State
A Rosetta Stone of My San Francisco Life
Back in May, we ran a story about a digitized collection we made available this spring: the Daniel A. Smith and Queer Blue Light Videotape Collection. This remarkable collection consists of nearly 100 half-inch videotapes recorded by the Queer Blue Light (QBL) Collective, a grassroots guerilla project that documented the politics and culture of the local LGBTQ community in the 1970s. The footage was all shot on a Sony Portapak, one of the first self-contained videotape recorders from the late 1960s.
While the majority of the tapes document the activities of the QBL Collective, they also include footage by QBL members of friends relaxing together and living everyday life. In her article in May, our project archivist Megan Needels was especially taken with a tape that depicted an informal dinner party that recorded what she described as “pure queer joy.” We’re delighted to bring you a follow up to this story: an interview with John Carr. Carr held the party at his apartment on Castro and Market Streets on February 29, 1980—it was a “Leap Day” party. Thirty-five years later, while attending the Frameline Festival, Carr recognized himself in footage licensed from the society by documentary filmmaker Stu Maddox for his 2015 documentary Reel in the Closet. Carr connected with Maddox and went on to donate three of his own Portapak videotapes to the GLBT Historical Society as the John Carr Videotapes.
How did you find out that the QBL tapes existed and that some of your own Portapak tapes might be readable?
JC: I knew the tapes existed because Dan Smith was a friend. His partner in QBL was Earl Galvin, who was my boyfriend at the time. Somehow, some of the tapes he made of parties at my flat ended up in the QBL collection. He had given three others to me. I did not know that the GLBT Historical Society now had the QBL tapes until I saw myself in Reel in the Closet in 2015. Stu Maddux told me about John Raines, a digital media whiz, who then digitized the other three tapes I had. Seeing those tapes again opened up a huge lost world, because it was 35 years since the tapes had been made and there was no equipment to play them on anymore. It was like finding the Rosetta Stone in terms of my life at that time. 1980 was a year before AIDS started. I lost count of how many friends I lost to AIDS, and several of the people in the tapes had died, but some that were possibly still alive, so I searched for them, found some on Facebook and brought them back into my life.
What do you remember about this 1980 Leap Day Party?
JC: That party really showcased my friends, I think. Most of them were single and cruising others at the party, even sort of flirting with the camera. Haha! And the novelty of home video—people being on camera like that—was brand new at that time. [The Sony Portapak] was a cumbersome piece of equipment. The battery only lasted 20 minutes and the tape 30 minutes, so you knew you had to change either the tape or battery or both if you had a long program that you wanted to record! (Laughs). We were just having fun, Earl brought it over for the parties, and we got high and had a good time. I had just escaped from a toxic relationship and took that apartment, so I was a single person again, and February 29 was a Leap Day so it was a good time to have a first party, and I was finally ready to have some people over.
What feelings do you experience, seeing yourself in the footage?
JC: Seeing the people in the tapes alive again reminded me that you forget a lot in 35+ years. It reminded me of the wonderful times we had, which I held in a kind of generic way in my head but this was a specific moment, and it was delightful to see. Going through HIV a lot of people went home, and you may not have known where they went, they just disappeared. They may have died.
San Francisco was such a focal point, a meeting place, back in those days, I arrived here in 1975. It was quite a magic time to be here and everyone was coming from somewhere else, but all of them had a coming-out story. That’s what I remember most about that time: we were dealing with a very diverse group of people who had some very similar things in common, they were running from or running to something. And boy, when they got here it all just exploded in so many ways, the exploring of their intellectual, their sexual and personal lives just happened. It was so repressed up to that point.
One thing that comes up for me strongly is, “Wow, there are people who are interested in this!” Now, as people make ephemeral recordings of their daily lives, they tend to think that future generations aren’t going to be interested in this, so it surprised me that there are people who are interested. And so, I say, please folks: If you have any of this stuff and you’re getting up there in years or whatever, consider donating it to the GLBT Historical Society, don’t toss it out. Give them a chance because you won’t know what’s important to future generations. Your life is important whether you’re here or gone, so let other people see into your life.
