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The Downtown Native is a newspaper appearing in the eleventh installment, AHS: NYC. It's primarily associated with reporter Gino Barelli, whose goal is to highlight issues faced by the gay community.

History[]

Gino Barelli wrote articles covering the recent 30% spike in hate crime against the gay community. A trio of lesbian women led by Fran voiced their dissatisfaction with how the paper seemed to focus only on gay men. Gino retorted that being a gay man himself he writes about what he knows. [1] Eventually Fran and her friends Lita and KK got a shared desk from which they can voice issues faced by women. [1]

Gino also collaborated with Adam Carpenter, a young man who wanted to expose the indifference of the NYPD about the disappearance of his friend, John Sullivan, and in general about crimes against the LGBTQ community.[2]

The investigations of Gino, Fran and Adam led the three reporters on intersecting trails. A mysterious virus that affected the gay community without the government or authorities caring as well as a serial killer on the loose who offers his victims a Mai Tai before wiping them off the face of the earth. Fran pursued her conspiracy lead with Dr Hannah Wells, whose research into the virus led the former to believe into the US government involvement into bioweapons and experiments on humans such as Operation Paperclip and the recruitment of Nazi scientist after World War II. [3] Meanwhile, Gino followed the lead of the Mai Tai Killer together with his life partner, Detective Patrick Read and his mentee, Adam Carpenter. [4]

Articles appearing in the Native attracted the attention of mobsters who wanted to keep the status quo and defamatory law enforcement articles were deemed bad for business. For this reason, Angelo DeMarco hired hitman Velvet Touch to get rid of Barelli and Read. [5] However, the hitman had a different agenda and ended up in the clutches of the Mai Tai Killer himself. The relentless work of Barelli, Read and Carpenter resulted in the capture of Mr Whitely. Detective Read talked openly about the homophobia and disregard of NYPD Precinct 6, from which he resigned, in an article that made the front page.[6]

The Downton Native continued to be an enquiring newspaper with a non-conformist and provocative slant, exposing corruption and civic insensitivity. When the mysterious virus was identified as HIV/AIDS, the Native spread healthcare information despite the fact that most of the staff succumbed to complications from the disease.[7]

Articles[]

ABDUCTED BY THE MAI TAI KILLER

Gino Barelli reads a draft of this article to Adam Carpenter. The article purpotedly includes data Gino provided Adam, namely tracking a 30% increase in violence against gay men in the last two years. 17 beatings and bashings in the last three weeks in the Village alone.

"Do you know what it feels like to have hot needles hammered into your nail beds? It feels like an injection of flame, an incineration of every nerve in your body, shooting inward from your fingertips. I was abducted last night. Someone drսg me, tied me up, tortured me, held a blade to my heart. I was held captive for hours. I don't know who did this to me, but I am certain that our boys in blue know that a killer is preying on and butchering gay men in lower Manhattan. For God knows what reason, I was spared. I was saved by better angels when I was sure no one would come. I survived. Who will be next?" [2]

UNKNOWN TITLES FOR MYSTERIOUS VIRUS ARTICLES

Fran penned at least an article in which she interviewed Dr Hannah Wells about the viral outbreak on Fire Island and possible contagion in patients in New York City. The articles detailed biological warfare with symptoms such as affecting platelets and T cells. [6] One of them was supposed to appear on the front page of the Pride issue, but was removed to give space to a follow-up on the Mai Tai Killer's legacy.[8]

MAI TAI KILLER DEAD – HERO GAY COP TELLS ALL

Detective Mulcahey reads an excerpt from the article detailing the investigation resulted in the capture of Whitely, in which Patrick described the NYPD as a "department that treats gays like they don't exist, or worse, that they shouldn't exist." [6]

GAY PRIDE

Following the death of the Mai Tai Killer and information on his motivations – a Sentinel to watch over the gay community stitched from parts recovered from his victims – Gino wrote an article for the 1981 Pride Parade. The article was read in a voiceover by Joe Mantello ("Gino Barelli") as a montage was played for viewers.

