For Immediate Release
March 28, 2007

Contact: Don Romesburg, 415.850.8580

OPENING BASH FOR LESBIAN BAR HISTORY SHOW
“Every Night Is Ladies Night: Lesbian Bar Culture Since the ’60s”
Exhibit at the Lexington Club
Evening to Benefit GLBT Historical Society

SAN FRANCISCO —On Friday, April 20, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the GLBT Historical Society invites you to the Lexington Club for the opening of “Every Night Is Ladies Night: Lesbian Bar Culture Since the ’60s.” This exciting new exhibit draws from photos, fliers, and other materials in our internationally known archives. Proceeds from the evening’s drink sales will benefit the Historical Society. There also will be a raffle for amazing vintage queer goodies, including women movement t-shirts from the early 1980s.

“Every Night Is Ladies Night” pays homage to the lesbian women who gathered together and fought for the rights and liberties we enjoy today. It focuses primarily on lesbian bar culture from the 1960s to the present, with an emphasis on the Bay Area. It is fitting that the installation will be at the Lexington Club, highlighting the importance of the Lexington as San Francisco ’s last exclusively lesbian-owned and operated bar, “where every night is ladies night.” The exhibit will run April 20 through May 20.

“This exhibit invokes the past to ask what the future holds for lesbian space and, ultimately, lesbian identity,” said curator Nicole Weinstein. “Perhaps this makes sense, as we have entered the era of a more vague yet dynamic queer-identified culture. What was once a space for ‘women who love women’ has resurfaced as a space for the sex/gender warriors who continuously challenge previous notions of identity.”

Weinstein is a teacher, student, historian, activist and staff photographer for NoFauxxx.com. She is committed to linking the queer past to contemporary queer identity. Through her GLBT Historical Society internship, she began a passionate affair with queer history—“Every Night Is Ladies Night” is the first offspring of that affair.

Funds raised from the event will benefit an upcoming exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society galleries, “Women Breaking Barriers: Women’s Music from 1964 to 1984.” This show will focus on women’s music through a display of album covers, concert posters and photos from the early ’60s to the early ’80s, exploring how the graphic arts reflected the ideological and cultural values of a rapidly evolving subculture.

WHAT: Exhibit opening for “Every Night Is Ladies Night: Lesbian Bar Culture Since the ‘60s.” Benefit for the GLBT Historical Society. Free and all are welcome.

WHEN:  Friday, April 20, 2007, 7-9 p.m.

WHERE: The Lexington Club, 3464 19th St. near Valencia in San Francisco.

The mission of the GLBT Historical Society is to increase public understanding, appreciation, and affirmation of the history and culture of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other sexual minority individuals and communities. For more information, call 415.777.5455 or visit www.glbthistory.org.