Nov. 1, 2011
CONTACT
Gerard Koskovich
(415) 641-5364
gkoskovich@gmail.com
November Programs Highlight First-Person
Stories From Bay Area's Vast Queer Past
San Francisco -- The GLBT Historical Society has announced a series of programs for November 2011 focusing on first-person stories from the Bay Area's wide-ranging gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender past. Community organizers, activists, writers, poets, artists and the author of a new memoir will offer recollections of struggle, defeat, ingenuity and triumph; pleasure, hook-ups, love and relationships; trouble-making, culture-making, organizing, coalition-building, protesting, voting and creating social change. All the events will take place at The GLBT History Museum at 4127 18th St. in San Francisco's Castro District. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org or call (415) 621-1107.
History Open-Mic Night
Out of the Cases: Six Decades of Queer San Francisco
Thursday, November 3
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
"Our Vast Queer Past: Celebrating San Francisco's GLBT History," the main-gallery show at The GLBT History Museum, comes alive at this open-mic night, with local history-makers offering memories of the people, places and events on display in the exhibit cases. Tamara Ching, Jamison Green, Rudy Lemcke, Phyllis Lyon, Crystal Mason, Danny Nicoletta, Trinity Ordona, Carol Queen, George Raya, Carol Seajay, Lisbet Tellefsen and others who animated local queer life from the 1950s through the 2000s will take part -- and everyone who attends will be invited to share their own stories.
Poetry & Prose Reading
Writing Down the Past: Gay Men Reveal Their Histories
Monday, November 14
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Cosponsored by GuyWriters and LitQuake, "Writing Down the Past: Gay Men Reveal Their Histories" brings together Bay Area writers from diverse backgrounds to read work inspired by their personal histories as gay men: Poets James J. Siegel (Ghosts of Ohio; GuyWriters director); Jim Roderick; and Baruch Porras-Hernandez (cofounder of Queer Open Mic); as well as prose writers Vincent Meis (Eddie's Desert Rose); Gabriel Lampert; and Mark Abramson (Russian River Rat, Beach Reading). GuyWriters is a network for writers in the San Francisco Bay Area that celebrates and supports literary creativity in the gay male community.
Reading, Panel & Book Signing
Once-Removed: Memoirs of an Out Gay Teacher
Thursday, November 17
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Author Ron Schmidt presents his new memoir, Once-Removed (Sasha Press, 2011), which recounts his journey from a Catholic boyhood in San José in the 1930s and 1940s through therapy, marriage, divorce, single-parenting and alcoholism to his coming out as a gay father, teacher and advocate. The reading will focus on pioneering workshops Schmidt taught with PFLAG parents and youth in the 1980s, as well as a successful lawsuit against a South Bay school district for failing to protect gay and lesbian students. A panel of young people and parents also will discuss the experience of Bay Area GLBT students.
ABOUT THE GLBT HISTORY MUSEUM
The GLBT History Museum opened in January 2011 as the first full-scale, stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States. Currently featured are two major exhibitions: "Our Vast Queer Past: Celebrating San Francisco's GLBT History" and "Great Collections of the GLBT Historical Society Archives." The museum is a project of the GLBT Historical Society, a research center and archives founded in 1985 that houses one of the world's largest collections of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender historical materials. For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: A photograph or graphic is available to illustrate listings for each of the three programs: http://tinyurl.com/Programs-Nov.