John Carr grew up in Colorado and has lived in San Francisco for the past 47 years, where he had a landscaping company until his retirement in 2004. Michael Lownie, his life partner of 19 years, is a fine artist.
Displaying More of Our Rainbow: A Conversation With Ms. Bob Davis
The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive (LLTA or Louise), founded and managed by professor Ms. Bob Davis, is a fiscally sponsored project of the GLBT Historical Society. Located in Vallejo, California, it is one of the world’s largest repositories of archival materials pertaining to transgender and gender-nonconforming people in the world. In honor of Transgender Awareness Week this November, we interviewed Ms. Bob about Louise’s latest projects and on the significance of transgender history.
What are some of the initiatives that LLTA has been focusing on during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Ms. Bob: Back in 2019, I gave a talk at the “Queering Memory” conference in Berlin called “Glamour, Drag and Death: HIV/AIDS in the Art of Three Drag Queen Painters.” It focused on the artists and performers Jerome Caja, Doris Fish and Miss Kitty, all three of whom died between 1991 and 1995, and includes analysis of artworks held by both LLTA and the GLBT Historical Society. I published an article based on the talk in Transgender Studies Quarterly this February, and now I’m working on turning the material into a short documentary film to reach a wider audience. I want people to learn about how these artists confronted AIDS. It was less intellectual; they responded in a visceral, emotional way, in a very valiant fight to retain their identities in the face of this horrible crisis. It’s now thirty years since the height of the AIDS pandemic, and there’s a whole generation of LGBTQ people who simply don’t have that lived experience. It’s important to pass on this history so they can learn about what the community went through.
What can you tell us about your ongoing online “scrapbook” project on the LLTA website?
Ms. Bob: It’s an online project called “I Think This is Our Denise: Discovering Forgotten Scrapbooks of Trans History,” and it’s based on a remarkable collection of six large scrapbooks donated by Taryn Gundling in 2014. They belonged to a trans woman named Denise, and contain over a dozen pages of candid photographs of transgender people and cross-dressers from the 1960s and 1970s. This was a time when the transgender community was just beginning to define itself and establish networks. It took four years of research to learn more about Denise and the people in the photographs. I recognized some of them in other LLTA archival collections; in issues of the first national transgender community magazine, Transvestia, which began publishing in 1960; and in photographs held by the Art Gallery of Ontario, many of which were published in the book Casa Susanna. These photos depict transgender people vacationing at several Catskill mountain resorts, one of them named Casa Susanna, run by Susanna Valenti and her wife Marie. These establishments served as safe spaces for transgender women to vacation in their gender of choice in the 1960s and 1970s.
Now we’re using the scrapbooks to do a deep dive into transgender history. LLTA is partnering with the Art Gallery of Ontario; the Transgender Archive at University of Victoria; the website “A Gender Variance Who’s Who”; and the Digital Transgender Archive to create an online hub that connects the resources of all five organizations to present photographs, biographies, and autobiographical articles about the individuals in the scrapbook. For example, many of the people in the snapshots wrote autobiographical articles in early issues of Transvestia, so the site connects you to essays they wrote about their lives. This project will allow them to really live again, and the site is being beautifully put together by our webmaster Robyn Adams.
You’ve been curating LLTA for many years now. What’s something you want people to learn about transgender history?
Ms. Bob: One of the things I’m personally interested in conveying relates to the growing awareness of trans, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, genderqueer identities that we see today. When you examine historical materials, you realize that these shades of gender and gender identity have always been with us; they aren’t just emerging or being “invented” now. Trans people in the early 1960s, when the community first began to organize, were working with different terms, often borrowed from the medical establishment and out of date now. They certainly didn’t have the vocabulary that is available today. But if you dig down, the documentation reveals that people were defining, exploring, and working out their identities in complex ways. Understanding this supports us in continuing the work of building our community in the present so that we can display more of our rainbow.
Ms. Bob Davis (she/her/hers) is the founder and director of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive. In the 1990s she served two terms on the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors.
