Community Treasures from the GLBT Historical Society Archives

“To

This dedication appears at the beginning of On a Grey Thread, the first collection of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America. A wink and a nod to the audiences who would find the book, the introduction is an intimate invitation, encouraging readers to ask whether they belonged to the “few” or to the “many.”

Published in 1923—a century ago this year—the poems convey the daring desires and heartfelt yearning of 25-year-old poet Elsa Gidlow. Her 1986 autobiography, Elsa: I Come with My Songs, was the first complete lesbian autobiography whose author published under her own name.

In 1954, she purchased a ranch that she named Druid Heights, using it as both a personal home and a retreat for fellow artists, feminists, and bohemians. An appearance in the 1977 documentary Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives brought a larger audience to Gidlow, who lived her long life out of the closet and within the queer community.

The photos here show Elsa throughout her life—as a dashing young poet, enjoying the company of her friends, lounging with her cat, and finally enjoying her garden in Druid Heights. They are held by the GLBT Historical Society, one of more than 1,000 individual archival collections that reveal a vast array of LGBTQ life, history, and culture. From drag outfits and massive flags, to deeply personal diaries and correspondence, to organizational records, historic bar signs, ephemera, and more, our archival holdings make up one of the largest collections of LGBTQ historical materials ever assembled.

We share our collection highlights at our museum, located at 4127 18th Street in the Castro district. Our archives, located downtown at 989 Market Street, are open by appointment to anyone interested in diving deeper into queer history. To book your visit to the GLBT Historical Society’s archives or museum, or to make a contribution to support the organization’s work, visit https://www.glbthistory.org/

The GLBT Historical Society maintains a strong commitment to documenting the diverse lives of LGBTQ communities and is especially interested in receiving and preserving archival collections that focus on the intersectional experiences of women, people of color, transgender, and nonbinary people. If you have materials that fit our mission and are interested in donating them, please consider contacting our archives staff at reference@glbthistory.org

Alliance, is holding an Anticipatory Grief Workshop for LGBTQ+ Caregivers. This 90-minute virtual workshop is designed to help LGBTQ+ caregivers better understand how they may be affected by anticipatory grief. Thursday, March 23, 4–5:30 pm. https://tinyurl.com/GriefWkshop

Bayard Rustin Anniversary Celebration

March 17 will mark the 111th anniversary of the birth of Bayard Rustin, so the Bayard Rustin Coalition will be celebrating his life and legacy of activism with a birthday party at the Grubstake Diner at 1525 Pine Street on March 18. Come celebrate with food, wine, a champagne toast, and birthday cake. More info: info@bayardrustincoalition.com

Until next time, friends. Go outside, make someone’s day, look for sunshine. Joanie Juster is a long-time community volunteer, activist, and ally.

MORALES (continued from pg 10) but also for the warm, kind, and loving person that he was. With his husband Dr. Nat Pyle and friends by his side, he transitioned peacefully and without pain. The last song he heard before his passing was Nina Simone’s “My Baby Just Cares for Me.” Tributes continue to be posted at this CaringBridge page: https://tinyurl.com/4r99xfzu

In addition to his husband, Dr. Loewy is survived by his daughter Hannah and numerous members of his chosen family who miss him dearly. A celebration of his life will take place on March 25, 2023, from 12–4 pm at The Sea Star, 2289 3rd Street, San Francisco. Another celebration of his life is currently being planned for April 1, 2023, in Santa Barbara. Additionally, friends of Dr. Loewy are planning to gather during the 2023 APA Convention in Washington, D.C., in August at a date and time to be determined to celebrate his life and to share loving stories.

I was surprised when I learned of Dr. Loewy’s passing and will miss his humor, warmth, and collegial spirit as a fellow psychologist. I could always count on him to address LGBTQ+ issues and to advocate for our community as well as to fight for all those who are marginalized and impacted by racial and social injustice. He holds a special place in my heart due to our long collaboration on common issues of interest.

Eduardo Morales, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus, retired Distinguished Professor, and current adjunct professor at Alliant International University. He is also a licensed psychologist and a founder and current Executive Director of AGUILAS, an award-winning program for Latinx LGBTQ+. Of Puerto Rican decent, he has received numerous distinguished awards and citations, including being named a Fellow of 12 divisions of the American Psychological Association.

Kansas basketball statistic since Wilt Chamberlain graced the Kansas court. Nonetheless, I triumphed. Make of that what you will.

What? You didn’t remember my bracket victory last year? Please pay closer attention, dear Readers. You’re missing the best parts.

