San Francisco has long been a gay mecca in the United States, and for the entire global community. Now, things are going to become a little more official.
The San Francisco Historic Preservation Fund Committee has issued a grant to the GLBT Historical Society to catalogue a comprehensive listing of all the locations associated with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender history amongst the city's backdrop of steep hills, rainbow houses, and the Golden Gate Bridge. The project is to be unveiled on November 14th at a workshop where patrons are asked to share their own experiences and favorite locations.
The officlal media release for the workshop reports:
The workshop will bring together community members to share their recollections of places that have been important to their past experiences of LGBT life in San Francisco. "We're eager to hear from everyone who has participated in the community in any way up through the 1980s," says Graves. "Where did you go to house parties? What was your favorite bar or club? Where did you shop for books, music and fabulous clothes? Where did you attend activist meetings or go to cultural events?
"We are particularly interested in hearing from people with information about sites important to LGBT communities of color, transgender people, the bisexual community and others who are underdocumented in LGBT history," Graves adds.
The project is expected to take a year to complete, with extensive archival research, further interviews with groups and individuals, and a final community meeting at the end of the study. The outcome will be a formal document known as a historic context statement, which will be distributed publicly and will be used by community history advocates and city planners.
"Remember LGBT Historic Sites in San Francisco: A Community Workshop" will take place on Thursday, November 14th from 6-7:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Womens Building's Audre Lorde Room. Admission is free and participation is encouraged.
For more information regarding the project, check out the full media release and the GLBT Historical Society's homepage.