San Francisco achieves yet another first in LGBTQ+ history with transgender bishop
For nearly all transgender or gender nonconforming people, correcting a well-intentioned person when they inadvertently use the wrong pronoun can be highly fraught. Bring it up and you’re likely to derail a pleasant conversation. Let it go and you’ll probably brood about it all afternoon.
But when you’re the first-ever high-ranking trans cleric of a major Christian denomination, tasked with caring for people whose level of familiarity with trans issues could fall anywhere, it’s much tougher.
For the Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, who was installed on Sunday, Sept. 12, as the Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and who uses they/them pronouns, progress has meant a sort of learning what not to hear.
“Regardless of how people talk to me, as long as it was kind, it was OK,” they say. “Anytime I would correct pronouns when I was trying to talk pastorally to people, I was turning the subject from them to me, and then they feel like they need to apologize publicly — which draws even more attention to it.”
“I have a trans child, for whom, if ‘they’ isn’t used, will be in tears for days,” Rohrer says. “That has given me the permission to be really public about it: ‘Nope, you’re going to use “they,” because if you screw up with me, I’m going to have grace about it.’ Letting people know my pronouns and my name is great.”
“Not on every piece of stationery,” they add, “but enough that people can Google it.”
In terms of identity and breaking barriers, it’s almost always difficult navigating the scrutiny that goes along with being the first anyone to do anything. And this isn’t Rohrer’s first time. In 2017, they became the first transgender chaplain with the San Francisco Police Department, at a time when the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and the cops had grown strained over scandals involving officers sending homophobic texts and the rising awareness of racist police violence. Rohrer believed their (voluntary) position was well-suited to bring about a more constructive atmosphere.
“I really affirm the idea of being in the strategic place to critique all systems of power, those making the largest decisions,” they say. “What I learned from being in lots of different listening sessions, there’s a full variety of LGBTQ+ folks in the Bay Area, and I saw that diversity of thinking around what people want in policing, what people thought safety was, what people thought was a crime.”
At the request of unhoused LGBTQ+ youth, Rohrer helped put together a potluck with LGBTQ+ officers — some of whom had experienced homelessness themselves, and who attended out of uniform. Rohrer expected “a grumpy conversation,” but the officers listened for three hours, and by the end, some of the kids were asking for information on how to become cops.
Summing up that detente between representatives of two groups who are often at odds, Rohrer says, “The progress of the world is dependent on every new generation believing that they’re right so strongly that it moves the world forward.”
Such tensions are not as inflamed as they were even a year ago. But Rohrer’s installation as bishop comes as vast tracts of the Sierra Pacific Synod’s territory are on hair-trigger alert for destructive wildfires, which generate spiritual crises of their own. Rohrer sees the conflagrations as a source of trauma requiring specialized pastoral care — especially for first responders.
New Senior Housing From LA LGBT Center’s Ariadne Getty Foundation
The LA LGBT Center has completed construction of a new senior housing complex next-door to its Anita May Rosenstein Campus in Hollywood.
Los Angeles-based Killefer Flammang Architects (KFA) and New York-based Leong Leong have completed the Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing Complex.
Replacing a surface parking lot at 1127 N. Las Palmas, the five-story senior housing complex features 98 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments reserved for low-income seniors.
The building, in addition to housing, includes a fitness center, and a courtyard. The apartments are accompanied by inset balconies, and are designed to be wheelchair accessible.
The project includes a mix of traditional affordable housing, leased through a lottery system, and permanent supportive housing where rents will be covered through public funds.
The apartments, which are reserved for residents aged 62 and older, will offer rents up to $1,175 per month, as well as access to specialized services catering to LGBT adults, meals, case management, and employment training. Twenty-six of the 98 units are earmarked for individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness. The rents of those units will be fully covered by city- and county-provided grants.
“The lack of affordable housing in this country is at an all-time high and presents even greater hardships for the LGBTQ community given the many biases which continue to exist. It’s an even greater problem amongst LGBTQ seniors,” said Ariadne Getty, president and executive director of the foundation, in a statement.