Despicable Ron

I’m really starting to hate Ron DeSantis, with his smug outrage and preening self-importance. One of his latest moves is to take control of a 25,000-acre tax district that includes Disney World and other Disney facilities. By “take control,” I mean that the legislature has given him the right to name the five board members who will dictate policy for what was called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, but is now known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Starting in 1967, Disney had named the board members and made decisions for the area. Now, the rightwing DeSantis-named board will control the goings on, although it’s not exactly clear to me what changes they can make. Originally, DeSantis and the legislature were planning just to dissolve the District, but they thought twice once they realized that the local taxpayers might be on the hook for huge District debts or maybe obliged to pay for maintaining Disney’s roads and infrastructure. Instead, they rejiggered the District and put their own people in charge, leaving some powers in Disney’s hands in order to save the aforementioned taxpayers. All the board members are conservative, but one of them, Ron Peri, is actively anti-gay and runs The Gathering USA, a Christian ministry for men. Another member, Bridget Ziegler, founded “Moms for Liberty” to fight “woke” school policies, while Michael Sasso is President of the Orlando Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society, the right-wing legal group that advised Trump on all his judicial picks. It’s not just another one of DeSantis’s hard right maneuvers. It’s the small mindedness of his direct attack on Disney, payback for the company’s opposition to Don’t Say Gay. If you’re really sick of the political situation in the United States, and if you have a few bucks in the bank, you can always buy a gay pub called the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London for about $3 million. The four-floor tavern has been running a Saturday night cabaret since 1995 that has become one of the longest running club

GOMEZ (continued from pg 19) nights in the city. I think that kind of investment would get you a long-term visa. Plus, think of the streaming subscription fees you’d save if you could cancel Britbox and Acorn.

I have yet to discuss a study that shows about 1 percent of teens and adults who transitioned expressed regret. That was a review of 27 other studies that combined results for 8,000 recipients of transgender surgery. According to the Associated Press, some of those who regretted their transitions were okay with everything eventually. A few others reversed their surgeries, but the bottom line is that a change of heart is extremely rare, which indicates that transition surgeries are not performed willy nilly (so to speak), but are scheduled after careful deliberation.

I was also going to delve into that Gallup poll that I mentioned earlier in this column. As with previous surveys, Gen Z adults take the headlines for coming out as not straight, with 19.7 percent of that generation listing themselves in one category or another. Lesbians comprised 2.2 percent of Z-ers. Gays were 3.4 percent, bisexuals came in at 13.1 percent, 1.9 percent were transgendered adults, and 1.5 percent used other queer rubrics.

The Z adults, born between 1997 and 2004, were much more likely to identify as not straight than their Millennial elders. Millennials were 11.2 percent nonstraight, including 1.5 percent lesbians, 1.9 percent gay, 6.9 percent bisexual, 1 percent trans, and 0.2 percent other. The numbers went down with age as you would expect through Gen X, Boomers, and the Silent Generation.

Unlike previous years, the overall numbers seem to have stabilized a bit. For a time, they were increasing every year. The Gallup lede tells us that after showing “perceptible increases in 2020 and 2021,” U.S. identification as something other than heterosexual “held steady in 2022, at 7.2% ... double what it was when Gallup first measured LGBT identification a decade ago.” arostow@aol.com

Whatever.

Amanda: What makes me happy is that there are a million ways to be Jewish and a million ways to be queer. As a queer Jew, seeing queer, Jewish stories being celebrated brings me joy. And being able to work with organizations like Keshet makes me very hopeful for the future.

Mark: It makes me hopeful to know that there are so many organizations that exist that help to fight for the rights of Jews, queer people, and queer Jews. Working with Keshet and seeing other young queer Jews celebrating their identities gives me a lot of joy.

Cameron: As Is noted earlier, it is difficult being a queer person, much less a transgender person, but we have made so much progress. We have more representation in the media than ever before. We not only have organizations on the national and state levels prioritizing LGBTQ+ issues, we also have organizations at the intersection of our identities, like Keshet. We are going to soon reach a time where we will no longer have to struggle navigating our identity because we can openly and unapologetically be queer.

Idit Klein is the President and CEO of Keshet, a national organization working for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life. For more information: https://www.keshetonline.org/

Some friends recently got together on Zoom to comfort each other after Achebe’s loss from COVID this February. There was so much to say we could barely speak. She made a huge difference in many lives because of her ability to work hard and to inspire others to do the same. She loved to speak French, she loved tennis, and she lived for liberation.

Jewelle Gomez is a lesbian/feminist activist, novelist, poet, and playwright. She’s written for “The Advocate,” “Ms. Magazine,” “Black Scholar,” “The San Francisco Chronicle,” “The New York Times,” and “The Village Voice.” Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @VampyreVamp