Every year I do an annual review in which I look back on what I did and look forward to what I hope to do in the year to come. I just reread my post from last year, and wow, it seems like it happened a century ago. So much has happened since then, and so much of it was at extremes.
Read MoreThe 1954 police raid on Tommy’s Place and 12 Adler, two San Francisco lesbian bars, was sensationalized in the local media, but also gave a glimpse into the secret lives of the city’s queer women.
Read MoreRemembering the two women of color who co-founded one of the earliest lesbian rights organizations.
Read MoreThere is one person who multiple witnesses agree was present at Stonewall during the first night of the uprising, and who physically fought back against the police: Stormé DeLarverie, a Black, butch lesbian.
Read MoreWhen I began the research for Last Night at the Telegraph Club in earnest, I knew that I needed to know more about those lesbians of color. More specifically, I needed to know what it was like to be a Chinese American lesbian in San Francisco in the 1950s, but they were nearly invisible in the historical record.
Read MoreAlthough few people know of Dr. Margaret Chung today, her death was major news when she passed away in January 1959. In its front-page obituary, the San Francisco Chronicle described her as “‘Mom’ to thousands of veterans of World War II and show business celebrities,” but nowhere was it mentioned that Chung was probably gay. Had that been widely known, it’s unlikely that she would have been as publicly beloved.
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