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Indybay Feature

S.F. sexuality and culture, 1971 - 2005

by Senior Unlimited Nudes (SaveFreedom-owner [at] yahoogroups.com)
... from SUN's "City of Love" project --
sextime lines of sexuality, nudity, bohemia, and culture
in northern California....
S.F. QYRSTORY 1971 - 2005



*1971 March 24: SF, Golden Gate Park:
Three thousand queers are among 175,000
anti-war demonstrators.
[Photo in GAY BY THE BAY, page 54, shows queers sitting on grass in park, with banner reading "Homosexuals Against The War"; these include leaders of the Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF) and the "sexual freedom leagues" (SFL).] [B.A.R., 24.III.2005]
In peace marches of the early Seventies, queer contingents often chanted
"SUCK COCK TO BEAT THE DRAFT."
.........
*1971 April 2: SF: Bob Ross turns 37; starts Bay Area Reporter (queer newspaper).
........
1971 June: Instead of marking Stonewall anniversary in San Francisco,
California queers attend statewide queer-rights rally in Sacramento.
1971: publication of THE SPIRAL OF CONFLICT: Berkeley, 1964.

........

*1972 Feb. 8: SF: Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, the first queer Democratic Party club
in California, forms from SIR's political committee. [GBTB]
***1972: founding of San Francisco Sex Information Switchboard (SFSI). [GBTB]
1972: City College of SF offers a "Gay Literature" course; leading eventually
to the first Department of Gay and Lesbian Studies. [GBTB]
1972 June: SF: 50,000 people attend "Christopher Street West". [GBTB]
1972: publication of HIPPIES OF THE HAIGHT.

.........
circa 1972-1978: SF queer population grows from 90,000 to 150,000, roughly. [GBTB]
..........
1973: SF: publication of The Gay Liberation Book.
1973, Bolinas, CA: Grey Fox Press publishes TRIP TRAP: haiku along the road from
San Francisco to New York 1959, by Jack Kerouac, Albert Saijo, Lew Welch.
1973: SF queers form Community Softball League. [GBTB]
1973 June: SF: "Gay Freedom Day Parade" competes with "Festival of Gay Liberation".
Conflict sparks formation of Pride Foundation, to coordinate future events. [GBTB]
1973, Oakland: Black Panther Party chair Bobby Seale wins 37 percent of vote for mayor. [NTT]

.........
* early 1970's: In SF's Tenderloin district, the 181 Club provides live entertainment,
including "nude go-go boys". [WOT]
...........
*circa 1974, near Santa Cruz, CA: women's music festival includes nudity.
[ see photo in GBTB, page 60 ]
...........
***1974: SF: Society Of Janus (SOJ) forms,
as first "pansexual" BDSM group in California. [GBTB]
[A similar group already exists in New York City.]
............
*1974: beginning of S.F. Sentinel (queer paper).
1974: Bay Area Reporter publishes 6-part series, "The Golden Age of the Queens",
about SF and LA from 1920s to 1940s, by "Toto le Grand" (Lou Rand Hogan). [GBTB]
1974: Journal of Homosexuality begins at S.F. State University. [GBTB]
1974: founding of queer Golden Gate Business Association. [GBTB]
1974: SF: beginning of Castro Street Fair.
1974, fall: Queers comprise 12 percent of SF voters, roughly. [GBTB]
...........

1975 June: SF: Annual queer parade draws 80,000 (more than any other SF parade,
including the Chinese New Year Parade). [GBTB]
1975 July: SF: Randy Burns founds Gay American Indians, the first modern group for
Native American queers. Thirty years later, he'll be honored by SF Pride. [B.A.R.,24.II.2005 ]
1975: Gay Latino Alliance (GALA) forms: [GBTB]
1975 Oct.: "Lesbian Political Exploration" (conference of 250+ women). [GBTB]
1975, circa Nov./Dec.: SF elects liberal and queer-friendly Mayor George Moscone. [GBTB]

