Piece image
Image by: hoto courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society http://www.glbthistory.org/index.html 

GLBT history finds permanent home in San Francisco

From: KALW
Length: 06:51

San Francisco’s Castro District may still be licking its wounds after The Advocate, a national gay publication, declared early this year that San Francisco is no longer “the gayest city in America.” They give that title to Atlanta, Georgia. But San Francisco is home to the first gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender historical museum in the country, and only the second such museum in the world (the first is in Berlin). With California’s statewide Harvey Milk Day coming up this Sunday, May 22, KALW News sent Steven Short to check out the museum. Here’s his report. Read the full description.

Picture_3_small San Francisco’s Castro District may still be licking its wounds after The Advocate, a national gay publication, declared early this year that San Francisco is no longer “the gayest city in America.” They give that title to Atlanta, Georgia. But San Francisco is home to the first gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender historical museum in the country, and only the second such museum in the world (the first is in Berlin). With California’s statewide Harvey Milk Day coming up this Sunday, May 22, KALW News sent Steven Short to check out the museum. Here’s his report.

To hear the full audio, sign up for a free PRX account or log in.

More from KALW

Caption: PRX default Piece image

Where Twitter and Quakers meet (11:15)
From: KALW

The mid-Market district of San Francisco is undergoing tremendous change. Construction cranes literally cast shadows over the businesses and charities serving long-time ...
Piece image

Planting a permanent culture (07:45)
From: KALW

Permaculture is a design method focused on using space efficiently, working with nature, and sustaining resources rather than depleting them. It aims to get the most use out ...
Piece image

Fighting the dropout rate for African-American youth (08:17)
From: KALW

In 2011, about 82 percent of San Francisco’s students graduated from high school. Ten percent dropped out. Break it down by ethnic group and the numbers change in ...
Piece image

Confusion at the gas pump: which grade is best? (05:10)
From: KALW

Gas prices in California are always a big problem. And this year, the average price per gallon is set to hit four dollars – the highest average ever. It seems like there’s ...
Caption: PRX default Piece image

Taxi alternative Uber faces legal hurdles (06:59)
From: KALW

Hailing a taxi in San Francisco can be nearly impossible if you’re not downtown. Calling ahead isn’t a guarantee either – often, the cab is late and sometimes it never ...
Caption: PRX default Piece image

Gaming museum warps players through time (08:33)
From: KALW

Lots of people talk about how addicted we are to our screens. We spend our days staring at smartphones, tablets, and computers. But the first digital addiction came before ...
Piece image

Seeing past the nudity at San Francisco City Hall (04:51)
From: KALW

San Francisco has long been known as a city where you can let it all hang out. Nudists from all over the world flock here to participate in events like the Folsom Street ...
Piece image

West Oakland landlords invest in city's most dangerous streets (09:53)
From: KALW

Mead Avenue is a single block in West Oakland in the triangle where San Pablo Avenue and Market Street meet. Like streets in a lot of low-income communities, Mead Avenue has ...
Caption: San Quentin State Prison

Inside the Adjustment Center at San Quentin State Prison (26:32)
From: KALW

In 1851, the government of the new state of California legalized executions. But it wasn’t until 1891 that the state legislature required all executions take place within the ...
Caption: Undaria laid out across the dock at the San Francisco Marina., Credit: Marianne Kavanagh

San Francisco’s volunteer seaweed fighters (06:13)
From: KALW

Picture a slimy seaweed thicket – each plant a dark gold-brown, with a strong spine – wrapping around ropes, chains, and other sea life. This is Undaria, an invasive kelp ...

Piece Description

Broadcast History

KALW 91.7FM:
May 19, 2011

Transcript

STEVEN SHORT: If all you know about gay culture is what you see at annual gay pride parades – namely, men in too little clothing or too much mascara, and Dykes on Bikes – then you might learn something by visiting San Francisco’s new Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender Historical Museum, in the heart of the city’s Castro neighborhood.

AMY SUEYOSHI: I think what this museum really does is to talk about sexuality, particularly queer sexuality, as a social and political process.

Amy Sueyoshi is one of three curators for the current main exhibit, titled “Our Vast Queer Past.” She says one of the museum’s goals is to “normalize sexuality.” But these displays also try to address broader issues.

SUEYOSHI: It’s also very much an issue of social justice. Not just around issues of sexuality, but also for folks of color, for immigrants. The ways in which people of marginalized sexua...
Read the full transcript

Related Website

http://kalwnews.org/audio/2011/05/19/glbt-history-finds-permanent-home-san-francisco_996036.html