Castro Street Fair 1976

The 38th annual Castro Street Fair is this Sunday and the San Francisco GLBT Historical Society has posted the below archival footage from 1976.

SAN FRANCISCO: History Of HIV/AIDS Activism To Launch At GLBT Museum

An exhibit chronicling the history of HIV/AIDS activism in San Francisco will open on March 5th at the GLBT Museum. Via press release:

"Life and Death in Black and White: AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985-1990," focuses on the work of five queer photographers who documented the emergence of militant AIDS activism in San Francisco through the medium of black-and-white film. With sharp focus and deep compassion, they turned their lenses on their own community, capturing sorrow and outrage, courage and wit, a fierce will to live and a deep commitment to honor the dying and remember the dead. The exhibition features the work of Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter and Daniel Nicoletta. Some of their images of AIDS activism have become iconic; others have never before been publicly displayed. All of them portray civil disobedience as a response to discrimination, indifference and official neglect in the face of a fatal epidemic. All bear forceful witness to a time when San Francisco experienced both some of its darkest hours and one of its most inspiring movements for social justice.

The exhibit runs through July 1st. [Photo by Patrick Clifton]

B.A.R. Posts All Obits Since 1980

In a joint project with the San Francisco Gay & Lesbian Historical Society, the Bay Area Reporter has created an online database of every obituary published since 1980.

For years, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s, people who had died from complications related to AIDS dominated the B.A.R. 's obituary pages. Tom Burtch, a volunteer at San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society, has spent about three years scanning the obituaries from the paper's archives, which are stored at the society's Mission Street facility. The site will enable users to share memories and could eventually let them upload photos – "sort of like a Facebook page for each person," said Burtch. Burtch, who's been a member of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus for 24 years, had originally set out to find obituaries of former chorus members and put them online in time for the chorus's 30th anniversary last November. But after he started, he said, "I realized that was a little bit selfish of me. I felt that the greater community also needed an opportunity to mourn ... an ability to remember people and keep their memories alive."

By the early 90's, the B.A.R. was publishing pages of AIDS-related obituaries every week. In 1998, two years after the advent of protease inhibitors, the paper made international news when it published the words "No Obits" on its front page. It was the first time since the epidemic began that the paper had not received notice of an AIDS-related death.

Ribbon-Cutting For Passionate Struggle

Last night the San Francisco GLBT Historical Society held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Passionate Struggle, the new Castro exhibit I mentioned here earlier this week. Go here for my slideshow of the exhibit. Among those at the ribbon are Levi's vice president Robert Cameron (first man on the left) and openly gay SF Supervisor Bevan Dufty (kneeling with his daughter Sydney). It's a wonderful exhibit, moving on many levels. Highly recommended. A Facebook gallery of the ceremony is here.

Our Passionate Struggle

Two weeks ago I visited a new exhibit from the SF GLBT Historical Society called Passionate Struggle: The Dynamics Of San Francisco's GLBT History, which is housed on the corner of Castro and 18th Streets in a storefront that once was the site of Wolf Camera.

This exhibit explores the dynamic tensions between passion and struggle that have forged San Francisco's very queer past century. Through four lenses-Places, Politics, Pleasures, and People -this extraordinary show invites you to take a peek into the world-renowned archives of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

Principally funded by Levis Strauss and Washington Mutual (with additional support from many others), the exhibit reaches back to the very beginnings of the gay movement right up through such relatively recent events as the murder of Matthew Shepard. Two extremely moving highlights for me were a gloriously gaudy beaded pantsuit worn by Sylvester and the blood-soaked, bullet-riddled suit worn by Harvey Milk when he was murdered. I was also fascinated to find the sewing machine on which Gilbert Baker made the first rainbow flag.

Photos are allowed at the exhibit, below is my slideshow. Go here for full-screen versions.

UPDATE: Robert Cameron of Levi Strauss writes to mention that the show will run until October 2009, not the "several weeks" noted on the Society's homepage. Kudos to Levis, Washington Mutual, the Folsom Street Fair, and all the other sponsors.