South Philadelphia! In its heyday it was the center of Italian life in Philadelphia. Italian parishes defined the boundaries for denizens of this part of South Philly. Italian groceries and restaurants – everything Italian was just up the street or around the corner. Festivals, Bocce Games, and the Italian Market make South Philly Unique. Neighborhoods were tightly knit villages. Each one different, bearing at least one distinguishing business, colorful character, or other distinctive feature.

The houses of South Philadelphia defined the term row home. Houses are set side by side in rows making privacy a dream and solitude a fantasy.  Mysterious alleyways sliced hidden pathways through neighborhoods and past backyards offering secret glimpses into the lives others lived. Too close for comfort or privacy. That was South Philly: teeming with children, daubed with a Victorian tint, but flavored oh so heavily with Italian spices, opera, Catholicism, and Southern Italian superstitions. It was into this atmosphere that Joe was born.

His Italian ancestry plays an important role in his life and writing. His essay, "Toccare il Fondo", in Hey Paesan, details the intersection of  Italian ethnicity and gayness. His detective, Grif Lupo, is an Italian, marked by the dark and steamy stew of Southern Italy. Lupo is also gay and often finds these aspects of his life on a collision course.

Catholic schools helped to shape Joe, happily not all the damage was permanent. What some would call Inquisition torture centers. His faith and spiritual sense, his notion of a loving God, and his sense of justice and right were seasoned by this religion and others.

The Boy Scouts, which Joe would not be allowed to join today, brought him many happy hours. He became an Eagle Scout with one palm, a member of the Order of the Arrow (a secret organization within the Scouts dedicated to selfless service ), and won a number of medals.

There were many heartthrobs in the Boy Scouts - from the older boys who were the veterans of the Troop, whose beauty he has never forgotten, to those guys who joined along with him, one of whom was the biggest heartbreaker of his adolescent life. All of it remains locked in his heart and waiting for the memoir.

Though he was willing to attend a secular university, his parents claimed they wouldn't pay for a non-Catholic education (though he suspects they would have paid for whatever school he would have chosen). So, it was on to a Jesuit school where he followed a rigorous course of study having two majors and two minors. From there, he decided to teach (the summers off were too appealing to consider other kinds of work).

In the meantime, Joe was able to come out and celebrate his homosexuality, which he knew was there from the age of six but was never fully free to express until his university years. Then, however, he barreled out of the closet, breaking down the doors and using them for kindling.

He worked in the gay movement in Philadelphia, joining the successful fight for a gay rights bill, starting a number of organizations, helping to found (his name is on the original incorporation papers) the gay community center, which is firmly established in the middle of Philadelphia's gayborhood.

He worked on and became Editor-in-Chief of the Weekly Gayzette founded by Tom Wilson-Wineberg. Later Joe founded the magazine New Gay Life which had a run of about two years and was sold across the country. But, as with all largely volunteer efforts, when the volunteers burn out, the activity either finds funding or fades away. New Gay Life faded away, a happy memory for everyone familiar with it. (Images: Three issues of the well-received New Gay Life which had a national readership.)

Early on, while on the barricades of the gay movement's push for equality, he met and settled down with his now late partner, William R.F. Phillips. They didn't know that homosexual relationships were not supposed to last, that homosexual love was purported to be inferior, that they were battling tremendous odds when they pledged themselves to each other.   They just forged ahead.

Their relationship was what every relationship should be - a meeting of the minds, a partnership in which each person grows while they also grow together. They lived through an exciting period in gay history, made contributions to that history, then settled into their own careers. Phillips, a noted sociologist, made his mark in that field, publishing in a variety of journals, editing books, and authoring an important textbook. The area closest to Bill's heart was urban sociology.

Their relationship was composed of the same arguments, loving moments, parties, anniversaries, and special events as any other relationship. They laughed and cried together. They loved the same things and loved different things. Their families got to know one another, shared some holidays together, were proud of their sons in equal measure and accepted each other's son into their respective families. It was by all measures an ideal situation. Fortune favored them in many ways. DeMarco had every reason to believe that this fairy tale existence would go on forever, that they would face each other from separate rockers on some balcony in some condo they would buy.

But it was not to be.. in 1999, William was diagnosed with ALS also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. This was no Tuesdays With Morrie experience. ALS is, perhaps, the single worst disease a person can contract. It robs the person of physical faculties while leaving the mind intact. In effect, the person slowly sees himself becoming locked into his own body, trapped and with no hope of escape except death. The next worst thing is watching someone you love slowly sink into this state. Despite the ravages of the disease, William learned how to use a computer, mastered web authoring programs and more. In the last few months of his life, his strength ebbing away, he created a wonderful online urban sociology course.

On March 11, 2000, William passed away. It was a quiet passing in the arms of his partner and in the presence of his brother and two friends. And in that moment, the world changed for Joe. Became lonely, foreign, and harsh. Life never seemed so cruel and random. Wanting to live was something he had to decide to do, to find a reason to do. Gradually, over many months and with the help of a most intelligent and understanding grief therapist, Michele Hyman, Joe regained his will to live, found some purpose for his life, and reentered the world. Joe still lives in the house they purchased together in Philadelphia's downtown, near what is sometimes termed the Champs Elysée of Philadelphia -- The Parkway.

Joe is as dedicated as ever to urban living; the sounds of traffic, the laughter of people in the night, sirens wailing, and the excitement of nearly constant activity make life worth living in the city. While solitude is important for any writer, Joe thrives on the city's hurly-burly, the whoosh of cars in the night, the rumble of subway trains, and soaring buildings which stretch across the horizon.