............
*1976 May 25: S.F. Chronicle begins publishing serial TALES OF THE CITY, by Armistead Maupin.
1976: publication of AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HOMOSEXUALITY,
in two volumes, comprising some 13,000 items.
1976: SF: founding of the Bisexual Center. [GBTB]

..........
1977: SF: start of Sha'ar Zahav, mainly-queer Jewish congregation. [GBTB]
1977: Gay Asian Information Network (GAIN) forms in Sunnyvale, CA. [GBTB]
1977 January 1: SF: founding of Theatre Rhinoceros. [GBTB]
1977 Feb.: SF hosts the world's first queer film festival, which will evolve
into SF International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. [GBTB]
1977 June: SF's annual queer parade draws 200,000 persons. [GBTB]
1977 July: founding of Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights. [GBTB]
1977, circa Nov./Dec.: An SF district (ward) elects Harvey Milk to the Board of Supervisors,
to be the first OPENLY queer elected official in The City's history. [GBTB]
1977 December: SF: premiere of documentary film, WORD IS OUT.
..........

1978 January 9: SF: New queer Supervisor Harvey Milk and supporters march
from the Castro to City Hall. [GBTB]
1978: TALES OF THE CITY becomes a book. [see 1976]
1978: Gay rabbi Sanford Lowe, instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College, becomes leader in
campaign against Proposition Six, the anti-queer Briggs Initiative. [SF Chron, 27.III.2005, obit ]
1978 June: SF's Gay Freedom Day Parade attracts 350,000 marchers, reacting to anti-queer campaigns.
Gilbert Baker, queerdom's Betsy Ross, creates first version of the Rainbow Flag.
Jon Reed Sims founds S.F. Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps.
Parade ends with rally at City Hall, where Harvey Milk tells the crowd:
"I want to recruit you. I want to recruit you for the fight to preserve your democracy...." [GBTB]
1978 Nov. 7: California voters (58%) reject anti-queer Prop. 6 (Briggs Initiative). [GBTB]
1978 Nov. 21: SF ex-cop and ex-Supervisor Dan White assassinates Mayor George Moscone
and queer Supervisor Harvey Milk in SF City Hall. [GBTB]
..........
1979: SF: opening of The Women's Building.
1979: SF: Community United Against Violence (CUAV) forms.
1979: beginning of Coming Up! (queer SF paper);
which will become the San Francisco Bay Times (SFBT).
1979 May 21: SF: Jury lets Dan White off with a token conviction of manslaughter, instead of murder.
This provokes "White Night" riot at City Hall. Cops retaliate by attacking the Castro. [GBTB]
.....................................................................................................................

1980: SF: The "15 Association", for men's BDSM, applies for incorporation in February;
receives California state approval in October. [- Jerry Jansen, B.A.R., 17 March 2005]
1980, SF: City Lights Books publishes LITERARY SAN FRANCISCO. (pictorial history)
1980: founding of Black and White Men Together
(later known as Men of All Colors Together).
1980: publication of THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN'S
BEST OF BERKELEY.
1980: founding of Bay Area Career Women. [GBTB]
.............
1980, June, San Francisco:
Graduation of SF's 133rd Police Academy class,
as "the first class to include consciously recruited gays".
Gay Freedom Day Parade draws over 30,000 marchers,
including Samois [ earliest known womyn's SM group (see 1981) ],
and "muscle boys in cages from the Bulldog Baths". [ SF Chronicle, 24 June 2005]
............
1980 October: first Exotic Erotic Ball (competing with earlier COYOTE ball).

