LOCATION

The Roxie Theater
3117 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

ADMISSION

$15 admission; Discounted $7 tickets for GLBT Historical Society Members

RSVP and reserve tickets here

Co-presented by The Roxie Theater and Bay Area Lesbian Archives (BALA).

In Celebration of Lesbian Visibility Week

Join the GLBT Historical Society in partnership with The Roxie Theater and Bay Area Lesbian Archives for a screening of the documentary, “Sally!”, followed by a post-show discussion on the importance of archiving lesbian lives, triumphs, and activism.

“Sally!” the feature documentary begins with Sally Gearhart at the height of her powers in the 1970s. She was one of second-wave feminism’s most beloved icons, penned a cult classic fantasy novel about a female utopia and fought one of history’s greatest battles for queer rights shoulder-to-shoulder with Harvey Milk. But fast forward to 2008 and Sally has been largely forgotten by history—not to mention erased from the Hollywood film “Milk.” Yet rather than simply resurrecting her legacy and glorifying one woman’s story, “Sally!” now takes a more collectivist turn. The film traces Sally’s life trajectory through the eyes of the exceptional women who fought for justice by her side, revealing that Sally not only instigated the political movements that made her famous but was also deeply shaped by them. Finally, when we revisit Sally in 2014, she is living alone on Women’s Land, without the community she helped create. What happened and what will become of her legacy?

Courtesy of Women Make Movies

SPEAKERS

Deborah Craig (she/her) is an award-winning documentary director and producer whose films use compelling personal stories to raise awareness about the challenges and strengths of underrepresented communities. Her work has played at LGBTQ+, women’s and documentary film festivals in the U.S. and internationally. Deborah’s most recent short, “A Great Ride,” a 33-minute documentary about lesbians and aging, premiered at the Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Festival in San Francisco in 2018, was picked up for distribution by Frameline, has screened at over 50 film festivals around the globe, and has won multiple awards. “Sally” will be her first feature-length documentary. Deborah has a BA in history from Columbia University, did undergraduate work in photography at California College of the Arts, and has a Master of Public Health from San Francisco State University, where she currently teaches in the Public Health Department.

Ruth Mahaney (she/her) moved to San Francisco in 1971, when she was 26 years old and had just come out as a lesbian. She taught women’s studies at Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma State University, San Francisco State University (SFSU) and now teaches LGBTQ American History at the City College of San Francisco. Mahaney was a member of the collective that ran Modern Times Bookstore for 35 years, and served on the board of directors of the GLBT Historical Society for 20 years. She was a colleague of Sally Gearhart’s at SFSU, and both were part of a group called the Lesbian Caucus which formed after the 1978 assassination of Harvey Milk to lobby the city to promote lesbian rights. Other members included Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Pat Norman, Roma Guy and Donna Hitchens.

Ondine Rarey (she/her) is a filmmaker, editor, and writer. Her documentary “Fools and Heroes” was a Grimme-Preis nominee (the German equivalent of an Emmy), airing on ARTE in France as well as stateside on PBS. She has edited well over a dozen documentary features and shorts, including “Now en Español” (for PBS), “A Great Ride,” “Who Will Write Our History” and, “Rebel Hearts,” an official selection at Sundance 2021. She has edited on multiple TV series, including “Keeping up with the Kardashians” and “Alien Encounters.” Ondine received a BA from UC Berkeley in History and a BFA in Documentary and Journalism from the Munich University for Television and Film in Germany. She currently resides in Southern California, where she teaches Documentary Editing at Chapman University.

M Tillotson (any pronouns) is a community archivist and historian, activist, carpenter, and angry working-class butch dyke. M organizes intergenerational community spaces and events with the Bay Area Lesbian Archives, where she helps transform archiving into a relational practice—one that centers queer joy and the slow labor of collective memory. A strong believer in direct action, M is currently facing state repression—alongside other dykes and trans folks—for her anti-Zionist activism. 

Location

The Roxie Theater (Big Roxie), 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Admission

Admission is $7 for GLBT Historical Society members and $15 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased on The Roxie Theater’s website. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

Step Back in Time to the Glittering Era of Disco!

Get ready to party like it’s Studio 54 at this disco-themed party at The Academy SF!

This unforgettable night will feature a Best-Dressed disco costume contest, and a celebration of the legendary Sylvester, the Queen of Disco.

In honor of Sylvester’s iconic legacy, the event will showcase special archival material provided by the GLBT Historical Society, offering a rare glimpse into the life and artistry of this trailblazing performer. Relive the magic of March 11, 1979, when Mayor Dianne Feinstein declared “Sylvester Day”in San Francisco, commemorating his groundbreaking performance at the War Memorial Opera House—a night that elevated disco to the city’s most hallowed halls of art and culture.  

Register here today!

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10 admission; Free for members

RSVP and reserve tickets here

Join renowned photographer and artist Mariette Pathy Allen inconversation with Ms. Bob Davis and Jesse Egner as they discuss Mariette's latest book, I Was The Girl: Art by Vicky West, published by MATTE Editions.

