NEW YORK, NY—On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, 8-9 PM EST, OUT-FM will broadcast a one-hour tribute show to Black gay activist James Credle who died April 15, 2023, after suffering a pulmonary blood clot. He was 78 years old and lived in Newark, New Jersey with his husband, Pierre Dufresne, who survives him.

 The show, “Remembering Black Gay Activist James Credle, 1945-2023: In His Own Words” originates from WBAI 99.5FM in New York City. All OUT-FM shows stream both from wbai.org and outfm.org. A promotional video for the tribute show is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/NlYdhn7a-So.

James and Pierre were married on October 21, 2013, by US Senator Cory Booker once marriage equality was protected federally. James refused to do so before then even as marriage was legal in New Jersey. The show, “Remembering Black Gay Activist James Credle, 1945-2023: In His Own Word” originates from WBAI 99.5FM in New York City. It can be streamed from wbai.org and outfm.org.

Produced by Tony Glover, an OUT-FM founding producer, the hour-long Remembering Black Gay Activist James Credle tribute will feature four guests (see list below) plus audio and video clips from two sources: 1) a 1997 video interview by Dr. Amy Blondell, a cultural anthropologist focused on kinship born of political struggle and host; and 2) a more recent 2015 audio interview Candace Bradsher of the Queer Newark Oral History Project (QNOHP).

The show will feature Tony Glover interviewing four contemporaries of James who collaborated with him either Rutgers University, Men of All Colors Together, or the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. Host and guests are:

• DR. CHERYL CLARK, PhD — Author/Poet; Dean, Rutgers University (Ret.) Living as a Lesbian (1986), Humid  Pitch (1989), Experimental Love (1993), After Mecca — Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement (2005), Days of Good Looks: Prose and Poetry, 1980–2005 (2006); and My Precise Haircut (2016).

• ESQUIZITO — Jazz Musician • former Trainer/Health and HIV Prevention Educator, National Task Force on AIDS Prevention Recordings include: The Veil, Vol. 1 – Sentimental Journey, Vol. 3 – Something I Dreamed Last Night, and Vol. 4 – Come Rain, Come Shine. (Vol. 2 was lost in Katrina...). Upcoming Performance: June 4-25,
2023, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

• DR. DAVID HOUSEL, EdD — Director, CUNY Language Immersion Program • Chair, Curriculum Committee (Division of Adult and Continuing Education) LaGuardia Community College ESL; Adult Literacy; Author of "Reflections on Preservice Preparation and Professional Development among Instructors of Adult Emergent Bi/Multilingual Learners" (2021). CUNY Academic Works.

• MITCHELL KARP, JD — Partner, VallotKarp • formerly Lead Attorney, Law Enforcement Bureau, New York City Commission on Human Rights VallotKarp partners with organizations to develop sustainable diversity and inclusion initiatives that relate directly to the bottom line.

TONY GLOVER, MPH, MFA—Founding Producer & Co-host, OUT FM 20+ years as a public affairs radio and community newspaper freelance journalist. Essays published in LGNY: Lesbian & Gay New York, The City Sun, The Bay Area Reporter, Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS published by Other Countries: Black G/ay Men Wriring;. Managing Editor, Celebrating Diversity published by Men of All Colors Together/NY, Inc.

OUT-FM Biography: James Warren Credle

Born February 7, 1945, in Mesic, North Carolina, James Warren Credle was one of 14 children born during the time of Jim Crow. His mother was a dayworker and his father worked part-time as a carpenter. He attended segregated schools for 12 years before attending Rutgers University on scholarship where he captained its NCAA Division I basketball team. He served as a medic in the Vietnam War and was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery under fire. He later served 37 years at Rutgers University (retired). Black, gay, and a civil and human rights activist, James chaired or co-chaired several national and local LGBTQ gay and civil rights organizations He died April 15, 2023, after suffering a pulmonary blood clot. He was 78 years old and lived in Newark, New Jersey with his husband, Pierre Dufresne, who survives him.

Regarding James’ service as a Vietnam medic The Sun Journal newspaper of New Bern North Carolina reported:
Credle was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the brigade's 1st Infantry mobile aid station which was moving through dense jungle to aid a company from the battalion hit by the Viet Cong. Reaching the company's wounded, Spec. Credle began giving first aid under intense sniper fire. After attending several of the wounded, he received a serious leg wound. However, he continued to give assistance to the other injured troops and only when all had been treated did he allow himself to receive medical aid. Refusing a litter, he insisted on walking beside the litter patients to continue giving aid to the other wounded.

For 37 years, James served as Dean of Students at Rutgers University. Before becoming Dean, he started at Rutgers as a work study student in the school’s office of Veterans Affairs and later directed the office before being promoted to Dean. He also helped found the network of Centers in the United States created to help better diagnose and treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

African American and gay, James worked tirelessly for and amongst gay men of color as a co-chair of Men of All Colors Together New York (now defunct), a national co-Chair of the National Association of Black and White Men Together where helped co-found the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention (now defunct) which first national organization led by gay men of color to be funded by the Centers for Disease Control to provide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment advocacy services to African American, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American gay, bisexual and transgendered men.

A long-time resident of Newark, New Jersey, James provided crucial services that targeted underserved Black gay, bisexual transgender men with a major focus on Black queer youth. His work included innovative groundbreaking HIV/AIDS prevention and education interventions known as the Fire Balls of Newark. Tapping the creativity and energy of Black transgender, gay, and bisexual men who created alternatively families known as “Houses,” Newark’s “Fire Balls” attracted upward of 1,000 mostly Newark residents—typically Black gay, bisexual, and transgender men—who regularly attended these performance competitions, which served up vogue-style dancing purposed with HIV/AIDS prevention and safer sex messages.

James was a long-time member of ILGA: International Lesbian and Gay Association and challenged mainstream American communities to work on an intersectional human rights agenda not limited to marriage equality. As part of that focus, as a Board Member of Men of All Colors Together/New York and the
National Association of Black and White Men Together, James organized an international tour for anti- apartheid out gay activist Simon Nkoli who was imprisoned under apartheid as one of the leaders of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress. James was a critic those mainstream (and predominantly white) LGBTQ activists that pursued queer rights and marriage equality but did not broaden their approach to an intersectional approach necessary by BiPOC queer activist who embrace not only a queer identity, but identities based on race, class, gender, gender identity national origin, and disability, among others. He believed this approach excluded Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color for whom racism, economic disenfranchisement,  healthcare, housing, and helping youth survive were of equal importance.

James was a long-time supporter of ILGA: International Lesbian and Gay Association and challenged mainstream American communities to work on an intersectional human rights agenda not limited to marriage equality. As part of that focus, as a Board Member of Men of All Colors Together/New York and the National Association of Black and White Men Together, James organized an international tour for anti-apartheid out gay activist Simon Nkoli who was imprisoned under apartheid as one of the leaders of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress.

James critiqued mainstream white LGBTQ activists and organizations that pursued queer rights and marriage equality and did not broaden their view to include an intersectional approach often taken BiPOC queer activist organizations and leaders embracing not only a queer identity, but also identities based on race, class, gender, gender identity national origin, and disability, among others. He believed such a myopic approach excluded Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color for whom racism, economic disenfranchisement, healthcare, housing, and helping youth survive were of equal importance.

James is survived by his husband, Pierre Dufresne, and his brothers, sisters, and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great nephews, who loved him dearly.

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