.........
*1981: Palo Alto, CA: publication of COMING TO POWER:
writings and graphics on lesbian S/M. [compiled by Samois group]
[Note the use of "S/M", not S&M. Punctuation later will disappear, as in "SM", or "BDSM".]
1981, SF: City Lights publishes UNAMERICAN ACTIVITIES:
the campaign against the underground press.
*1981, SF: Peeramid Press publishes STAND NAKED AND COOL THEM:
North Beach and the bohemian dream, 1950-1980.
1981: founding of the Association of Lesbian/Gay Asians. [GBTB]
1981: publication of THIS BRIDGE CALLED MY BACK:
writings by radical women of color.
1981: SF: opening of Atlas Savings and Loan, first queer-owned bank in USA. [GBTB]
.........
1982, SF: Tenderloin Times reports increase of homeless population. [Reclaiming SF]
*1982: publication of MAYOR OF CASTRO STREET: the life and times of Harvey Milk.
1982, Berkeley: beginning of Onyx (black lesbian newsletter). [GBTB]
1982: publication of CALIFORNIA, INC. [on the state's "new elite class" ].
1982: founding of "Education TV Channel", a discreetly (deceptively?) named group for trannys.
1982: publication of DOUBLE PLAY: the San Francisco City Hall killings.
1982 Aug.-Sept: SF hosts first Gay Games, in Kezar Stadium. [GBTB]
1982, Berkeley: Nolo Press publishes CALIFORNIA DREAMING:
the political odyssey of Pat & Jerry Brown.
1982: "Sister Boom Boom" runs for SF Board of Supervisors. [GBTB]
.........
*1983: publication of SEXUAL POLITICS, SEXUAL COMMUNITIES:
the making of a homosexual minority in the United States, 1940-1970.
1983: publication of "Colorful People and Places" (guide for queers of color). [GBTB]
*1983: publication of THE BERKELEY BARB, by Arthur Seeger.
..........
1984: publication of THE HAIGHT-ASHBURY: a history.
1984, SF: Gay Sunshine Press publishes URBAN ABORIGINALS: a celebration of leather sexuality.
*1984: SF: begnning of On Our Backs (lesbian sex mag).
[ The "On" name tweaks "off our backs", a very serious feminist newspaper. ]
1984 April: SF Department of Public Health tries to close gay men's bath-houses,
ostensibly in response to AIDS. [GBTB]
1984 July 15: SF hosts "National March for Lesbian/Gay Rights";
one day before Democratic National Convention meets in SF. [GBTB]
*1984 September: SF: first Folsom Street Fair. [B.A.R., 25 Sept. 2003]
............
1980s: Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Colma, CA: At the annual queer pilgrimage to
Emperor Norton I's grave, the ashes of former Empress Sissy Spaceout (mixed with glitter!)
are scattered around the imperial gravestone. [-TEIAM]
........
1985: publication of COLLECTED POEMS, 1947-1980, by Allen Ginsberg.
1985: SF: founding of The Outcasts (womyn's leather group);
which will later be replaced by The Exiles.
1985: SF: Bill Walker and colleagues create
Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California. [GBTB]
.........
1986: publication of THE FAIR BUT FRAIL: prostitution in San Francisco, 1849 - 1900.
1986, Berkeley: publication of SAN FRANCISCO, 1865-1932.
1986: publication of ELSA: I Come with My Songs: the autobiography of Elsa Gidlow.
1986: Cleve Jones begins the AIDS Quilt. [GBTB]
1986: publication of THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH:
sexual diversity in American Indian culture.
1986: founding of FTM ("female to male") group. [GBTB]
1986: California voters reject fascist and homophobic Proposition 64,
promoted by Lyndon LaRouche.
..........
1987: publication of AND THE BAND PLAYED ON, by R. Shilts.
1987: publication of THE LEFT COAST OF PARADISE:
California and the American heart.
1987: publication of POLICING DESIRE: pornography, AIDS and the media.
1987: After Dr. Tom Waddell dies of AIDS, San Francisco names a medical clinic for him. [GBTB]
.........
1988: publication of THE AIDS READER: documentary history of a modern epidemic.
1988, Berkeley: publication of AIDS: the burdens of history.
1988, SF: Tom Ammiano says, "When Gay people take over a neighborhood, they call it gentrification.
When straight people take over a neighborhood, they call it a renaissance." [Reclaiming SF]
1988, Berkeley: beginnings of Gay Asian-Pacific Alliance (GAPA). [GBTB]
1988 June: Art Agnos becomes first SF Mayor to ride in SF Pride parade. [GBTB]
..........
1988- 1992: SF: Out/Look (quarterly mag).
..........
1989 January: AIDS activists block Golden Gate Bridge. [GBTB]
*1989: publication of BERKELEY AT WAR: the 1960s.
1989: publication of THE SAN FRANCISCO RENAISSANCE: poetics and community at mid-century.
..........
circa 1989-1990: SF: activity by Boy/Girl With Arms Akimbo,
a queer "network of anonymous cultural activists." [GBTB] [see 1990 Oct. ]

..........................................................................................................................