For nearly five decades, Mariette Pathy Allen has captured the lives and stories of gender-non-conforming communities through herlens. Mariette’s newest book, co-edited by Jesse Egner, preserves and honors the legacy of Vicky West, a groundbreaking transgender illustrator and artist. Vicky co-founded Drag Magazine in 1971, a pioneering publication that celebrated trans and drag culture while advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility. Vicky served as art director of Drag Magazine from its inception in 1971 until its final issue in 1983. In addition to her work with Drag Magazine, Vicky, known as Dirk in her male identity, had a distinguished career as an executive art director at Abrams Books until her retirement in 2000.

This book features 64 of Vicky’s original illustrations, including some of her iconic Drag Magazine covers, exploring themes of beauty, femininity, fashion, fantasy, and desire, often with playful naughtiness and wry humor. In addition to these illustrations, the book includes 18 intimate photographs of Vicky taken by Mariette, as well as written contributions, including an essay by Ms. Bob Davis, that explore Vicky's experiences, cultural context, and artistic process.

Copies of I Was The Girl: Art by Vicky West will be available for purchase and author signing at the event.

SPEAKERS

Mariette Pathy Allen (she/her/hers) has been photographing transgender communities for nearly five decades, pioneering visibility through five books: Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them (1989), The Gender Frontier (2004), TransCuba (2014), Transcendents: Spirit Mediums in Burma and Thailand (2017), and I Was The Girl: Art by Vicky West (2024). Her work is in numerous major collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the National Gallery of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and others. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and is being archived by Duke University. Beyond gender, Allen has a number of series exploring family, birth, juxtapositions, fantasy, and everyday life. Allen lives in NYC and is represented by CLAMP.

Ms. Bob Davis (she/her/hers) is the founder and director of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo, CA. She served two terms on the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors. She presented a talk, “Glamour, Drag and Death: How Two Community Archives Preserve Art from the Era of HIV/AIDS,” at the Archives, Museums and Special Collections (AMLS) Queering Memory conference in Berlin in June 2019. An article based on the talk will be included in the “Trans and HIV/AIDS” issue of Transgender Studies Quarterly (Duke University Press). Ms. Bob teaches music at Napa Valley College and City College of San Francisco.

Jesse Egner (he/they) is a queer artist and educator currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Often taking the form of playful and absurd portraiture, his work explores themes such as queerness, body image, collaboration, and humor. He received his BA from Millersville University and his MFA from Parsons School of Design. His work has been exhibited and published globally and is included in the permanent collection at the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. He is a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship recipient and has participated in residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute, Bunnell Street Arts Center, Studio Vortex, Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, and the TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image. 

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10 admission; Free for members

RSVP and reserve tickets here

In 1889, a 23 year old queer Italian wrote to celebrated French novelist Émile Zola about his desires, his loves and his hesitations regarding his gender identity. The young man bares his soul and hopes the novelist will create a character in his image.

Zola instead passed the autobiography along to a medical doctor, who published parts of the text. The beautifully written coming-of-age tale is a rare first-person testimony documenting how queer men cruised in an era before apps, reveals what they did once they “matched” and demonstrates that love between men indeed existed at that time.

Antwerp-based historian Michael Rosenfeld's new book offers a translation of the unexpurgated original autobiography and a historical discussion of its sources and context: The Italian Invert: A Gay Man's Intimate Confession to Emile Zola (Columbia University Press).

Join us at the GLBT Historical Society Museum on Thursday, January 16, 2025, for a look into the life of the "Italian invert," Rosenfeld's archival research and the enduring significance of 19th-century queer life and culture. Rosenfeld will offer an overview of the book and will take part in a conversation with historian Gerard Koskovich.

Copies of The Italian Invert: A Gay Man’s Intimate Confession to Emile Zola will be available for purchase and author signing at the event.

SPEAKERS

Michael Rosenfeld (he/him) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Flanders Research Foundation in Belgium and works on collaborations between queer intellectuals in France, Belgium and the Netherlands between 1885 and 1910. The Italian Invert: A Gay Man’s Intimate Confessions to Émile Zola, published by Columbia University Press in 2022 is a translation from the French book (2017); it has also been translated into Spanish (2023). Michael Rosenfeld has published many articles in academic journals on Francophone literature and on queer history.

MODERATOR: Gerard Koskovich (he/him) is a public historian and rare book dealer who divides his time between San Francisco and Paris. He contributes frequently to popular and scholarly media, has presented and published widely in English and French, and has curated numerous exhibitions on LGBTQ history. He is a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society.

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10 admission, free for members.

RSVP and reserve tickets here

The GLBT Historical Society is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2024 by presenting Red Reminds Me…, a program of seven videos reflecting the emotional spectrum of living with HIV today. 

Red Reminds Me… will feature newly commissioned videos by Gian Cruz (Philippines), Milko Delgado (Panama), Imani Harrington (USA), David Oscar Harvey (USA), Mariana Iacono and Juan De La Mar (Argentina/Colombia), Nixie (Belgium), Vasilios Papapitsios (USA).

Through the red ribbon and other visuals, HIV and AIDS has been long associated with the color red and its connotations—blood, pain, tragedy, and anger. Red Reminds Me… invites viewers to consider a complex range of images and feelings surrounding HIV, from eroticism and intimacy, mothering and kinship, luck and chance, memory and haunting. The commissioned artists deploy parody, melodrama, theater, irony, and horror to build a new vocabulary for representing HIV today.

