Bay Area Reporter :: History News

With queer historians interested, SF supes face calls to reject mayor's pick for historic panel

March 3, 2023

San Francisco supervisors are facing calls to reject a mayoral appointee to the city's Historic Preservation Commission over questions about her qualifications to serve in a seat designated for a historian.

Jimmy Carter's nephew had tragic connection with Oakland gay couple

by Ed Walsh
Mar 2, 2023

Former President Jimmy Carter's closest connection to the San Francisco Bay Area may have been his nephew, William Carter Spann, who called himself the "Bad Peanut."

New study documents over 600 early LGBTQ protests in US

by Cynthia Laird
Mar 1, 2023

A new study released Wednesday shines a light on the hundreds of protests led by LGBTQ people in the United States from 1965 to 1973.

Walking tour will explore site of North Beach queer bars

by Marijke Rowland
Feb 8, 2023

An upcoming guided tour of North Beach will shed light on the neighborhood's sometimes forgotten role in San Francisco's LGBTQ history.

Commentary: Make drag queens illegal? It's happened before

by Michael Yamashita | NewsIsOut.com
Jan 5, 2023

Today drag queen storybook readings for children have been opportunistically subverted by the far right using an old and recurring slur that it is a ruse used by pedophiles to "groom" children for abuse.

A Tragic Week

by reprint from the December 6, 1978 edition of the Bay Area Reporter
Nov 27, 2022

The murder of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk brought forth thousands of mourners who moved about for days in a state of shock.

Trans-Pacific Māhū Ancestors: Reclaiming Hawaiian Trans Identities/Spirits

by Michael Yamashita | NewsIsOut.com
Nov 24, 2022

On the island of O'ahu, a short walk from the historic gay bar Hula's Bar & Lei Stand and touristy gay Kuhio Beach Park, a locus of healing and pilgrimage has been re-remembered on Waikīkī Beach through a reclaimed legend of transgender healing spirits.

LGBTQ History Month: New leader settles in at LA LGBTQ archival group

by Matthew S. Bajko
Oct 26, 2022

As the ONE Archives Foundation marks its 70th anniversary in November, making it the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ organization in the U.S., its new executive director is settling into the role and introducing himself to the local community.

Site of SF's Compton's riot nominated for national historic register

by Eric Burkett
Oct 21, 2022

Fifty-six years ago, an angry drag queen in Compton's Cafeteria, a 24-hour diner in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, threw a cup of hot coffee in the face of a police officer as he tried to arrest her without a warrant.

LGBTQ History Month: SF library digitizes its LGBTQ archives

by Matthew S. Bajko
Oct 12, 2022

Shot with black and white film two small children stand outside in a San Francisco public plaza draped in protest signs.

LGBTQ History Month: 'Memory Book' details history of 1970s-era LGBTQ attorneys in US

by Eric Burkett
Oct 1, 2022

Stephen Lachs remembers the 1970s as being a particularly wonderful era in the history of the LGBTQ liberation movement.

After inquiry from B.A.R., GLBT Historical Society's YouTube channel is restored

by Eric Burkett
Aug 17, 2022

Within 24 hours of being contacted by the Bay Area Reporter, Google has restored the GLBT Historical Society's YouTube channel that was suddenly taken down last month with little explanation other than an alleged violation of sexually explicit content.

Irish Ayes 'Out In The World: Ireland's LGBTQ+ Diaspora'

by Brian Bromberger
May 24, 2022

By explaining the lives of Irish LGBTQ people abroad and contributions of those who returned, 'Out In The World: Ireland's LGBTQ+ Diaspora,' now at the GLBTHS Museum, can help us understand how Ireland became such a welcoming place for Irish queer folk.

LGBTQ archive seeks adoptive donors for certain collections

by Matthew S. Bajko
Apr 28, 2022

Talya Sokoll, a high school librarian in Massachusetts, is now a proud adoptive caretaker of the José Sarria Papers archival collection maintained by the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.

LGBTQ History Month: Staten Island museum throws open Austen's closet door

by Cynthia Laird
Oct 27, 2021

It's been a long time coming, but officials at the Alice Austen House on New York's Staten Island have thrown open the closet door, now fully embracing the lesbian pioneer and photographer who lived in the house with her longtime partner, Gertrude Tate.

News :: History