*1990: publication of COMING OUT UNDER FIRE:
the history of gay men and women in World War II.
*1990: publication of FROM FEMALE TO MALE: the life of Jack B. Garland.
1990: publication of THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY HAY: founder of the modern gay movement.
........
*1990, late June: San Francisco, Castro district: first "Pink Saturday" street party
(on the night before the Pride Parade), which will become an annual tradition.
[-Out in the Castro (2002)]
*1990 Oct. 31: San Francisco, Castro district: Halloween:
"the Boys With Arms Akimbo and several Queer Nation members offered
politically-astute nude go-go-boy dancing"
in the front display windows of A Different Light bookstore. [-Out in the Castro (2002)]
...........
circa 1990-92: activism by SF chapter of Queer Nation. [GBTB]
...........

1991: publication of BI ANY OTHER NAME.
1991: publication of A LIFE OF KENNETH REXWROTH.
1991, SF: publication of GARY SNYDER: dimensions of a life.
1991: Bay Area queers participate visibly in protests against [Persian] Gulf War. [GBTB]
Berkeley's Debbie Moore demonstrates nude.
*1991, Valentine's Day: SF begins registering domestic partnerships (couples of any gender). [GBTB]
1991 Sept.-Oct.: SF: "Deneuve" mag (aka Curve) prints article on "Lesbians Over 60," by Susan Darm.
*1991 October: founding of Gay and Lesbian Center at SF's new Main Library. [GBTB]
Later it will be called the Hormel Center.
..........

*1992: publication of DHARMA LION: a critical biography of Allen Ginsberg.
1992: publication of LEFT COAST CITY: progressive politics in San francisco, 1975-1991.
1992: publication of THE CAMPAIGN OF THE CENTURY:
Upton Sinclair's race for governor of California and the birth of media politics.
1992, Berkeley: publication of ALCATRAZ, ALCATRAZ:
the Indian occupation of 1969-71.
1992 March: founding of Deaf Gay & Lesbian Center (DGLC).
...........
circa 1992-95: SF: activity by Transgender Nation. [GBTB]
...........

1993: SF: release of video: LAST CALL AT MAUD'S.
1993: SF: publication of SNAPSHOT POETICS: a photographic memoir of the Beat era,
by Allen Ginsberg.
*1993 (June?): SF: first annual Dyke March.
.........

1994 February 13: SF: Transgender Nation & the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence protest
transphobia at Nordstrom's department store. [GBTB]
1994: publication of LAST SERVED? : gendering the AIDS epidemic.
1994: publication of THE PUBLIC CITY: the political construction of
urban life in San Francisco, 1850-1900.
1994: SF: premiere of "Coming Out Under Fire" (documentary film, based on 1990 book.). [GBTB]
..........
1995: publication of THE BIRTH OF THE BEAT GENERATION:
visionaries, rebels, and hipsters, 1944-1960.
1995: SF Freedom Day Parade lengthens title, to include "Transgender". [GBTB]
*1995 August: Jim Kepner self-publishes BECOMING A PEOPLE:
a 4,000 year chronology of gay and lesbian history.
1995: Berkeley: publication of UNBOUND FEET: a social history of Chinese women in San Francisco.
1995: publication of "FAVORED STRANGERS": Gertrude Stein and her family.
1995, Berkeley: publication of UTOPIA AND DISSENT: art, poetry and politics in California.
.........

1996: publication of GAY OLYMPIAN: the life and death of Dr. Tom Waddell.
1996: publication of A TERRIBLE ANGER: the 1934 waterfront and general strikes in San Francisco.
1996, Nov.: SF Examiner says "... the Beat attitude is integral to the Bay Area's identity." [RSF]
..........

