A little over a year after receiving a significant grant from state lawmakers, Queer Silicon Valley is opening its first physical space to present the South Bay's LGBTQ history. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place Sunday at its new home in downtown San Jose.
Along with a permanent installation about the growth of the local LGBTQ community, the new Queer Silicon Valley Gallery will feature a special, limited-time exhibit on two prominent LGBTQ+ choruses, the Silicon Valley Gay Men's Chorus and Rainbow Women's Chorus. Titled "Sing Out With Pride: A Celebration of Queer Voices in Silicon Valley," the museum-quality show is the first to feature a collection of photos, programs, clothing, song sheets, and awards of the two groups, with a highlight being a loop video of performances by both choruses.
"I think, personally, it is wonderful because I think a lot of times queer history in the Bay Area gets focused primarily on San Francisco. San Francisco is a big part of that, but there are so many other stories that should be told and need to be told, and this gives an opportunity for that to happen," said gay San Jose resident Kevin Brownstein, board president and a member of the men's chorus, which welcomes anyone who can sing within the range of tenor bass.
The new sidewalk-fronting museum space is opening inside the United Food & Commercial Workers Building at 240 South Market across from Cesar Chavez Park and a few blocks from San Jose's LGBTQ Qmunity District centered along Post Street. It is making its debut ahead of Silicon Valley Pride Week, which kicks off August 19 and culminates in the annual parade and celebration in downtown San Jose Sunday, August 25.
The LGBTQ archival project is under the auspices of the BAYMEC Community Foundation, overseen by executive director Ken Yeager. The foundation is the nonprofit arm of the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee, known by its acronym BAYMEC, which Yeager co-founded four decades ago on August 13, 1984.
A former Santa Clara County supervisor and San Jose city councilmember, Yeager was the first gay person to win election in the South Bay, to a community college board seat in 1992, and to serve on his respective governing bodies.
"I am just ecstatic. There are so many stories to be told in San Jose and Silicon Valley," Yeager told the Bay Area Reporter during an August 5 interview. "I wouldn't want to lose any of the incredible stories that we have about our community in San Jose. I think this, again, will be able to showcase the various organizations and significant history events so people can come and learn about them."
After terming off the county board in 2018, Yeager turned his focus toward collecting archival documents, personal narratives, photographs, interviews, and videos of the LGBTQ+ community in Santa Clara County as well as San Mateo County. It led to his launching the Queer Silicon Valley website ahead of LGBTQ History Month in October 2020.
Yeager then helped create the 2021-2022 exhibit at History San Jose called "Coming Out: 50 Years of Queer Resistance and Resilience in Silicon Valley." (A portion of that show will comprise the permanent display in the new Queer Silicon Valley Gallery.)
Dreaming of a physical space
All the while, Yeager dreamed of finding a physical home to tell the story of Silicon Valley's LGBTQ community. As the B.A.R. first reported last August, Yeager's former colleague on the county board and now a state legislator, Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), secured $250,000 in the state's fiscal year 2023-2024 budget toward leasing a storefront for the LGBTQ archival project. Santa Clara County leaders kicked in another $20,000.
With the funding secured, and preferring a downtown San Jose location, Yeager found it difficult, at first, to find a site he could afford. That was until he landed on the union building's 1,700 square foot space officially known as Suite 10.
Late last year Yeager signed a three-year lease, which the government funding will cover, and took over the keys in January. With its opening, Yeager hopes to draw more foot traffic to downtown San Jose and is eager to see local school groups visit the gallery.
"Hopefully, people can come by and hang out, learn about the history of the two organizations and the gay community in general," said Yeager.
When he learned there was the pot of state money available to be allocated last year, Cortese felt Yeager would be able to successfully leverage it into opening the gallery space and do it on a more expedited timetable than likely would've been possible without such substantial fiscal support. He had seen up close Yeager's budgetary acumen having served with him on the city council and county board.
"I told him, 'If you have a vision, you don't have to worry about me being concerned about whether or not the money will go to good use. I totally trust you in that regard,'" recalled Cortese, adding that it didn't hurt that lesbian Senator Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) had final sign off on the funding request serving as senate pro tempore at the time. "She had previously done some work to try to fund some other locations like this in other parts of the state."
Cortese, who plans to attend the ribbon-cutting for the gallery, told the B.A.R. he is ecstatic to see the proposal become a reality. He noted the critical roles Yeager and other LGBTQ South Bay leaders have played in the decades-long fight for their rights, recalling how he and Yeager both faced recall attempts when they voted in 2004 as councilmembers to extend health benefits to the same-sex partners of city employees.
"Now, more than ever, in these times where we have a presidential candidate and vice presidential candidates, well at least one, who want to roll back all the progress we have made if they could, it is important to keep racking up these wins, keep asserting ourselves and keep investing in the LGBTQ community and its history and telling its story. That's the nature of the struggle," said Cortese.
Yeager had initially approached the choruses last fall about mounting a show on their combined histories. The men's chorus was founded in 1983 and, in October 1996, it fostered the creation of the women's chorus under the leadership of its former director, Lynne McLaughlin. It would later break off as its own musical nonprofit group.
"This is the first time there has been an exhibit of this sort for either organization," said Brownstein, who joined the 60-person male chorus in 2010 and performs in it as an upper tenor one.
His family hails from the Bay Area but had moved to Colorado when Brownstein was a young boy. Noting how back then the Centennial State was "extremely conservative," Brownstein ended up returning to Northern California 17 years ago and has mostly lived in San Jose since.
Planning to be on hand for the LGBTQ gallery's ribbon-cutting Sunday, Brownstein told the B.A.R. the chorus members "are all very excited" for its unveiling. Curator Cristiano Colantoni, a gay man who is director of exhibitions and collections at the New Museum Los Gatos, has been installing the final pieces for the choral show and the other exhibit this week.
"It is pretty incredible to be a part of something like this," said Brownstein, noting that "there are parts of this country where museum exhibits like this aren't embraced as fully as they are in the Bay Area. It is a really great reminder of how fortunate we are to have the community supporting us in such a way."
The Queer Silicon Valley Gallery joins the similarly sized GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro district as the second, freestanding museum space dedicated to LGBTQ history in the Bay Area. As the B.A.R. recently reported, city officials in San Francisco are working to buy a property by 2026 in the Castro neighborhood to house a larger LGBTQ museum along with the archives of its nonprofit operator, the GLBT Historical Society.
Other local depositories of LGBTQ history include the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, which has a reading room and archival center located at the San Francisco Public Library's main library in the Civic Center, and the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo, which is open to visitors by appointment only.
Depending on the response from the public and LGBTQ community, Yeager told the B.A.R. he would like to continue operating the San Jose gallery post 2026 when the current lease expires.
"I hope to be able to raise money to keep it open beyond three years. For now, we are good," said Yeager.
The gallery will officially open its doors at 4 p.m. Sunday, August 11. The free event will run through 6 p.m.
With Yeager, so far, the sole docent for the gallery, it is scheduled to only be open from noon to 4 p.m. most Saturdays and Sundays. Entrance is free though donations are welcome.
He is looking for volunteers to sign up as docents and could add weekday hours to the gallery in the coming months. Anyone interested in becoming a docent should email Yeager at [email protected].
Updates about the gallery and its roster of future exhibits, as the choral installation is scheduled to only run through November 24, will be posted at queersiliconvalley.org.
UPDATED 8/8/2024 to clarify that anyone who can sing within the range of tenor bass is welcome to join the Silicon Valley Gay Men's Chorus.
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!