Pride. What does the word mean in the face of so much death? Pride is a construct, something we summon to unite us when we feel tired and weak. Pride takes work, but death comes easily. Death is an old friend, someone every gay person has known their whole lives. As we walk the streets, in our jobs, and in our homes, we have seen how quickly the world's hatred towards us can escalate to violence. In a glance or in a kiss, death is always lurking around the corner. Some of us drown out death's low roar with sеx, some drown it out with drսg or food or work. But no matter our vices, when that low roar grows to a rattle, and when that rattle ruptures, we can no longer ignore the seismic terror of our daily dance with death. Something is coming, something evil on the horizon. Yes, the Mai Thai Killer was a sick man. But was there some ounce of virtue in his impulse to build a Sentinel, to protect the very people he hurt? Was this his Pride? For those of us on the outskirts―the unseen, the abused, the demeaned, and the impoverished... The terror of our mortality leads us to destruction. We lash out, we hurt ourselves, and those who love us. We lie, we steal, and if we are driven to it, we kill. Who am I to judge those who have gone down this path? Aren't their impulses the same as mine? Isn't their rage justified? Did they simply choose death because it was closer than Pride could ever be? The hypocrisy is untenable. Homosexuals must be treated like criminals. What if we found value in our trauma? Listened to it, rather than ignored it? Could the force of our collective anger actually become our savior? As I laid bound to the table of the killer, looking death in the eye, I didn't see evil. I saw suffering created by the world who gave a man no other choice but to destroy. Imagine if we enlisted our gay rage as our Sentinel. If, rather than sinking into the abyss of our despair, or painting over our wounds with Pride, we used anger as our compass. Where would it lead us? What could it do for us? I saw a man who become a monster because it's who the world expected him to be. It's time we acknowledge that this monster has been implanted in all of us. And the only way to release him is to release society's expectations of who and what we should be. This is our freedom. This is our way out. This is our Pride. This is our Sentinel. [6]

ARTICLE ON HIV CRISIS

A a tape recording from Dr Wells listened by Adam detailed her research. He later turned it into an article. What follows is a transcription of her recordings.

June 2, 1981. More tests came back today. The deer on Fire Island are not the origin. It makes me wonder if this Fran woman is on to something. Did all this begin with a lab leak? I was able to confirm that some of what she said about the government experiments on Plum Island is true. But weaponized ticks? It feels absurd even entertaining this possibility. But many of the rashes and fevers in my patients match a cluster of cases in Lyme, Connecticut. And now Rocky Mountain Labs wants us to send them tick samples from all over Long Island. They suspect that deer ticks are the actual carriers of this, quote, "Lyme Disease." But what about my gay patients with these changes in immune function? Similar reports of rashes and fever shortly after trips to Fire Island. From weaponized ticks? It doesn't seem right. Simplistic. Far-fetched. What's more likely is that I'm observing the effects of an entirely new pathogen. It was bound to happen. It could have come from anywhere. Wherever it came from, I'm having trouble getting my work any serious attention. The neglect faced by this community is criminal. Surely others have noticed something by now. I have to make more noise. [7]

Notes[]

  • Arguing with Captain Marzara in "The Sentinel", Patrick listed the following cold cases: A poor teenage boy who was beat half to death in the Bronx; A couple who were kissing in public and got pelted with bricks in the street; Assholes who turned up with baseball bats to a private party and smashed the place up, and the arson at the Ascension Club. It can be inferred they are some of the unsolved cases mentioned throughout the season by Gino and Adam.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Episode: Something's Coming
  2. 2.0 2.1 Episode: Thank You For Your Service
  3. Episode: Smoke Signals
  4. Episode: Black Out
  5. Episode: The Body
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Episode: The Sentinel
  7. 7.0 7.1 Episode: Requiem 1981 & 1987
  8. Episode: Fire Island
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