1997: release of film: THE ACLU: a history.
1997: publication of BENEATH THE DIAMOND SKY: Haight-Ashbury, 1965-1970.
1997 Sept.: Black Sheets #12 features "Sex Pioneers: San Francisco in the Seventies."
.........
late 1990s: SF: Bisexuals form BiPol and the Bay Area Bisexual Network (BABN). [GBTB]
..........
1998: publication of SUBTERRANEAN KEROUAC: the hidden life of Jack Kerouac.
1998: SF: publication of RECLAIMING SAN FRANCISCO: history, politics, culture.
*1998: publication of THE EMPRESS IS A MAN: stories from the life of José Sarria.
..........
1999: Pres. Clinto appoints SF philanthropist James Hormel as ambassador to
Luxembourg (first OPENLY queer ambassador in U.S. history). [ B.A.R., 24.II.2005 ]
1999: publication of TALES OF THE LAVENDER MENACE: a memoir of liberation.
1999 Sept.: Black Sheets #15 features "Sex Pioneers: Part Two: the artist issue,"
including "California in the sexy '70s and awful '80s."
............................................................................................................................................



2000: publication of STITCHING A REVOLUTION: the making of an activist.
2000: publication of GAY HISTORIES AND CULTURES.
..........
2001: publication of SAN FRANCISCO'S GOLDEN GATE PARK:
a thousand and seventeen acres of stories. [historical guide]
........
*2002: publication of OUT IN THE CASTRO.
**2002: publication of BEFORE STONEWALL: activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context.
2002: publication of HERO OF FLIGHT 93: Mark Bingham.
.........
**2003: Berkeley: publication of WIDE OPEN TOWN: a history of queer San Francisco to 1965.
2003: publication of GAY BATHHOUSES AND PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY.
*2003 Dec. 14: SF Citadel opens for leather play, community, and education.
...........
2004 March 24-30: SF Bay Guardian publishes "The History Issue: San Francisco in the 1950s".
*2004: SF: publication of UNREPENTANT WHORE: collected works of Scarlot Harlot.
2004, Berkeley: publication of NO THERE THERE: race, class, and political community in Oakland.
2004: SF: publication of NAKED YOGA.
*2004: SF: Cleis Press publishes QUEER BEATS.
2004: publication of WHEN AIDS BEGAN: San Francisco and the making of an epidemic.
2004, SF: first annual Nude Peace Day, at Baker Beach (2nd Sat. of each October). [SUN]
..............................................................................

2005 February, SF: Imperial court system celebrates turning forty. [SFBT, 17 Feb. '05]
2005 February, SF: "Academy of Friends" holds 25th annual Oscar gala. [B.A.R., 24.F.2005]
2005 Feb.: SF Pride honors Equality California, Inter-Club Fund (leathermen/bikers), National Center for Lesbian Rights, Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS), and SF TEAM (a TG group); plus Randy Burns, James Hormel, Alec Mapa, Molly McKay, Juanita More, Peggy Moore, Donna Sachet. [B.A.R.,24.II.2005]
2005 March 11: "Sylvester Day" in SF; celebrating publication of THE FABULOUS SYLVESTER:
the Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco. [SFBT, 17 March]
2005, SF area: The Well, a hip cyber-community, cebrates 20th year. [SF Chron, 7 April 2005].
2005 May 19, SF: Bay Area Reporter eulogizes leather leader Robert Davolt, 46.
c.2005: publication of SAN FRANCISCO NOIR: The City in Film Noir from 1940 to the Present.
c.2005: release of documentary film on 1966 SF Tenderloin drag/TG subculture:
"SCREAMING QUEENS: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria".
..................
..................

-- from SUN's work in progress:

THE CITY OF LOVE:
sextime lines of sexuality, nudity, bohemia, and culture
in northern California,1964-1970.
...........

This 1971-2005 document is NOT copyrighted.
Non-commercial use is encouraged; please send copies to SUN.

For commercial use, please contact
SUN, POB 426937, SF, CA 94142-6937.
...........
###

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