In early 2020, construction commenced on the housing-focused second phase of the project, one made possible thanks to a $2.5 million gift from the Ariadne Getty Foundation (AGF). Also recently completed on the campus is a 26-unit Youth Housing complex located across the street from the Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing building.
Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing was developed by Thomas Safran & Associates, an L.A.-based affordable housing developer and property management company.
LA County Votes To Increase Services For LGBTQ Jail Populations
On Tuesday, Oct. 19 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to expand mental health treatment and other supportive services for LGBTQ people, both inside and out of county jails.
The movement’s lead author, supervisor Sheila Kühl, said this will also address concerns that a large number of women, including pregnant or elderly women, have been unnecessarily imprisoned.
“The county needs to pay close attention to the sexual orientation and gender identity of the people in custody, because without knowing who they are, they cannot effectively meet their needs. “Because,” Kühl added. The motion calls for the implementation of a series of recommendations detailed in a report issued by the county’s Gender Response Advisory Board.
There are about 1,300 inmates held daily at Century Regional Detention Facility, the county’s women’s jail in Lynwood.
A 2020 RAND Corporation analysis estimated that roughly one-third of women in county jail have mental health issues and that nearly three-quarters of those women could be safely treated outside a jail setting.
However, releasing them would require significantly ramping up the number of available inpatient and outpatient beds in the community.
Reliable data on the LGBTQ+ population in Los Angeles County jails is not currently available, but a national survey indicates that roughly one-third of women behind bars across the country identify as lesbian or bisexual. The board motion also calls for additional data gathering.
Women are the fastest growing population in U.S. prisons and jails, and an estimated 86% of women in jail nationwide have been victims of sexual violence, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who co-authored the motion, recalled voting more than 20 years ago on a state public safety bill aimed at “stopping belly chaining and shackling pregnant women who are in active labor as they are being transported from prison or jail to deliver. Just barbaric ideology, barbaric practice.”
Mitchell also pointed out the racial inequities evident in the disproportionate number of Black women jailed for crimes largely rooted in issues of substance abuse and poverty.
“Black women comprise only 9% of all the women in L.A. County, yet they make up 33% of jail bookings among women,” Mitchell said. “The racial and gender inequities in our jail system are real and must be addressed.”
The Kuehl/Mitchell motion also referenced a goal to shut down Men’s Central Jail without a replacement as central to that vision, although that particular objective is opposed by both Sheriff Alex Villanueva — who runs the jails — and Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
Both Barger and the sheriff agree that the dangerously decrepit jail must be closed, but believe a replacement is needed to house and treat inmates who cannot be safely released, particularly given the current lack of community infrastructure.
Los Angeles LGBT Center Opens New Facility In South Los Angeles
Los Angeles LGBT Center has opened a new facility in South Los Angeles to serve the health needs of LGBT Black and Latino communities.
On October 13th the Los Angeles LGBT Center opened the doors of Center South, a 5,500-square-foot community space located at 2313 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. near Leimert Park, which signifies the first-ever expansion of the world’s largest LGBT organization into South Los Angeles and champions its long-term commitment to care for LGBT people living throughout the city.
The grand opening community celebration included remarks by Center CEO Lorri L. Jean, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health – Division of HIV and STD Programs Director Mario J. Pérez, and Los Angeles Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, guests toured the facility and reveled in the daylong festivity which included food, refreshments, giveaways, a resource fair, and entertainment.
“We’re thrilled to be opening Center South, and we’re proud to be doing so with wonderful partners: Bienestar Human Services, Black AIDS Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and The Wall Las Memorias Project. Together, we will serve a wider array of folks here than we are now doing separately,” said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean. “Most importantly, among our areas of focus will be the people who are most vulnerable for new HIV infections: young gay and bisexual Black and Latino men and transgender women of color. We intend for Center South to be an especially welcoming place for them.”