The title is drawn from the words of Stacy Jennings, an activist, poet, and long-term survivor with HIV, who writes: “Red reminds me, red reminds me, red reminds me…to be free.”* Linking “red” to freedom, Jennings flips the usual connotations of the color and offers a new way of thinking about the complexity of living with HIV. Just as a prism bends and refracts light, Red Reminds Me…, expands the emotional spectrum of living with HIV. It shows us that while grief, tragedy, and anger define parts of the epidemic, the full picture contains deeper, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory feelings.

Following the screening will be a panel discussion and talkback in response to the films, featuring local San Francisco professionals, activists, and artists working around HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and community resource building.

Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

*Jennings recites this poem in the video Here We Are: Voices of Black Women Who Live with HIV, created by Davina “Dee” Conner and Karin Hayes for Day With(out) Art 2022: Being and Belonging.

Watch the program trailer below:

Video SynopseS

Gian Cruz, Dear Kwong Chi
In Dear Kwong Chi, Cruz creates a video letter to the late artist Tseng Kwong Chi, drawing from the experience of living with HIV in diaspora. Across continents and decades, Kwong Chi’s legacy acts as an anchor for Cruz amongst limited representations of Asian narratives in AIDS histories.

Milko Delgado, El Club del SIDA
Taking its title from a sensational telenovela episode, El Club del SIDA cycles through a lifetime of heavily stigmatizing images about HIV and AIDS. Delgado plays with multiple aesthetics—documentary, horror, comedy—to explore the various relationships he has had with AIDS over the course of his life. 

Imani Harrington, Realms Remix
Through a collage of poetry and archival images, Realms Remix traces memories and sensations of an AIDS past that continue to haunt the present.

David Oscar Harvey, Ambivalence: On HIV & Luck
Ambivalence: On HIV & Luck tackles the disorienting experience of existing with a manageable condition that our present culture insists on representing in terms of its bleak past. Interested in figuring HIV differently, the film presents a series of visual puns merging the iconography of HIV and AIDS with popular symbols of luck. 

Mariana Iacono and Juan De La Mar, El VIH se enamoró de mi (HIV Fell in Love With Me)
HIV Fell in Love With Me tells the story of a woman with HIV embracing her sexuality and reconnecting with her pleasure. Filmed with an erotic aesthetic, the video reflects a pursuit towards sexual justice and autonomy for women living with HIV.

Nixie, it’s giving
Through home videos, archival footage and textile landscapes, it’s giving explores various forms of family across time. The artist's domestic life is paired with archival video of queer and trans chosen families mirroring small acts of joy, resistance, and sustenance. What does it mean for an HIV+ person, who carries the history and present of the AIDS-crisis in their DNA, to foster new life?

Vasilios Papapitsios, LUCID NIGHTMARE
Papapitsios describes LUCID NIGHTMARE as a “meditation on how we can(not) heal in the environments that make us sick, from the perspective of an infected neurodivergent faggot.” Combining auto-fiction with magical realism, Papapitsios humorously reimagines narratives around mental health and chronic illness.

SPEAKERS

Vince Crisostomo (he/him) is a gay Chamorro (Pacific Islander) who has been living with HIV for more than three decades. He believes in the power of community and is passionate about bringing healthcare and social justice equity to people of every sexual identity, HIV status, gender, race and age. Over his 30-year career, Mr Crisostomo has worked in the US and Asia Pacific region as an HIV educator and executive director for community-based organizations, including the Coral Life Foundation and 7 Sisters. From 2009 to 2010, he served as the UNAIDS Asia Pacific NGO delegate, and more recently, as Co-Chair of the HIV and Aging Work Group of San Francisco’s Long-Term Care Coordinating Council. In 2019, Mr Crisostomo was honored as a Community Grand Marshal for the SF Pride Parade and Celebration. He is currently the Director of Aging Services at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. In 2024, the National AIDS Memorial Grove recognized Vince with the Thom Weyand Unsung Hero Award in recognition of his decades of advocacy.

Lance Dwyer(he/him) has worked in HIV prevention, care, and general direct services for 16 years. Lance first started as a peer leader for a HIV prevention youth group known as AQU25A at San Francisco Community Health Center (known then as A&PI Wellness Center). After leaving the organization in 2010 to earn his master's in social welfare from UC Berkeley, he returned in 2016 as a full-time therapist. His role within the agency has evolved over the past 8 years to be clinical supervisor, workforce transformation manager, associate director of mental health services, and now in his current role as associate director of organizational learning. Lance continues to hold a small case load of therapy clients as well as provide support for the Joy Luck Club, SFCHC’s cherished 34-year old institution serving A&PI’s living with HIV.  

Derrick Mapp (he/him) has been with the Shanti L.I.F.E. Program in San Francisco since 2000, initially as a program volunteer, as an emotional health support counselor and group facilitator, and since 2018 as senior services care navigator. From the late 1980s, he has been a direct service provider in the mental health/substance use and harm reduction/recovery communities, with short involvement in ACT-UP Philadelphia and ACT-UP New York subcommittees. After seroconverting in the 1990s, he began his community advocacy activities in HIV treatment and prevention research networks.

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

Free Admission, $10 suggested donation

RSVP and reserve tickets here

On Thursday, November 7th, the GLBT Historical Society and Queer Rebel Productions presents "Give Us The Word: Queer Yesterday, Today, and Forever", a powerful literary exploration of Queer and Trans BIPOC history.

