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Welcome
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Welcome
to this month's edition of History Happens, your source for the
latest news and events from the GLBT Historical Society.
Image courtesy of Bill Lipsky
In honor of St.
Patrick's Day, we present the Emerald Isle's own Oscar Wilde in the Wasp's satirical impression of his
triumphant entry into San Francisco in March, 1882, astride a braying jackass. In
fact, the visit of this prodigal son of the Old Sod, to quote a catchphrase of
the day that he popularized, was all "too utterly utter."
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"Milk Skimmed" Goes
Deeper
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 In a packed house on February 19, a lively roundtable
explored what stories about lesbian and gay politics in the late 1970s
were left untold by Gus Van Sant's Milk.
It was the kickoff
of the GLBT Historical Society's 2009 speakers series, "TALKING BACK:
Queer History Fully Exposed." Panelists included No on 6 organizer
Gwenn Craig, City College instructor Ruth Mahaney, SFSU professor Tomas
Almaguer, and USF professor Joshua Gamson.
Craig cautioned against
believing that community organizing was just about a small group banding
together and building a movement on their own wits and pluck. She
explained how much coalition, intention, and outreach had gone into
defeating Proposition 6.
 Mahaney added that we are still
struggling under the "other Briggs Initiative," which passed that
year--California's death penalty.
Almaguer reflected on his
own Bay Area activism at the time, in the Chicano movement far afield of
the Castro, and on the deeply problematic representations
of queer people of color in movies such as Milk and Brokeback
Mountain.
Gamson wondered why all of his straight friends
seemed to love the movie so much more than he did, drawing
parallels to the reactions he has experienced to his own
marriage.
The audience then joined in with their own
provocative and personal reflections. The panel is posted on the
Historical Society's YouTube channel and has already received interest from
educators around the country planning to use it in conjunction with teaching Milk. Watch "Milk Skimmed" here.
"Milk Skimmed" in the Media
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The Fabric of Our Lives: Lavender Scrolls, Lesbian
Quilting Project, Women's Textiles and Tees
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Sponsored by the Women's Committee of the GLBTHS, The Fabric of Our
Lives exhibit premiered on February 21. The opening reception was highlighted
by a panel of some of its creators talking about the processes used to create
the exhibit's components.
As visitors trickled
in, the office space filled with a medley of project participants, aficionados
of textile art, and community supporters. Everyone made their way around the
entirety of the show, which included quilts, T-shirts and oral history panels,
called Scrolls. The reception was alive with excitement for the stories told by the
artist-activists on the panel as well as the beauty and depth of the items on
display. Especially rewarding was the positive comment, by the New Leaf
Elders, Sandy Shepherd, and Jan Couvillon, that the Lesbian
Quilting Project looked very distinguished as it's arranged on the walls of the GLBT Historical
Society. |
| On the Town with the GLBT Historical Society
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The Fabric of Our Lives: Lavender Scrolls, Lesbian
Quilting Project, Women's Textiles and Tees
 The
Fabric of Our Lives includes three separate but linked
components. The Lavender Scrolls tell the moving biographies, in words and photographs,
of eight lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender elders, ages 58 to 85. The
Lesbian Quilting Project presents 13 quilted panels made up of lesbians' tee shirts
and includes photographs of the quilting process. Women's Textiles and Tees features apparel selected from the Historical Society's extensive collection of T-shirts.
Tuesdays
through Saturdays: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
657
Mission Street, San Francisco
Through
May 31, 2009
Polk
Street: Lives in Transition
Polk
Street: Lives in Transition examines Polk
Street's history through the lens of current neighborhood change, focusing on
the 1980s to the present. Using personal histories, available on headphones,
from twenty stakeholders who are living through and shaping these changes, the
exhibit asks, What does it mean for San Francisco's identity as a "safe haven"--and for its queer sociability and politics -- that Polk Street's economy and
culture are changing so dramatically?
Tuesdays
through Saturdays: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
657
Mission Street, San Francisco
Through
May 31, 2009
For More Information on the Exhibit
Passionate Struggle:
Dynamics of San Francisco's GLBT History
Focused through four lenses--Places, Politics,
Pleasures, and
 People -- Passionate Struggle explores the
dynamic tensions between passion and struggle that created San Francisco's very
queer 20th century.
Admission
is $3. No charge for current members of the Historical Society.
Admission
is free the first Wednesday of every month.
Wednesdays
through Saturdays: 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Sundays: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
499
Castro Street, San Francisco
For More Information on the Exhibit
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Historic Merchandise
Now
Available at Both Exhibit Locations! |
Historic
Sites of the Castro 
Self-guided walking map of some two
dozen sites important to the GLBT history of the Castro, including photographs
and brief descriptions.
Historic
Photographs, Greeting Cards, & T-Shirts
 From the collection of the GLBTHS,
we've taken images of important events of our past--many of them never before reproduced--and printed them as GLBTHS postcards, greeting cards, and T-shirts.
Please stop by either exhibit location to make
your selections.
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| The GLBT Historical Society
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Research Hours:
Tuesdays - Fridays by appointment only.
Saturdays open to general public 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Museum Hours:
499 Castro Street
Wednesdays - Saturdays 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Sundays 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Admission is free the first Wednesday of every month.
657 Mission Street, Suite 300
Tuesdays - Saturdays 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
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This Month in GLBT History
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March 1, 1656
New Haven, Connecticut: citing Romans 1:26 as the basis for the law
("If any woman change the natural use into that which is against nature. .
. ."), Connecticut becomes the first American colony to make same-sex acts
between women punishable by the death penalty.
March
3, 2002
San Francisco, California: the LGBT Community Center opens--the first built in the United States from the ground up.
March 11,
1778
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin becomes the first
American to be discharged from the United States Army on a charge of attempted
sodomy.
March 14,
1987
New York City: Larry Kramer and some 300 other activists form the direct
action group AIDS Coalition to Unleash
Power (ACT UP).
March 22,
1993
San
Francisco, California,
and elsewhere: Lawrence Poirier comes out to his best friend Michael in
cartoonist Lynn Johnston's popular comic strip For Better or for Worse. Some 40 newspapers in the United States
and Canada refuse to run the four-week story.
March 24,
1985
Los Angeles, California: portraying an imprisoned South
American hairdresser in Kiss of the
Spider Woman, William Hurt wins the first Academy Award for best actor
given to someone playing a gay character.
March 29,
1976
Washington, D.C.: the United States Supreme Court rules that Virginia's anti-sodomy laws, which date back
to colonial times, are constitutional.
GLBT Birthdays
March 1, 1880 Lytton
Strachey, author of Eminent
Victorians
March 9, 1892
Vita
Sackville-West, writer
March 10, 1934 John
Rechy - author of City of Night
March 12, 1890 Vaslav
Nijinsky, dancer
March 14, 1871 Olive
Fremstad, prima donna absoluta
March 19, 1850 Octave
Thanet (nee Alice French), novelist
March
21, 1901 Gavin Arthur, sexual philosopher
March
22, 1822 Rosa Bonheur, painter
March
23, 1874
J. C. Leyendecker,
illustrator
March 27, 1952 Maria
Schneider, actress
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