Funded in part by the County Department of Public Health, Center South addresses the societal and health needs of LGBT people of color living in South Los Angeles by providing comprehensive programs and services, such as HIV testing; access to PrEP and PEP services; housing case management; mental health services; and a drop-in safe space which can also be used to host community events. A CyberCenter computer lab comprised of a new printer and eight new Lenovo desktop computers loaded with Office 2016 and Windows 10 software was generously funded by the David Bohnett Foundation.
“L.A. County’s Department of Public Health, Division of HIV and STD Programs (DHSP) has set out to support new and innovative programming to address multiple sociocultural, environmental, and economic challenges faced by young African American and Latino men who have sex with men,” said DHSP Director Mario J. Pérez. “On behalf of the residents of L.A. County, we are proud and pleased to support and welcome the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s new site in Leimert Park to realize this vision. It is our hope and commitment that the Center’s new programming will further advance efforts to stem the tide of HIV and STDs and help eliminate stubbornly persistent health inequalities.”
All of Center South’s programs and services will be provided to everyone for free or at low cost with a focus on serving the needs of young gay and bisexual men of color ages 12 to 29. According to the 2017 Los Angeles County Annual HIV Surveillance Report, South Los Angeles had the second highest rate of HIV diagnoses in the county. The rate continues to rise among young Black and Latino gay and bisexual men, and the rate among Black cisgender women are slowly increasing.
“Leimert Park has a thriving community of LGBTQ people of color, and I would like to welcome the Los Angeles LGBT Center to South Los Angeles as they continue their 50-year-plus history of life-changing and life-saving work,” said Los Angeles Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “The Center has provided safe spaces across L.A. for decades, and young Black and Latinx gay and bi (cis)men and women need that kind of support here in their neighborhood.”
The four partnering organizations aforementioned—Bienestar Human Services, Black AIDS Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and The Wall Las Memorias Project—will provide auxiliary programs and services to Center South clients, such as linkage to care for HIV testing, PrEP, and PEP; trainings on community organizing and social justice; and workshops to develop creative, impactful projects that educate communities about HIV. Additionally, local young gay and bisexual Black and Latino men are encouraged to join any of the social networking groups held at Center South, among them: Lit Life (which teaches sexual health and wellness), Positive Images (for those living with HIV), U/O Project (for those ages 16–29); and Continuum Project (which provides peer support to those between the ages of 18 and 65 who are at-risk for HIV).
“Today is the realization of a dream of many years, but this is just the beginning,” said Jean. “By working with our partner organizations and local community leaders, I have no doubt that, together, we will ensure that Center South becomes a vibrant, vital, and beloved part of our South Los Angeles community.”
Center South’s hours of operations are Monday thru Friday from 10 a.m.–7 p.m. In addition to Center South, the Los Angeles LGBT Center owns and/or manages nine other facilities throughout Los Angeles, among them: the flagship Anita May Rosenstein Campus; the McDonald/Wright Building; The Village at Ed Gould Plaza; Triangle Square; Center WeHo; and the partnership facilities of Mi Centro and the Trans Wellness Center.
AIDS/LifeCycle Kick Off Ride
AIDS/LifeCycle is kicking off it’s 2022 training season to end AIDS on October 16th.
Riders can sign up for the first in-person event of the season, AIDS/LifeCycle Kickoff Ride. Beginner and advanced riders are encouraged to register since AIDS/LifeCycle fully supports both long and short ride options, offering the perfect opportunity to safely meet or reconnect with the community.
The first ride is a 13 mile route which offers glimpses of the ocean while pedaling from Santa Monica to Marina del Rey and back. This route opens immediately after the bicycle skills clinic however the route is subject to change.
The more advanced ride is a 37 mile route which also offers glimpses of the ocean while pedaling from Santa Monica to Marina del Rey, however this route continues onto the Ballona Creek bike path and into South LA where the turnaround point is at the Los Angeles LGBT Center South! Center South is hosting Rest Stop 2 and offering micro tours! This route is also subject to change.
Check In Opens at 7:15am and shortly after a stage program will kick off at 8:30am. The 37 mile route and bicycle skills clinic opens at 9am with the 13 mile route opening at 9:30am.