Held at the GLBT Historical Society Museum, this event is curated by Crystal Mason and features four talented writers crafting new works inspired by the museum's exhibition, “Queer Past Becomes Present.” The evening will celebrate how queer history shapes our present and inspires future generations to build inclusive communities that embrace diversity. Following the readings, a short panel discussion will offer insight into the creative process and the ways in which history continues to fuel queer and trans resilience.

Join us for an unforgettable evening of storytelling, reflection, and celebration of Queer and Trans BIPOC voices!

SPEAKERS

Crystal Mason (they/them) is an Artist, Activist, Cultural Worker, Facilitator, and Co-Founder of Queering Dreams. Crystal makes art because they want to tell people something about themselves. They want to say something about being black and queer, fat and black, and being angry and full of love. they want to reveal the fear, hope, and danger they live with. They want to remember joy and connection, rage and grief. Art-making is a tool against oblivion. What we create is a tribute to our existence, to our resistance.

Ms. Momos (Therese Davis) (she/her) is a SF Bay Area Social Practice Artist, Administrator, Soul Coach, and Social Media, Event Planning, and Marketing Specialist Contractor, Ms. Mo has an extensive background in the arts. Ms. Mo is a Queer Rebel Fellowship, San Francisco Emerging Artist Professions Fellowship Cohort IX Alumni, lifelong activist and artist whose earliest memories involve advocating for voting equality and civil rights. Her extraordinary social justice lens contributes to these extraordinary times as she weaves her talents as a vocalist, songwriter, composer, dancer, sketch comedy writer, curator, painter, visual artist, lyricist, producer, improvisational singer, storyteller and founder of SF Songbird Festival Music Festival into the bay area art, music, culture and change maker community. She has worked as an artist project and performance manager, recorded seven CDs, worked for 10 years as a hired session back-up vocalist, and performed internationally at small and massive venues.

Mason J. (he/they) is a Blaxican-Indigenous and Sephardic Jewish artist, historian, and community organizer based on Ohlone Land (San Francisco). As a queer writer, visual artist, and disability justice advocate, Mason amplifies marginalized voices. They served as interim Executive Director of Radar Productions 2022-2023, contributing to projects like SFPL's Show Us Your Spines residency and teaching for the Queer Ancestors Project. Mason's work with Still Here SF and Give Us the Word reflects their commitment to challenging societal norms through innovative projects.

Tijanna O. Eaton (Tə-zha-na; she/her) is a Black butch writer whose work appears in Panorama Journal, Honey Literary, Noyo Review, and Yellow Arrow Vignette. She received the 2021 Unicorn Authors Club Alumni award, was a 2023 Rooted & Written Fellow, and was the nonfiction judge for the 2024 Best of the Net contest. Her memoir, BOLT Cutters, is the story of her 12 arrests in three years in the early 1990s during the height of the crack epidemic. Tijanna is program director for the Unicorn Authors Club BOLT Cutters cohort. She has served on the Five Keys Schools and Programs Board of Directors since 2006, becoming Board Chair in 2021. She also served on the board of the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project from 2016 to 2018 and was co-creator of a queer people of color recovery conference in the late ‘90s. Please visit https://www.bolt-cutters.com for more information.

Joshua Merchant (they/them) is a Black Queer native of East Oakland exploring what it means to be human as an intersectional being. A lot of what they’ve been exploring as of late has been in the realm of what it means to be a “Delectable Negro” in a world with an insatiable appetite for Blackness and the many ways we show up spiritually, mentally, and physically. They address the countless exaggerations of white fantasy as a means of humanizing the Black Queer experience through a lens only someone who grew up ashy and yet a teardrop slicker than the average lesson any Corner-Store-Prophet could provide. They've had the honor to witness their work being held and understood in literary journals such as 580Split, Roi Fianeant Press, Snow Flake Magazine, Corporeal, Anvil Tongue, Verum Literary Press, Ice Floe Press, Mongoose and elsewhere. They have also received the 2023 San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award for poetry and was nominated for the 2023 Best of the Net Poetry Award by Spare Parts Lit.

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for this event, though a $10 donation is suggested. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$20.00 | Free for members

RSVP and purchase tickets here

Join the GLBT Historical Society and Books Not Bans for a celebration of banned books and the works of James Baldwin! A Black and gay writer, activist, and one of the most incisive and eloquent voices at the intersections of racial justice and queer acceptance, James Baldwin would have turned 100 this year in August, and we are highlighting his work, legacy, and impact on literature and queer history, amid a time when his work and other Black and queer creative legacies are being banned and challenged throughout the country. 

 Come to the GLBT Historical Society Museum for an evening of live readings from Baldwin’s works, drag performances inspired by Baldwin and the music and LGBTQ artists he surrounded himself with, and a discussion on the power of literature and performance toward liberation.

 Fabulosa Books will be at the museum with a selection of James Baldwin books for purchase. 

