#glbt historical society

[jamisonwieser]

I'm getting new neighbors. GLBT Historical Society is moving out of a tiny space off Castro Street, and moving into a huge 11,000 square feet space at my corner.

Ending a two-decades-long search for a suitable site, city officials have landed on a massive two-story shopping center in San Francisco's Castro district as the permanent home for a LGBTQ history museum and archival center. The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the $11.6 million purchase of the property in the coming weeks. It will pave the way for the GLBT Historical Society to move into the vacant second floor of the Market & Noe Center at 2280 Market Street, likely sometime in 2025. The nonprofit currently rents a jewel box of a gallery space on 18th Street in the heart of the city's LGBTQ neighborhood and leases space for its archives and offices in a downtown office building.

For all the doom, gloom, and empty storefronts, this was the last vacancy on my block to be filled.

[vintagesapphics]

women kissing at the 1990 National Bisexual Conference in San Francisco, CA

[maryjanedoex]

Lorraine Hurdle (1922-2014) was a Black lesbian woman who served in the United States Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in Germany during World War II.

[candywormz]

Take me back (Castro Street Fair, San Francisco)

Photographs by Crawford Wayne Barton, courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society

[lesboevils]

with pride month approaching and my old archival links post being broken into several annoying sections. here are some useful starting places on lgbt history.

disclaimer: most of this has to do with usamerican history / are in english my apologies, this is just what i had on hand. if you have more please feel free to add them or dm them to me.

the act up oral history project

the lesbian herstory archives

the transgender archives of the university of victoria

the digital transgender archives

glbt historical society

lgbtq digital collaboratory

anything that moves

the bisexual manifesto (1990)

samuel proctor oral history project

a full master post of lesile feinberg's works (stone butch blues included ) by @genderoutlaws

the queer zine archive

dyke march compilation

paris is burning ( documentary )

how to survive a plague ( documentary )

united in anger: a history of ACT UP ( documentary )

screaming queens ( documentary )

the celluloid closet ( documentary )

one institute

audre lorde's poetry collection

aqurives

bi women's quarterly (1/2)

[lesbianlenses]

Lorraine Hurdle, a Black lesbian woman and WWII veteran, donated her extensive archive to the GLBT Historical Society. Her photos give a rare look inside 1940s military lesbian life. Here she is later in life, proudly presenting her office and garden.

[queerasfact]

Happy birthday Ruth Ellis!

Lesbian centenarian Ruth Ellis was born on 23 July 1899 and lived until 5 October 2000. Despite having no queer role-models, Ruth came out as a lesbian in her teens, and in the 1930s, she began a relationship with Babe Franklin.

Ruth and Babe were together for 30 years, with their home in Detroit forming a centre for queer Black life, and a refuge for queer Black people in the years before the Civil Rights movement and Stonewall.

In 1999, when she turned 100, Ruth was celebrated as the USA’s oldest living out lesbian.

Check out our podcast on Ruth to learn more

[Image by Daniel Nicoletta, source GLBT Historical Society]

[whatevergreen]

12th Annual International Two Spirit Gathering Attendees, San Francisco, 1999

Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS)'s float in the 2008 San Francisco Pride parade.

Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS), Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society, San Francisco CA

[dykes4timrand]

on growing up queer in a small town, a meddling kids webweave for @enby-ralsei for the pride @jrwi-art-exchange hope you like it, happy pride !!!!!!!!!

gilbert baker pride flag - glbt historical society // blood in the bayou: the elderbrain // heartbreak town - the chicks // @/richard siken on twitter // where i be & you just might - danez smith // jesus at the gay bar - jay hulme // gay like me: a father writes to his son - richie jackson // blood in the bayou: metamorphosis // fast car - tracy chapman // love poem to a butch woman - deborah a. miranda // @/ladygagasuperf on twitter // a glimpse - walt witman // how to be queer in a small town // peace news archive/university of bradford special collections

[physiqueandfantasy]

When it rains it pours. I’m picking up 7 more boxes of vintage magazines today from a friend today. He was cleaning out a friend’s apartment and found hundreds of magazines.

I’m getting to an interesting point where I’m starting to get duplicates of magazines and I’m not sure what to do with them. Maybe I’ll set up an online store or something. The problem is that all the regular outlets, (eBay, Etsy, Meta) have really restrictive content policies and they take a pretty huge percentage of the sale.

Also I am friends with a few people that work at the SF GLBT historical society and they absolutely do not need more gay porn for their collection.

[sandwichsugarbong]

While there isn't a single definitive "first record" of a transgender person, various historical accounts and cultural practices provide insight into the existence of transgender individuals throughout history.

One notable example is Elagabalus, who reigned as Roman emperor from 218 to 222 AD. Elagabalus was known for defying traditional gender roles and norms, reportedly expressing a desire to be referred to and treated as a woman. Historical accounts describe Elagabalus dressing in women's clothing, wearing makeup, and even marrying men.

Beyond Elagabalus, various cultures throughout history have recognized and accepted individuals who do not conform to traditional gender roles or binary notions of gender. For example, many Indigenous cultures around the world have long recognized the existence of Two-Spirit people, who embody both masculine and feminine qualities and often hold special spiritual or societal roles within their communities.