Riders who register for the Ride can meet community partners, enjoy rest stop snacks, hydration, and a meal at the finish line.
According to the AIDS/LifeCycle website proof of vaccination, photo ID verification, and masks are required for participation. All participants must have received one Johnson & Johnson shot or second Pfizer/Moderna shot by October 2nd.
EQCA Victory Fund endorses Trans candidate Lisa Middleton
Today Equality California and LGBTQ Victory Fund jointly announced their endorsements of Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Middleton in her race for California Senate District 28. The endorsements demonstrate an early commitment from the LGBTQ political community to elect Middleton, who would be the first out transgender state legislator in California history. In 2017, Middleton became the first out transgender person elected to a non-judicial position in California, when she won her race for Palm Springs City Council.
Only eight out transgender people have ever been elected to state legislatures in the United States. All are currently serving.
“Lisa Middleton is an accomplished leader who has made her region more inclusive, just and equitable,” said Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang. “That’s why Equality California is thrilled to announce our early support for Lisa’s campaign for Senate. The 28th District needs Lisa’s courage, innovative thinking and unique ability to build coalitions in Sacramento, where she will be a trailblazing champion for full, lived equality while delivering critical resources to her community. We’re with Lisa 100 percent and look forward to helping her make history once again as California’s first transgender state legislator.”
“A victory for Lisa will shatter a long-standing political barrier in California and will be a milestone moment for the state and the country,” said Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund. “Yet Lisa is not running for state senate to be a trailblazer. She is a passionate public servant who brings solutions-oriented optimism to challenges big and small – from filling potholes to healthcare access to climate change. Her constituents’ quality of life will always be the priority, but Lisa’s election will also inspire a new generation of trans leaders to follow in her footsteps.”
“I am deeply humbled and thrilled to receive the joint endorsements of Equality California and LGBTQ Victory Fund,” said State Senate District 28 candidate Lisa Middleton. “Since launching my bid for State Senate, the profound, extensive support I’ve received from the LGBTQ community has been a tremendous honor and boost to my campaign. I remain committed to being a leader who helps to unify and proudly stands for respect, inclusion and opportunity and that my campaign can also show the transgender community that nothing is out of reach, and we can win at all levels of government. I look forward to hopefully partnering with both incredible organizations in Sacramento to continue being an unrelenting advocate for our community and fighting for full, lived equality.”
As Mayor Pro Tem and a member of the Palm Springs City Council, Middleton ensured PPE and vaccines were available to residents, led efforts on solar requirements for all new homes and worked to address inequities in the city – including the unique challenges LGBTQ+ seniors face.
Middleton’s primary will be held on June 7, 2022.
Man arrested for beating couple, police dog in apparent hate crime
Police in Palo Alto, California have arrested a man in connection with a brutal attack on a woman and a gay man as well as a police dog in a crime apparently motivated by hate.
Alexander Joseph Furrier, 26, faces charges of felony battery, felony hate crime, felony assault on a police dog, and resisting arrest, reports CBS News.
According to law enforcement, Furrier attended a house party with a female friend on Saturday night (October 9). The woman later left the party with two gay men, prompting Furrier to follow them while shouting homophobic slurs. The two men eventually parted company with the woman, which Furrier continued to pursue. When one of the men returned, the encounter turned violent.
The male victim confronted Furrier over his harassment, prompting Furrier to punch him several times while yelling homophobic epithets. The women then tried to intervene, at which point Furrier grabbed her and threw her to the ground.
The male victim–described as being in his 60s–lost consciousness and suffered cuts and bruises in the attack. The woman did not sustain serious injuries.
When police arrived on the scene, Furrier fled on foot, eventually hiding in a stairwell. Officers first tried to negotiate for Furrier to turn himself in before releasing a police dog on him. Furrier kicked and beat the animal, as well as choked it with his bare hands. The dog bit Furrier on the leg, finally getting him to relent. The dog later saw a veterinarian for a cut above its eyes and an injured paw, while Furrier’s male victim received treatment at a nearby hospital.
At the time of this writing, authorities are holding Furrier at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas without bail.