PERFORMERS

Afrika America (she/her/hers) - Social Justice Warrior, Activist, Producer and Performer… These are just a few adjectives that characterize this phenomenal Drag Out the Vote Ambassador. She produces and performs in multiple shows throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and around the country. Recently she won the title of Miss California Gold for the Ducal Council of San and was the Chairman for the Bay Area Queer Nightlife Coalition that pushed for diversity, equity and inclusion in all queer spaces! Having performed all over the world from Singapore to Cologne to Sydney, Australia and on America’s Got Talent…. She’s our DIVAlicious Dreamgirl .... Afrika America!!! @afrikaamerica

Anthony Rollins-Mullens (he/him/his) - is a native San Franciscan, performing here both on stage and in independent films for many years. His theatrical credits include the Narrator/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods, the Sheriff in the West Coast premiere of Groundhog Day, Willie in The View Upstairs, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Toad in A Year With Frog and Toad, Louis Armstrong in Ella, the Musical, Tom Collins in Rent, Fred in Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Willie in Master Harold…and the Boys, and Waymon as Hunter Priestess in Good Goods. Anthony has had the joy of working with many storytelling companies, including American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Playhouse, San Francisco Playhouse, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Oakland Theater Project, and Center REPertory Company. rollinsmullens.com

Coco Buttah (she/they) is a Non-Binary, Oakland based actor, dancer and drag queen, who performs all over the Bay Area and beyond. Coco grew up performing musical theater from a very young age. After being cast in a local production of La Cage Aux Folles they fell in love with drag and almost 10 years later, she is still going strong, she even chose her drag name from a broadway show. Coco likes to incorporate their love of theater, dance, comedy, and camp into her drag performances, and loves to spread joy and happiness when they perform. @cocobuttah85

 Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $20 for non-members, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10.00 | Free for members

RSVP and purchase tickets here

In conjunction with the exhibit Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s–1990s), this special event commemorates the 30th anniversary of the iconic documentary Straight for the Money: Interviews with Queer Sex Workers (1994) by Hima B. The film offers unique perspectives on sex work from queer women who share the insights they gained working in this predominantly heterosexual- and male-dominated industry.

Straight for the Money premiered in 1994 at Frameline: The San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival. It screened at the 1994 Whitney Biennial and at the same venue that year for a separate program titled, “From India to America: New Directions in Indian Film and Video.” In the mid-1990s, the filmmaker self-distributed the film during its run on the international film festival circuit featuring LGBTQ, South Asian, and women directors.

Hima B. directs social issue documentary films centering on the contemporary realities that LGBTQ BIPOC women and girls face. She is currently directing a feature documentary about a gun violence survivor exploring love, in spite of her gun-inflicted disability.

Curator and author Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa will introduce the film and facilitate a discussion with the audience afterward.

Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco will be available for sale by Fabulosa Books in the museum, and the author will sign copies at the event.

Speakers

Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa (she/her) PhD, is an artist-scholar who teaches and writes about art and activism, queer of color critique, erotic performance, and the intersections of mindfulness and creative practice. She holds a doctorate in Theater and Performance Studies with a minor in Art History from Stanford University, where she currently leads the LifeWorks Program for Integrative Learning.

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$5.00 - $10.00 | Free for members

RSVP and purchase tickets here

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s-1990s) preserves the memory of the city’s bohemian past and its essential role in the development of American adult entertainment. It highlights the contributions of queer women, trans women, and women of color who were instrumental in the city's labor history, as well as its LGBTQ and sex workers' rights movements. In the 1960s, topless entertainment became legal in the city for the first time in US history, though cross-dressing continued to be criminalized. In the 1990s, stripper-artist-activists led the first successful class action lawsuits and efforts to unionize. The exhibit sheds light on intersectional communities in the making and the women who played a critical role in this history, which has often been hidden from view.

On view are artworks, performance documents, and other ephemera pertaining to women that were interviewed for this research project or whose archives are still in the process of being co-constructed by individuals and collecting institutions alike.

This exhibit is titled after Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s dissertation, now published as Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco (University of California Press, 2024). During her research, she encountered objects in the GLBT Historical Society’s archives that are featured in this exhibition and that tell the story of the cross-pollination of LGBTQ venues, strip clubs, and burlesque theaters by sex worker and LGBTQ communities alike, during the latter part of the twentieth century.

Tickets are $5-10 or free for GLBT Historical Society Members. Members can also access a special curator tour at 5 PM, immediately preceding the opening reception.

Light refreshments will be provided. Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco will be available for sale by Fabulosa Books in the museum, and the author will sign copies at the event.

Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s–1990s) opens Friday, June 7. Click here for more information about the exhibition.

Admission

Admission is free for members and $5-$10 sliding scale for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Members can also access a special curator tour at 5 PM, immediately preceding the opening reception.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

Photo Credits: Isis Rodríguez, Zapatista Stripper, developed during Guillermo Gomez-Peña's The Mexterminator Project (1998). Photograph by Eugenio Castro. 

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

LOCATION

The Chan National Queer Arts Center

ADMISSION

Pay What You Can

RSVP and purchase tickets here

On April 18th, the GLBT Historical Society will host the third Memory Keepers Initiative program with the San Francisco Gay Mens’ Chorus - a vital evening uplifting the authentic, first-person narratives of LGBTQ artists from the Bay Area. This evening will feature elders, activists and trailblazers through a curated discussion and storytelling, ensuring our often distorted or erased queer histories are preserved in their own powerful voices for generations to come. Tickets are now available. This is a Pay What You Can event, ensuring everyone can attend.

This event marks the third of four interactive panels designed to bridge generations within our community. Memory Keepers Initiative brings our cherished queer elders into conversation with today's LGBTQ community and allies, fostering a dialogue that spans activism, art, community, politics, and beyond. After years of pioneering efforts in LGBTQ rights, it's time to honor our heroes and ensure their invaluable stories are shared and celebrated for generations to come.

