable book, he humbly described his capabilities: "I once thought I had a lot of answers and advice for Gays. I understand now, as I begin this, that I don't. Just a few biases, some illusions and a few facts, the bulk of them subjectively presented, and lots of questions. As I set out on my journey, I found I had only very little to start with. Really the acquired sophistication of a Gay who had traveled extensively over the land in years previous, mostly as a show business gypsy, and in the process learning something about how and where to make gay contact. Hardly anyone out there knew who I was. There had been no arrangements made for my comfort and entertainment, either, except where I already had friends. Journeying on the most absurd little research grant imaginable, I was obliged to spend part of the summer in gainful employ. For the final swing through the Southwest, I had my lover riding shotgun with me on a Continental Trailways coach." John Paul was one of two thinkers whose books, written during America's counterculture revolution, were both published by Olympia Press. These amusing books remain the most exquisitely penned and colorful paeans to male-on-male sexual freedom ever printed. The other writer, Angelo d'Arcangelo, celebrated author of The Homosexual Handbook had also written for GAY. As both men grew considerably older, however, they underwent major changes in their approaches to life. Angelo d'Arcangelo became a convert to Islam, his word-processor propped up by a copy of the Quran. John Paul remained a Christian, first attracted to the denomination known as Unity and then to an ongoing study of Christian Science.
John Paul Hudson (moustache) in 1971 with other gay liberation pioneers:
Kay Tobin Lahusen, Rev. Troy Perry and GAA stalwart, Morty Manford
John Paul's accounting of his entertaining sexual adventures-in the bars, at the baths, in the subways and parks-was accomplished with a joie de vivre that had earned him high praise by reviewers. The Gay Insider quickly became a best seller. Peter Ogren wrote in GAY (May 24, 1971): "The Gay Insider is more than just a guide to the bars. It's a grand tour of just about every type of place to meet others gays in Manhattan…But even above all that information, all that getting laid, The Gay Insider is a testament of gay freedom. At a time when the gay movement is moving in a truly liberated direction and gays are beginning to get some pride, wearing their homosexuality more like a medal than a scarlet letter, the vast numbers of gay people all over the country who are not members of any group have precious few proud books or documents. The Homosexual Handbook by Angelo d'Arcangelo was such a book-a revelation, a kind of Newthink manual for the enjoyment of gaiety. The Gay Insider goes one further - it shows how and more importantly where gays can put to practical application the lessons of gay liberation…
"It is exquisitely appropriate that John should have dedicated the book to Lige and Jack, who've held for so long that gay means joy. Here is a book that shows in concrete terms how much of the time gay can be joyous.
But by 1984, John Paul, horrified by the AIDS crisis and deeply saddened by the death of his longtime friend, Gerard, was moved to adopt a stance which he called "radical chastity". He remained celibate for the final eighteen years of his life. His latest book, which I assume will be published posthumously, explains how his perspective underwent what may appear as a major reversal to those familiar with his earlier works. Even so, however, John Paul Hudson continued to be a steadfast gay civil rights advocate, remaining close to those who'd earlier appreciated him for his warmth and kindness. A younger friend, Paul Philippe, he called his "gay grandson." He divided his later years between his Manhattan apartment and a rural retirement home in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. "When Paul Philippe could not reach him by phone for two days," according to Joe Kennedy, his Gay Activists' Alliance (GAA) comrade-in-arms, "he asked a friend in John Paul's neighborhood to check on him and she discovered his body." John Paul had been an early member of the Gay Activists Alliance of New York, and was elected Delegate-at-Large early in the organization's history (a position meant to be the rank-and-file members' ombudsperson among the elected officers). Joe Kennedy recalled that it was Hudson who had "famously organized the GAA Reunions in June 1994 at Stonewall 25 and in December 1994 for the 25th anniversary of GAA's founding."
(left to right) 1999 Gay Pride: John Paul Hudson, Jack Nichols, historian
John Loughery and Randolfe Wicker
Joe Kennedy writes: "In his activist career, John Paul began as a director and librarian/archivist at the Mattachine Society in New York City when it was located on Christopher Street near the Stonewall. During the early years of his decade-long of involvement with GAA, he held visible leadership positions at the Christopher Street Liberation Day (CSLD) Committee, in the original LGBT Pride Committee, as the group that regularly organized New York's late June Sunday marches was known.
It had been, we all knew, an unforgettable era, a bold adventuresome time, a time of futurism, of confidence, and of revolution through free speech, flowers and herbs. Dear John Paul, now no longer a physical presence among us, remains vividly alive in my fondest reveries of those years. For me (and as a show business personality he'd appreciate this allusion) he was a godsend from central casting. |
John Paul Hudson wrote The Gay Insider in 1971, a gay male's guide to Manhattan 
John Paul Hudson, 1970, posed nude in GAY 
John Paul Hudson (left) and his good friend Vito Russo (author of The Celluloid Closet) posed as crossdressers at a 1972 New York
fund-raising event 
© 1997-2002 BEI