VANGUARD REVISITED MAGAZINE (download PDF)

This magazine resuscitates the history of the 1960s Tenderloin youth organization Vanguard and explores the ways in which it is embodied in the present.

Program coordinators Joey Plaster and Pastor Megan Rohrer worked with a variety of homeless youth services organizations to present the history of Vanguard to today’s youth. We then asked youth to respond by submitting their own stories, art, and poetry “in conversation” with original 1960s essays, or touching on similar themes.

The result is Vanguard Revisited magazine, designed according to the expressed desires of young adults to “enlighten youth, celebrate the queer history of the Tenderloin, and create a voice for the unheard.”

  

Tenderloin youth protest police sweeps with a tongue-in-cheek "street sweep" protest. 1966.

Find additional information about the Vanguard Revisited project at our website and project blog.

Download PDF of 2011 "Vanguard Revisited" Magazine

Now considered the first gay liberation organization in the country, Vanguard was founded in 1966 by Tenderloin youth with the support of liberal ministers, and in the context of a battle for federal War on Poverty funds.

Vanguard protested police harassment, picketed discriminatory businesses, and held same-sex dances in church halls. They also produced a self-titled magazine from 1966-69 that featured themes of poverty and social stigma; drug use and sex work; isolation and loneliness; artistic expression; and faith and queer theology.

CLICK BELOW TO VIEW 1960s VANGUARD MAGAZINES:

Vanguard #1 (PDF), Vanguard #2 (PDF), Vanguard #4 (PDF), Vangaurd #5 (PDF), Vanguard #6 (PDF), Vanguard #7 (PDF), Vanguard #8 (PDF), Vanguard #9 (PDF), Vanguard #10 (PDF)