Speakers

 
Seth Eisen (he/him) is a Bay Area-based artist, writer, director, producer, archivist, and educator who engages LGBTQ history as a living, breathing dialogue by researching lost legacies and blurring the edge between art, research and activism. For 30 years Eisen has staged performance pieces, street spectacles and installations and has curated and appeared in numerous collaborative projects created with other Bay Area artists and beyond. He is the founding Artistic Director of Eye Zen Presents, a theater and art company that unearths and elevates LGBTQ+ histories so that we can better understand our lineages and ourselves. Eye Zen’s work creates a lasting body of evidence reclaiming our existence, our resilience and our practices of radical joy and community care.

Eye Zen’s recent multi-year project OUT of Site, is a series of performance-driven queer history tours. Spanning 175 years of Bay Area of LGBTQ and QTBIPOC history one neighborhood at a time, OUT of Site makes the connections between the people and the sites where histories took place, bringing them to life in immersive, educational, and entertaining events around San Francisco.

Jewelle Gomez (Cabo Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway; she/her) is a novelist, poet, essayist and playwright. Her ten books include five collections of poetry and the first Black Lesbian vampire novel, THE GILDA STORIES. In print for more than 30 years, a new UK edition was launched by Vintage/Random House in 2023. The novel was recently optioned by Cheryl Dunye (“Lovecraft Country”) for a TV mini-series. Her latest collection of poetry, Still Water, is from BLF Press. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies including: “Red Indian Road West,” “Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora,” “Oxford Treasury of Love Stories,” “Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler,” and “Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany.”

She was the recipient of an NEA Fellowship, a California Arts Council Artist’s Residency and recently a Bram Stoker Legacy Award from the Horror Writers of America. Gomez was playwright in residence (2011-2023) at New Conservatory Theatre Center (San Francisco) which commissioned and produced her last three plays- “Waiting for Giovanni” about author/activist James Baldwin; “Leaving the Blues” about singer/composer Alberta Hunter, and currently “Unpacking in P’town” about her grandmother and a group of her retired vaudevillian friends is running at NCTC. Gomez also worked in philanthropy for thirty years including at the NY State Council on the Arts, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation and Horizons Foundation. Connect with her on TWITTER & Instagram: @VampyreVamp.

Scrumbly Koledwyn (he/him) Born Richard Koldewyn, Scrumbly got his unshakable nickname performing as a founding member of The Cockettes, singing, writing music and attempting to organize the herd of cats they were in all their fertile creative anarchy. He went on forming several other post-Cockettes groups; culminating in The Distractions, and composing and music directing in Under and above-ground theater, over 100 productions at present, including Berkeley Rep, New Conservatory Theatre, Thrillpeddlers (Including 5 Cockettes’ shows’ revivals). His vocal trio, The Jesters, toured Europe 3 times. Currently he teaches at Stagebridge in Oakland, encouraging seniors to sing outrageously; and with producer Dan Karkoska, puts together and performs reviews of his songs with the troupe, ‘Cockettes Nouveau’, most recently at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

Additional speakers TBA

Location

The Chan National Queer Arts Center, 170 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Admission

Admission is pay what you can. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10.00 | Free for members

RSVP and purchase tickets here

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

For hundreds of years, small minded groups have sought to erase LGBTQ people from the landscape and to write us out of history. At the same time as our enemies have sought to erase us, we have kept our stories alive for each other. Shared through oral traditions, hidden in plain sight through codes and secret languages, and carefully passed down from generation-to-generation we have kept our stories alive for centuries.

You Are Here is an intentionally incomplete exhibition, offering a timeline of some important moments in LGBTQ history, and the work to preserve those stories. Visitors are invited to share a memory they want to live on by adding them to the timeline, help us imagine what comes next by declaring a hope for the future.

This exhibition is made possible with support from Larry Brenner and Angelo Figone, and the San Francisco Arts Commission.

You Are Here opens Thursday, April 11. Click here for more information about the exhibition.

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

Photo Credits: Harvey Milk addressing crowd from the stage at the 1978 San Francisco Gay Day Parade; photograph by Marie Ueda, Marie Ueda Collection (2006-12)

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10.00 | Free for members

RSVP and purchase tickets here

In 1980, documentary series CBS Reports broadcast an episode called “Gay Power, Gay Politics.” Although CBS described the program as a report on the growing influence of the LGBTQ community in San Francisco politics, the show was so biased that the National News Council, a media watchdog organization, found that the CBS show misled viewers and violated journalistic standards. After widespread outrage, CBS apologized on air. Media historians recognize it as the first public apology for distorted coverage of gays and lesbians by a national news organization and a major turning point in coverage throughout the media. Biased coverage still abounds. What are the lessons for today?

This event will screen the entire, unedited broadcast, followed by a discussion reflecting on the circumstances of how the show came to be, the response from the LGBTQ community and journalist Randy Alfred’s 20-page complaint filed to the National News Council that led to CBS’s 1980 apology. This event will chart the evolution of coverage of LGBTQ people in the media and how journalistic methods have changed in regards to our community.

