San Francisco
— The program series for June 2019 sponsored by the GLBT Historical Society will highlight Latinx families, the 1954 raid on North Beach lesbian bar Tommy’s Place, a new anthology offering an overview of American LGBTQ history and performances by Latinx artists. All events take place from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the GLBT Historical Society Museum at 4127 18th St. in the Castro District. For more information, visit
www.glbthistory.org
.
Exhibition Opening
Chosen Familias: Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx Histories
Friday, June 7
7:00–9:00 p.m.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Admission: $5; free for members
The opening reception for a new exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum displays photography, ephemera and text to center both biological and chosen Latinx LGBTQ family connections as structures that build hope and resilience. By queering the concept of the traditional family photo album, the exhibition reframes historical documentation of mothers, daughters, fathers, children, aunts and uncles. “Chosen
Familias” will feature several displays of family photo albums, while a video station will play interviews with and footage of Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx activists and artists of the past four decades. Curated by Tina Valentin Aguirre, chair of the society’s board of directors, the exhibition expands the definition of LGBTQ family to encompass not just biological relatives, but also mentors, coalition members and the networks of people that have supported us. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are available online at
https://bit.ly/2IIm8Of.
Living History Discussion
Thrill Spot: The Raid on Tommy’s Place
Thursday, June 13
7:00–9:00 p.m.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Admission: $5; free for members
The 1954 police raid on Tommy’s Place, a lesbian bar in San Francisco’s North Beach, is the stuff of legend. Lurid headlines describing the seduction of teenage girls in a “vice academy” were followed by sensational stories teeming with swaggering butches, police graft and political intrigue. Lambda Award–winning author and visual artist Katie Gilmartin shares her research about this event, as well as excerpts from the draft of the fictional account inspired by the raid that she is currently writing. She will offer reflections on how archives and oral histories serve as the basis for historical fiction imagining the lives of LGBTQ ancestors. This program is offered in collaboration with Openhouse and is made possibly by grants from Queer Cultural Center and the Creative Work Fund. Tickets are available online at
https://bit.ly/2UYLldE.
Book Launch
Four Decades of Queer History: The Routledge History of Queer America
Tuesday, June 18
7:00–9:00 p.m.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Admission: $5; free for members
The Routledge History of Queer America (2018), the first comprehensive overview of the field of United States LGBTQ history, is a landmark work. Edited by Don Romesburg, professor of women and gender studies at Sonoma State University and former cochair of the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors, the anthology features over 20 authors and nearly 30 chapters on essential topics and themes in queer history from colonial times to the present. In this roundtable organized in celebration of the release of the new paperback edition, Romesburg will be joined by a panel of historians who will evaluate the state of the field of queer American history. Tickets are available online at
https://bit.ly/2IIn70T.
Performance
¡Aplauso! Live Storytelling & Performances
Friday, June 21
7:00–9:00 p.m.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Admission: $5; free for members
An impressive group of Latinx queer artists and performance artists will stage dances, enact theater scenes, read poetry and show short films celebrating the culture and diversity of the queer Latinx community. Performers include transgender artist Donna Personna; artist, oral historian, and activist Mason J.; drag queen Foxxy Blue Orchid; performance artist Xandra Ibarra; Chicana writer Natalia M. Vigil; and activist, filmmaker and dancer Dulce. This event is being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Chosen
Familias: Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx Histories,” opening at the GLBT Historical Society Museum on June 7. Tickets are available online at
https://bit.ly/2XIiJlR.
ABOUT THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM
Open since January 2011, the GLBT Historical Society Museum (formerly known as the GLBT History Museum) is the first full-scale, stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States. Its Main Gallery features a long-term exhibition on San Francisco LGBTQ history, "Queer Past Becomes Present." Its Front Gallery and Community Gallery host changing exhibitions. The institution also sponsors forums, author talks and other programs.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum is a project of the GLBT Historical Society, a public history center and archives that collects, preserves and interprets the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and the communities that support them. Founded in 1985, the society maintains one of the world's largest collections of LGBTQ historical materials. For more information, visit
www.glbthistory.org
.
