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New Exhibition, Publication and Website Celebrate Groundbreaking Queer Journal
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by Mark Sawchuk
Inspired by the 30th anniversary of the founding of OUT/LOOK, artist E. G. Crichton (pictured above) has created a new exhibition, "OUT/LOOK & the Birth of the Queer," open through January 2018 at the GLBT History Museum. Supported by a major grant from the Creative Work Fund, the show commemorates a groundbreaking national queer journal published in San Francisco from 1988 to 1992 that sparked vigorous debate during its five-year run. Crichton cofounded the publication and served as its art director.
As curator for the exhibition, Crichton
invited artists and writers to respond to each of the 17 issues of the journal. "Fairly early on, I conceived of it as a way of creating intergenerational dialogue," she explained. "OUT/LOOK was committed to diversity, uniting different viewpoints, types of writing, and visual work. We brought together women and men in an era of extreme gender separatism in queer magazines and consciously strove for racial diversity. With this project, I wanted to find out what younger people would think of the magazine now and start a new set of conversations."
Responding to the History
Walking into the exhibition, visitors can ponder the history of OUT/LOOK in a mural reproducing covers of the magazine, as well as enormous chalk drawings based on cartoons by a frequent contributor, the late Kris Kovick. Crichton's matchmaking also resulted in new artwork, essays, poetry, fiction and plays. The visual works are on display at the museum. Both visual and written works are featured on the associated website
and
in a new print issue of OUT/LOOK, available in the museum store.
The contributions are striking in their range of approaches and media. E. Patrick Johnson, for example, responded to the fourth issue of OUT/LOOK with a powerful poem. Julio Salgado's painting Drawing My Brown in a Sea of White, a response to issue 17, is a forceful look at the ways queer people of color are left out of mainstream queer narratives. Inspired by issue 5, Dorothy R. Santos's "Swallowing My Boredom" uses interactive fiction to reimagine her teenage years as a Filipina-American.
Thirty years after it first appeared, OUT/LOOK continues making an impact. "I still run into people periodically who talk about how much they miss OUT/LOOK and how it changed their lives," Crichton observed. "This project enables us to revisit the journal's contributions through our holdings at the archives -- and to honor those contributions and share them with a new generation of queer people."
Mark Sawchuk is a member of the Communications Working Group of the GLBT Historical Society.
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 From the Executive Director
The Challenge: Meeting a Generous Match
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by Terry Beswick
This month, I want to use my column to give you a challenge.
One year ago, we launched Vision 2020, our campaign to establish a New Museum of LGBTQ History and Culture in San Francisco. Not yet officially a capital campaign, the goal was to expand our membership and donor base so we can prepare for further growth.
Since then, the number of members of the GLBT Historical Society has indeed grown. Currently, our total active membership, including donors giving $30 and above, is approaching 2,000. To take the next steps toward the new museum, now we need to expand our base of members and donors even more.
This November, as we move into the season of gratitude and giving, we trust that the thousands of supporters of LGBTQ history and culture on our mailing list will consider joining the GLBT Historical Society at any level -- and know that many current members will step up their support, too.
Doubling the Impact
So here's the challenge to each of you: Every dollar you and your friends donate during our year-end campaign will be matched by a $25,000 grant from our generous and steadfast supporters Al Baum and Robert Holgate ($10,000), the Bob Ross Foundation ($10,000) and the Excelerate Foundation ($5,000).
If you're already a member, please consider increasing your support. If you're not yet a member, sign up today. And do be sure to ask your friends, colleagues and social media contacts to support the society, too. By donating now, you'll double the impact of your gift thanks to the challenge grant.
Our community deserves a full-scale queer public history center that not only will enable us to exhibit our rich and diverse history and culture, but also will serve as a center for research and education and as a home for our ever-growing archives.
In the coming year, I believe we will see great progress in our campaign to establish such a center -- and I know you'll want to be a part of this groundbreaking effort to ensure that our queer past has a fantastic future.
I invite you to join the GLBT Historical Society's Vision 2020 campaign: Donate now by clicking here.
Terry Beswick is executive director of the GLBT Historical Society.
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| In the Archives
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by Gerard Koskovich
Responding to the shock, grief and disorientation the LGBTQ community experienced at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic was one of the factors that inspired the creation of the GLBT Historical Society in 1985. The first issue of our newsletter offered this explanation: "Part of the dying and grieving processes involves remembering and reflecting on the past, and the crisis itself has heightened our awareness of the history of the present."
Our archives reflect this early and enduring commitment to preserving the memory of lives lost to AIDS and to documenting the impact of the epidemic on the LGBTQ community and Northern California as a whole. While researching a talk about the Historical Society's three decades of work on the history of HIV/AIDS that I gave last month at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseille, France, I did a preliminary assessment of our AIDS-related holdings.
Here's some of what I learned: Among our approximately 600 collections of organizational records and personal papers, at least 140 include materials dealing with HIV/AIDS. In our periodicals collection, 68 magazines focus entirely on the topic. Our collections of photographs, ephemera, posters, t-shirts, artifacts, audio recordings, and film and video likewise include documentation on the epidemic. The holdings represent a range of overlapping groups, including LGBTQ people, women, people of color, transgender individuals, injection drug users, immigrants and prisoners.
To learn more about this exceptionally rich body of historical materials, visit the Archives page on our website. Enter the keywords "AIDS" and "HIV" into the searchable catalog of archival collections to discover materials you can consult in our reading room. And search the digitized audio collections, too, for links to the full recordings of 32 gay radio programs from 1983-1984 that report on the AIDS crisis.
Gerard Koskovich is communications director for the GLBT Historical Society.