Speakers

Randy Alfred (he/him) was twice editor of the S.F. Sentinel and co-founded the San Francisco Bay Times. He produced and hosted KSAN's public-affairs radio show The Gay Life from 1979 to 1984. He was a founding member of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists and entered its Hall of Fame in 2015. Randy’s work has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, S.F. Focus, S.F. Examiner, S.F. Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, Might, Washingtonian, Alternet, Berkeley Barb, New West, Book News, The Book of Lists #2, Whole Earth Catalog, Coevolution Quarterly, California magazine, Austin Sun, S.F. Bay Guardian, 48 Hills and Wired. He was editor of the Wired book Mad Science: Einstein's Fridge, Dewar's Flask, Mach's Speed, and 362 Other Inventions and Discoveries that Made Our World.

Myron Caringal (he/they) is a multimedia journalist with a passion for digital and audience engagement. While attending San Francisco State University, he received multiple awards including a Hearst Award for his multimedia story on cruising culture in the LGBTQ+ community. His work has also been honored by the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Association. Myron previously served as an Audience Development Intern with the San Francisco NPR station KQED and is now with Business Insider's audience team as a Social Video Fellow through NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists.

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

Join us for a fabulous night to celebrate two milestones: the GLBT Historical Society’s 39th anniversary, and the opening of All the Nights We Got to Dance, a new piece of multimedia art by acclaimed artist Marcel Pardo Ariza based on research at the GLBT Historical Society’s archives. The event will include brief remarks, a raffle with rare prizes from the GLBT Historical Society, beats by Juanita MORE!, as well as complimentary drinks and small bites.

This event is both a tribute to the past and an invitation to be a part of the future, as we continue to preserve and share our vast queer past.

Admission

Tickets start at $20 for members and $35 for non-members. RSVP and purchase tickets here.

NOTE: All ticket levels provide full access to the event. Tickets at the Enthusiast level and above help to support discounted admission and support our work to preserve and share LGBTQ history.

Location

The LINE San Francisco, Dark Bar (1st floor)

33 Turk Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

About the GLBT Historical Society

Founded in 1985, the GLBT Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. The Society’s archives hold one of the largest collections of LGBTQ historic materials ever assembled and connects tens of thousands of people with their history every year through our museum, archives, and public events.

About All the Nights We Got to Dance

All the Nights We Got to Dance is a multimedia site-specific installation that celebrates historical places that have shaped queer nightlife in San Francisco. It’s an homage to the Compton's Cafeteria Riots, as well as the bars and clubs that have marked the queer and trans history of San Francisco. Many of these special venues have closed due to high rent prices and gentrification, and this piece brings all the spirits, kisses, dances, cruising encounters that took place inside these places. May we all remember all the nights we got to dance here, there, together in the Transgender District of San Francisco.

About Juanita MORE!

Juanita MORE! is a denizen of the limelight. For almost three decades, the laudable hostess has blitzed San Francisco with high glamour, drag irreverence, and danceable beats that have illuminated the entire city. MORE! continues to be a heaping dollop of generosity and a sprinkle of nerve. She inspires those around her to make positive differences in their lives and communities — and doing it all with timeless elegance and an innovative spirit. Most recently Miss MORE! holds the title of Empress of the Imperial Council of San Francisco — one of the oldest LGBTQ non-profit organizations globally.

To date, MORE! has helped to raise over $1 million dollars for local charities — among them GLBT Historical Society, Our Trans Youth, Q Foundation, Queer Lifespace, Transgender Law Center, and more. MORE! tirelessly fundraises for organizations in San Francisco that are adamant about helping communities in the seven-by-seven thrive, all while shining light and offering support to those who’ve been overlooked for far too long.

MORE! embodies what it means to be a conduit of connection. MORE! brings the people together to fundraise; celebrate community; to demand social change around San Francisco and elsewhere. Her culinary expressions are an extension of what mothers have been doing in their kitchens for generations — which, simply states, is sharing “loads of love.”

About Marcel Pardo Ariza

Marcel Pardo Ariza (b. Bogotá, Colombia) (they/them) is a trans visual artist, educator and curator who explores the relationship between queer and trans kinship through constructed photographs, site-specific installations and public programming. Their work is rooted in close dialogue and collaboration with trans, non-binary and queer friends and peers, most of whom are performers, artists, educators, policymakers, and community organizers. Their practice celebrates collective care and intergenerational connection. Their work is invested in creating long term interdisciplinary collaborations and opportunities that are non-hierarchical and equitable.

Their work has recently been exhibited at the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Palo Alto Art Center; San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Palm Springs Art Museum; and the Institute of Contemporary Art San José. Ariza is the recipient of the 2022 SFMOMA SECA Award, the 2021 CAC Established Artists Award; the 2020 San Francisco Artadia Award; 2018-19 Alternative Exposure Grant; 2017 Tosa Studio Award; and a 2015 Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Award. Ariza is a studio member at Minnesota Street Project, and the co-founder of Art Handlxrs*, an organization supporting queer, BIPOC, women, trans and non-binary folks in professional arts industry support roles. They are currently a lecturer at California College of the Arts and San Francisco State University, and based in Oakland, CA.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for discounted access to this event, and free access to our museum and educational programming all year long.

Photo Credits

Event photo: José Sarria performing at the Black Cate Cafe, 1950s, José Sarria papers (1996-01), GLBT Historical Society. Photo of Marcel Pardo Ariza courtesy of same. Photo of Juanita MORE! courtesy of same.

