Memorial pays tribute to gay militant, Sebastian Pernice

The New York branch of Workers World Party held a memorial June 12 for Sebastian Pernice, a 1969 Stonewall Rebellion participant and Party member who passed away on Feb. 1 at the age of 61 from lung cancer.

Many of the speakers spoke of Pernice’s fierce dedication to the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer equality and for the liberation of all working and oppressed peoples. Besides the various speakers who paid tribute to Pernice, there were also cultural performances.

A video showed Pernice speaking at a 2009 WWP forum marking the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Pernice shared his remembrances of that four-day rebellion, when mostly young transgender people of color heroically fought back against bigoted police repression at the Stonewall Inn in the Village area of Manhattan, N.Y.

Although Pernice walked with a cane due to a hip replacement, any pain or discomfort that he may have felt didn’t prohibit him from joining picket lines and rallies. Before he became bedridden, Pernice could be found every Thursday helping to organize the WW paper shipments to the branches.

Born in Sicily, Pernice was a working-class chef whose cooking brought great joy to the staff and volunteers at the Solidarity Center.

The memorial was chaired by long-time lesbian activist and WWP national committee member Marsha Goldberg and featured opening remarks by Pernice’s life-partner, Tim Sutton, both pictured here. The memorial ended with the singing of the Communist song “The International” and with a chant of “Sebastian Pernice, ¡presente!”