One notable figure from around the Nazi era who is sometimes discussed in the context of transgender history is Lili Elbe. Lili Elbe was a Danish transgender woman who was one of the earliest recipients of sex reassignment surgery. Born as Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener, she underwent a series of gender-affirming surgeries in the early 1930s under the care of pioneering sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, Germany.

Another notable figure who has been identified as a transgender man from around the Nazi era is Karl M. Baer. Born in Germany in 1885, Baer is believed to have undergone a hysterectomy and legally changed his name to Karl in the 1920s. Baer was a writer and editor who contributed to various publications.

Some reputable sources for transgender history include:"Transgender History" by Susan Stryker"Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman" by Leslie FeinbergJSTOR and Google Scholar for academic articles on transgender historyWebsites of LGBTQ+ history organizations and archives, such as the GLBT Historical Society and the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria.

These resources can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the historical record of transgender individuals and the complexities of gender identity throughout history.

Being transgender is nothing new. Trans people have always existed and will continue to do so. Die mad about it.

[californiastatelibrary]

Meet Lorraine Hurdle, a Black lesbian woman who served in the United States Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in Germany during World War II. She was born in 1922 and passed away in 2014. 

Photos via The GLBT Historical Society. 

[genderoutlaws]

✨ Commonly Used Sources ✨

Bi Women Boston (bi women quarterly backlog)

Trans Reads (books, essays, articles, zines)

Transas City (ephemera, photographs)

Digital Transgender Archive (wide variety of historical materials)

GLBT Historical Society Archive (wide variety)

Leather Archive (user: public | pass: leather)

Lesbian Herstory Archive (photos, pins, shirts)

ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archive (via OAC)

{ WIP — will continue to update }

[post-laundromat]

(OP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

if you are too young and unsafe to go to your gay community center or pride here’s some ways you can connect to gay history. - the oral history project from act up - the lesbian herstory archives - the transgender archives of the university of victoria - the digital transgender archives - glbt historical society (digital) - lgbtq digital collaboratory

(OP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

since it was suggested in the tags anything that moves the bisexual manifesto

(OP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the Samuel Proctor oral history project a masterpost of lesile feinberg’s works by genderoutlaws more to come

(OP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- the queer zine archive - the dyke march compilation  - paris is burning  - how to survive a plague - united in anger: a history of ACT UP - one archives - new york public library lgbtq archives

(OP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

for today’s update: - screaming queens - a collection of audre lorde’s poetry - the arquives - dykes to watch out for - the bi woman’s quarterly (1/2)

(OP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Links to OP's paypal, cashup and venmo. See original post].

(Commenter 1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PDF: transgender history, susan stryker (2017 updated edition via archive.org) examples of archive.org lending books (accounts are free): - we both laughed in pleasure (collected diaries of lou sullivan) - trap door: trans cultural production and the politics of visibility - captive genders: trans embodiment and the prison industrial complex you can also find materials there using metadata search terms like "transgender people." notably, there's a series of long interviews with lou sullivan recorded shortly after his AIDS diagnosis, which i've found really interesting. (be aware that some materials will be redundant with other collections and using broad terms like "transgender" might also yield anti-trans materials.) & if you ARE a young gay person who feels isolated in your current situation, queering the map might be a small comfort to you

(via)

[gayest-historian]

Rainbow Flag Creation

Sorry for disapearing for a bit but I'm back again!

Today I'll be talking about the history of the rainbow flag as a symbol for queer people. It all started with Gillbert Baker, an artist, gay man and drag queen. After an honorable discharge from the military he taught himself to sew to pass the time. He later met Harvey Milk, an extremely influential figure that will get his own post, in 1974. Milk challenged him to create a flag for the queer community which would later be used in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25 of 1978. When speaking about his choice to create a flag in an interview he said the following:

"Our job as gay people was to come out, to be visible, to live in the truth, as I say, to get out of the lie. A flag really fit that mission, because that’s a way of proclaiming your visibility or saying, ‘This is who I am!’"

- Gillbert Baker

The original pride flag had 8 stripes, each with their own meanings: Pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, teal for magic indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. This flag has been criticized, as many are, for having arbitrary colour meanings but that's a discussion for another day.

Later on, the pink stripe was removed due to difficulty with finding dyes for it so it could be more widely produced. The teal was also removed so that the flag would have an even number of stripes.

A portion of the first rainbow pride flag (pictured below) now lives in the GLBT Historical Society Museum and Archives in San Fransisco. It seems to be the only surviving remnant of the once 30ft by 60ft flag.

Eventually I plan to go more in-depth on the life of Gillbert Baker himself but for now this will do. I hope this taught you something new!

Edits: Originally said teal stripe was taken out due to dye difficulties like pink

[lesbianlenses]

This is Lorraine Hurdle. She was a Black lesbian woman who served as a recruiter for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. She donated an extensive archive of photographs to the GLBT Historical Society which document her military career, her postwar travels, and her many relationships with other military women.