In 2001 he decided to live part of the time in the city of Montréal after having visited numerous times and falling in love with the place, the people, and the culture. He now divides his time between Philadelphia and Montréal. His home there is in the middle of the vibrant and growing gay village centered around rue Ste. Catherine.

Living alone since the death of his partner has been a new experience for him. Because he was so young when they began living together, he had never lived on his own. He finds it strange, fascinating, often lonely and like having " been dropped onto a planet not my own. Having had a wonderful relationship, he knows that a relationship is what he wants again.

A hopeless romantic, Joe, never gives up and so looks for those with whom he can share his heart. One person, in particular, appeared just at the time they both needed someone to hold onto. They bolster one another, and have created a safe haven for each other while they face the world after both having moved through tragedy and disappointment.

This is a deep and most crucial friendship which is teaching Joe to share himself again. Eric is a person who possesses sweetness, exuberant joyfulness, and a capacity to share love and friendship. Eric is more than a friend, more than a companion, and has a special place in Joe's heart.

More than anything else in his life so far, Joe has wanted to have a career in writing. And over the years he has worked on any number of projects in a variety of areas. He has written for The Advocate, The Philadelphia Gay News (PGN), The New York Native, Gaysweek, Gay Community News, and others. He worked for a while as a contributing editor for Il Don Gennaro, a national Italian-American magazine.

He has published hundreds of feature articles, reviews, and news stories in these and other publications. His feature articles have included topics on diverse subjects including: teen suicide, drug abuse in the gay community, gay culture, the tribulations of Italian-American gays and lesbians, and a major series on gay sensibility.

His work has received awards and has been anthologized. His article "Gay Racism" which originally appeared in the Philadelphia Gay News in 1983 won the Gay Press Association's award for best feature article/excellence in feature writing and has been anthologized three times: Black Men, White Men (Gay Sunshine, 1984), Men's Lives (Macmillan, 1989), We Are Everywhere (Routledge, 1997).

His anthologized stories include: "Enthralled" in Quickies (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998), and "Adventurous Italian" in Men Seeking Men (Painted Leaf Press, 1998), "Arriverderci" in Quickies2 (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2000), “Model Behavior”  Quickies 3 (2003)

A few of his essays have been anthologized and include: "The Care and Feeding of a Friendship Network" in Gay Life (Doubleday, 1986), and "Toccare Il Fondo" in Hey Paesan! (Guernica, 2000)

Joe also loves the theater and as a result spent time writing plays, some of which have been produced in Philadelphia, New York, and other places around the country. His play Weight Room was a winner in Philadelphia's Theater Center's one act play festival, and was produced in 1983. You Betcha, a play which he has turned into a young adult novel, was the winner of The Drama Festival competition at the Allentown Cultural Center, 1984 and also had a production at Lansdowne Cultural Alliance, 1984. Louie's Shadow, a play for which he has a sentimental attachment, was the winner of The Drama Festival competition at Allentown Cultural Center, 1985 and received a staged reading also at PlayWorks (in Philadelphia) in 1994.

Pinto and Napoleon (now Second Sight) which was produced at Studio R in New York in 1983 and at Eastern Michigan University Theater Lab in 1984 has special meaning for him and he still has hopes for rewriting this work and getting it another, better production which will do it justice. Ficus Darling, which he had a load of fun doing was produced by PlayWorks at the Painted Bride Arts Center in 1985; this is another play which he has begun to turn into a novel feeling that the possibilities and ideas in it can be more fully explored in that way. Mimi ,( a play loosely based on his experiences as a teacher in the Philadelphia public schools), was produced by PlayWorks at the Art Alliance of Philadelphia in 1987.

Some of his work is academic and scholarly. As a librarian, one of his research focus points is young adult literature which he studied at Columbia University.  He has published articles analyzing young adult vampire literature and adolescent development. His research has been presented or published in several places, including: "Vampire Literature: Something Young Adults Can Really Sink Their Teeth Into" EL (Emergency Librarian), v24 n5, May/June1997  "Vampires and Young Adults: Perfect Together?" Kliatt, v32 n 1, January 1998

One of his current projects, which is nearing completion, is A Dream To Take Home: The True Stories of Male Strippers. He worked for several years interviewing more than 160 dancers in six cities. The result is data enough for more than one book. He has presented a paper based on this research, "The Language of Power in the Gay Strip Club" at the Lavender Languages and Linguistics VI conference at American University in Washington, DC in September, 1998.

As a result of his research, his articles on Homosexuality and on Male Strippers appear in the Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinity published by ABC-CLIO and edited by Michael Kimmel.  Most recently a portion of his research appeared as an article called "Stripper's World" featured in the March-April 2002 issue of The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide. A new article based on this research will appear in a special edition of the Journal of Homosexuality.

Of course, Joe's greatest love is fiction and mysteries, time travel, vampires and werewolves inhabit some of his favorite fiction. Above all, a gay sensibility and gay characters imbue his work. His mystery series featuring P.I. Grif Lupo is a major project of his. The detective has been living in his mind for quite some time. After going through a number of changes, Grif Lupo emerged and took center stage in Joe's mystery writing. Lupo and the series will be introduced in the collection of novellas Mr. Dead Leather & Other Mysteries. In addition, the first of the Lupo series is being written. Stay Tuned.

In 2004 an opportunity arose to take over the reins at Mysterical-E, an online lilterary mystery journal which had been in existence for seven year. The first issue under his direction appeared in March 2005 and was an unqualified success. In January 2006, DeMarco won the award for "Best Magazine Editor" in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2005 for his efforst as Editor-in-Chief at Mysterical-E