Horace, Lower West Side, New York, 1982.

He/him

Born Horace Elijah Leatherwood in Birmingham AL, at the age of 14 he absconded from his adoptive parents and made his way to New York City.

Confidently checking into a former US naval hotel, he politely informed staff due to an unforeseen problem aboard the Queen Mary, his mother would not be arriving for another week. When staff finally realised Mrs Leatherwood was not coming, Horace had endeared himself in their hearts and they allowed him a cabin room in return for pot washing labor.

“These streets are our beach” declared Horace, paraphrasing the Paris situationists. A prominent activist in the late 1970s and 1980s, his singular life story was told in the autobiography Village of the Dammed: Diary of a 14th Street Queer (1997, Harpenden and Sargent).

The St Janus Hotel made Horace an honourary resident where he still lives to this day, reading extracts from his book to audiences, all of whom leave entertained and appreciative of the hard-won public rights which he helped to fight for.