This artwork and event were supported, in part, through funds from the San Francisco Arts Commission and Market Street Arts.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is free to all visitors on the first Wednesday of every month. Tickets are not available online on free days; all visitors will be welcomed to the museum as long as there is capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions regarding an upcoming free day, contact us at tickets@glbthistory.org.

This free day is sponsored by the Bob Ross Foundation our 2024 Lead Sponsor. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

LOCATION

Online (through Zoom)

ADMISSION

Free for all, reserve your ticket here

Are you an educator who wants to engage with LGBTQ archival material in your classroom and curricula? The staff of the GLBT Historical Society’s Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives & Special Collections invites you to a virtual event on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 6pm PT.

We’ll discuss how you can use our extensive collections, including digitized primary sources, for your classroom. We’ll provide guidance on resources available for K-12 educators looking to incorporate LGBTQ topics into their classes, including lesson plans, sample assignments, and source sets. This event will give educators for all levels tools to incorporate queer historical material into your work.

This is the second of two public events. The first event focused on Archives for Artists. This event series is supported by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Speakers

Kelsi Evans, Director, Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives & Special Collections

Kelsi Evans is an experienced archivist who has worked in a variety of collecting institutions. Prior to her role with the Society, she worked on the AIDS History Project at the University of California, San Francisco Archives and Special Collections and managed archival projects at the Fales Library of New York University, the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, and the Foundation for Landscape Studies. Kelsi holds an M.A. in archives and public history from New York University and an M.A. in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is active in professional organizations, including the Society of California Archivists and the Society of American Archivists.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Isaac Fellman, Reference Archivist

Isaac Fellman has worked in archives at the California Historical Society, the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Oregon Health and Science University. He earned his MLS from Emporia State University and his M.A. in English from the University of Oregon. Isaac is also a Lambda Literary Award-winning writer.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Devin McGeehan Muchmore, Project Archivist

As Project Archivist, Devin McGeehan Muchmore contributes to archival processing, digitization, public outreach, and grants administration. Prior to joining the GLBT Historical Society, he worked at the Labor Archives and Research Center at San Francisco State University and the Hoover Institution Library and Archives. He holds an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons University and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Location

This event will be held virtually. A Zoom link and details will be sent upon registration.

Admission

Free admission.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

LOCATION

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

ADMISSION

$10.00 | Free for members

RSVP and purchase tickets here

In just six years, ACT UP New York, a broad and unlikely coalition of activists from all races, genders, sexualities, and backgrounds, changed the world. Armed with rancor, desperation, intelligence, and creativity, it took on the AIDS crisis with an indefatigable, ingenious, and multifaceted attack on the corporations, institutions, governments, and individuals who stood in the way of AIDS treatment for all. They stormed the FDA and NIH in Washington, DC, and started needle exchange programs in New York; they took over Grand Central Terminal and fought to change the legal definition of AIDS to include women; they transformed the American insurance industry, weaponized art and advertising to push their agenda, and battled—and beat—The New York Times, the Catholic Church, and the pharmaceutical industry. Their activism, in its complex and intersectional power, transformed the lives of people with AIDS and the bigoted society that had abandoned them.

Join the GLBT Historical Society and Fabulosa Books in hosting Sarah Schulman for an author talk and reading from Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993. Based on more than two hundred interviews with ACT UP members and rich with lessons for today’s activists, Let the Record Show is a revelatory exploration—and long-overdue reassessment—of the coalition’s inner workings, conflicts, achievements, and ultimate fracture. Schulman, one of the most revered queer writers and thinkers of her generation, explores the how and the why, examining, with her characteristic rigor and bite, how a group of desperate outcasts changed America forever, and in the process created a livable future for generations of people across the world.

Schulman will be joined by former GLBT Historical Society Board Chair and former Secretary of ACT UP San Francisco, Lito Sandoval, for an audience Q&A, followed by a book signing. Copies of Let the Record Show will be available for purchase through Fabulosa Books.

Speakers

Sarah Schulman (she/her) is the author of more than twenty works of fiction (including The Cosmopolitans, Rat Bohemia, and Maggie Terry), nonfiction (including Stagestruck, Conflict is Not Abuse, and The Gentrification of the Mind), and theater (Carson McCullers, Manic Flight Reaction, and more), and the producer and screenwriter of several feature films (The Owls, Mommy Is Coming, and United in Anger, among others). Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, and many other outlets. She is Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Northwestern University, a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at College of Staten Island, a Fellow at the New York Institute of Humanities, the recipient of multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was presented in 2018 with Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award. She is also the cofounder of the MIX New York LGBT Experimental Film and Video Festival, and the co-director of the groundbreaking ACT UP Oral History Project. A lifelong New Yorker, she is a longtime activist for queer rights and female empowerment, and serves on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Lito Sandoval (he/him) has served on many nonprofit boards in the Latino and LGBTQ communities, including as the former Chair of the GLBT Historical Society. He is a former President of the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club andwas a former Secretary of ACT UP San Francisco. Lito’s essay “I Love You Alto” appears in the anthology Virgins, Guerrillas y Locas: Gay Latinos Writing on Love (Cleis Press, 1999). He also founded the Queer Latinx Social Club.

Location

GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114

Admission

Admission is free for members and $10 for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Tickets are available here.

Join the GLBT Historical Society

Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.

Photo Credits: Photo of Sarah Schulman, credit Drew Stevens. Let the Record Show cover art, courtesy of Picador.