LOCATION
GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
ADMISSION
$10 admission; Free for GLBT Historical Society Members
How did the world-renowned Castro neighborhood come to be known as the most prominent “gayborhood” in San Francisco? How do we trace the evolution and transformation of Eureka Valley, a sleepy, Irish Catholic residential neighborhood to the Castro as a center of LGBTQ+ activism, business, and community in the Bay Area?
Authors Jen Reck and Gerard Koskovich present their new booklet, The Castro: The Story of San Francisco's Best-Known LGBTQ+ Neighborhood. They will be joined by Tina V. Aguirre, director of the Castro LGBTQ+ Cultural District, and Devin McGeehan Muchmore, managing reference archivist at the GLBT Historical Society, who'll discuss the roles of their organizations in bringing the project to fruition.
The Castro traces the history of this celebrated "gayborhood" back to the 1950s, focusing on LGBTQ+ community-building, cultural production and political engagement; on forces of opposition that targeted the neighborhood for attack; and on struggles around diversity, exclusion and belonging within the community itself. Copies of the publication will be available for purchase and signing.
SPEAKERS
Tina V. Aguirre (they/them) is Director of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District in San Francisco. A graduate of Stanford University with a BA in Communication, Tina has dedicated decades to grantwriting, documentary filmmaking, and arts festival production. Their leadership includes four years as Chair of the Board of Directors for the GLBT Historical Society. Tina curated the exhibition “Chosen Familias: LGBTQ Latinx Family Photo Albums” (2019) at the GLBT Historical Society Museum and is a published poet. They have lived in San Francisco since 1987.
Photo by Gabriel Duckels
Gerard Koskovich (he/him) is a public historian and book dealer who divides his time between San Francisco and Paris. A founding member of the GLBT Historical Society, he has been active in the movement to create LGBTQ+ archives and museums for more than four decades. Koskovich has curated numerous exhibitions and has presented and published widely in English and French. His writing has appeared in translation in Czech, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. He received the 2020 Clio Award from the GLBT Historical Society for his contributions to advancing the understanding of LGBTQ+ history.
Devin McGeehan Muchmore (he/him) is Managing Reference Archivist at the GLBT Historical Society. Previously, he contributed to archival projects at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives and the Labor Archives and Research Center at San Francisco State University, and served as Lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University and a M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.
Photo: Alecia Burley
Jen Reck (she/they) is is an Associate Professor of Sociology at San Francisco State University and earned their PhD in Sociology from UC Santa Cruz in 2005. They teach courses in Sociological analysis, Queer studies, interdisciplinary research methods, and applied Sexuality Studies. She is a co-author of the text Social Research Methods (Oxford University Press, 2021). Jen has researched lesbian intimate partner violence, debates over marriage equality, and marginalization of unhoused LGBTQ+ youth in San Francisco’s Castro District. Her current work involves community-engaged research focusing on the Castro’s history and current status as an LGBTQ neighborhood, examining placemaking, equity struggles, and queer displacement in the context of neoliberal urbanization.
Members Perks
Interested in becoming a member of the GLBT Historical Society? Members enjoy all sorts of perks, including free access to this event. Learn more.