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Happy Hour
Queer Heritage Gathering at the Paper Doll
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Thursday, November 2
5:30-8:00 PM
Paper Doll Space
524 Union St., San Francisco
Free | Donations welcome
Just on the heels of Halloween, join the Historic Places Working Group of the GLBT Historical Society for a rare opportunity to mingle with the ghosts of the LGBTQ past at the North Beach home of the Paper Doll, San Francisco's first queer restaurant (circa 1944-1948). Our Queer Heritage Happy Hour for November will be held at the space, currently closed to the public. The gathering will include free drinks, a tour of the interior and a chance to learn about the owners' efforts to preserve and landmark the structure. Free admission, but advance registration is required. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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Film Screening
From Trauma to Activism: Pioneers of Liberation
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Friday, November 3
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
A new feature-length documentary, From Trauma to Activism unpacks LGBTQ history with first-person narratives from audacious pathfinders, gay liberationists, dykes and lesbian separatists. These pioneers formulated a daring politics with insights about human existence, gender identity and sexual orientation that has inspired generations of post-Stonewall activists, historians, artists, filmmakers, writers and everyday individuals. To capture these stories from the founders of the modern LGBTQ movement, activist filmmaker Steven F. Dansky, who was a member of the Gay Liberation Front, journeyed from coast to coast through rural communities to urban epicenters in the United States and globally via Skype to Bangkok, Buenos Aires and Melbourne. Following the screening, Dansky will take part in a Q&A and will discuss the film and his ongoing project, Outspoken: Oral History From LGBTQ Pioneers. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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History Talk
"Unnatural" Lesbians, Inheritance & Family Conflict
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Wednesday, November 8
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Marie Equi and Harriet Speckart and Gail Laughlin and Mary A. Sperry were West Coast couples in the early 20th century. When inheritances came into play, the mothers of two of the women sued to block the bequests, asserting that "unnatural" lesbians could make no claim to family assets. Independent scholar Paula Lichtenberg will discuss Laughlin and Sperry, and Equi biographer Michael Helquist will discuss Equi and Speckart. The speakers also will look at how the couples presented their relationships publicly at a time when discretion was required and will sketch the women's activist lives, especially Laughlin's career as a suffragist, attorney and state legislator and Equi's advocacy for reproductive rights, suffrage, workers and the anti-war movement. The talks are presented in conjunction with "Faces From the Past," a new exhibit in our Main Gallery that looks at LGBTQ lives in Northern California before 1930; Lichtenberg is co-curator of the display. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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Film Premiere
Before Homosexuals: From Antiquity to 1900
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Saturday, November 11
4:00 - 5:30 PM
The Roxie Theater
3117 16th St., San Francisco
$12.50 | $10 for members
Pride of the Ocean and the Center for Independent Documentary present a special San Francisco premiere of John Scagliotti's new feature-length documentary Before Homosexuals: From Ancient Times to Victorian Crimes. The film takes viewers on a tour of same-sex desire from antiquity to the 19th century via interviews with researchers and artists who have recovered the stories of this erotic history. Emmy Award-winning director Scagliotti has produced numerous films, radio programs and television shows, including the pioneering LGBTQ magazine series on PBS, "In the Life." This screening is a benefit for the GLBT Historical Society and is sponsored by Pride of the Ocean's Saving History Film Festival Cruise. After the film-showing, the director will take part in a Q&A and discussion with the audience. To purchase tickets, visit the Roxie Theater website.
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Panel Discussion
Queerness in Flux: Shifting Gender Identities
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Thursday, November 16
7:00 - 9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
In conjunction with our exhibition "OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer," this panel discussion will examine connections between the recent LGBTQ past and contemporary issues by addressing shifts in gender identities, culture and politics. Surveys in the groundbreaking queer journal OUT/LOOK (1988-1992) asked "What is your gender?" with just two choices: female or male. Panelists will contrast that era of queer history with the radical gender possibilities created by LGBTQ people today. Three of the panelists -- Bo, Julian Carter and Ajuan Mance -- have created works for the exhibition that interrogate gender and its intersections. Also joining the discussion will be New York-based activist and author Amber Hollibaugh, who has written extensively about gender in the context of class, age and economic justice. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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Film Screening, Performance & Party
Shifting Spaces: Queer Nightlife in the City
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Saturday, November 18
6:00 - 8:30 PM
Eric Quezada Center for Culture & Politics
518 Valencia St., San Francisco
$20.00
In San Francisco and internationally, just as LGBTQ identities are seemingly becoming more acceptable, cities are losing the queer bars that center women, trans people and people of color. At this special event, the SF Urban Film Fest will examine the importance of such territories and will challenge participants to imagine new modes of building queer space. Co-presented by Still Here SF and the GLBT Historical Society, the evening will feature performances by Still Here artists, short films about the now-closed Esta Noche and Lexington Club, a panel discussion, light dinner and drinks, and music by DJ Johnnycakes offering a journey of queer sounds and voices. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the SF Urban Film Fest website.
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Community Forum
Fighting Back: Race & the LGBTQ Community
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Tuesday, November 28
7:00 - 9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Free | $5.00 donation welcome
The latest in our monthly "Fighting Back" series exploring contemporary queer-community issues in a historical context, "Race and the LGBTQ Community" will offer a multigenerational conversation about race relations among LGBTQ people. A panel of historians, veteran organizers and younger activists will discuss the how the LGBTQ community has dealt with issues of race over time and how this history of challenges and successes can help inform today's intersectional resistance movements. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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EXHIBITIONS & PROGRAMS
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 621-1107
Monday & Wednesday - Saturday: 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday: Closed
Sunday: Noon - 5:00 PM
ARCHIVES & RESEARCH CENTER
The GLBT Historical Society
989 Market St., Lower Level
San Francisco, CA 94103-1708
(415) 777-5455
www.glbthistory.org/archives
Call to schedule a research appointment.
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