TITLE | DESCRIPTION | DATE CREATED | IS FORMAT OF |
---|---|---|---|
Black Cat menu | A menu from the Black Cat. |
1950 | |
Black Cat menu, front | A menu from the Black Cat bar. |
1950 | |
Janet MacHarg marching in protest, circa 1950 | A series of photographs of Janet MacHarg in her youth performing with her guitar and marching in what is believed to be a protest against the United States government's support of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. |
1950 | |
Janet MacHarg with companion, circa 1950 | Photograph of Janet MacHarg playing guitar with a companion. The companion in this photograph is presumed to be MacHarg's lifelong partner Evie. |
1950 | |
Hobby Directory, March 1950 | The March 1950 issue of Hobby Directory.
Hobby Directory (1946-circa 1952) was a small publication in which male hobbyists could publish personal ads and meet friends who shared their interests. The magazine quickly acquired a large gay male readership, and gay men used their ads to connect with one another. The men's descriptions of their hobbies -- for example, ballet, interior decorating, or collecting photographs of weightlifters -- were designed to signal that they were gay, as well as genuinely describing themselves to romantic prospects.
Hobby Directory was a fairly mainstream publication which was sold in craft stores and advertised in the magazines Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. Its reasons for ceasing publication are unknown, but historians have suggested that it may have fallen victim to enforcement of the Comstock Laws, which forbade sending "obscene" materials through the mail. |
1950 | |
Sodomy Laws Retrospective (1 of 3) | A panel discussion that took place ten years after California's "sodomy laws" were repealed. Historian Alan Bérubé details California's history with anti-gay legislation, beginning with the state's first law against sodomy that was passed in 1850 and continuing through to the decriminalization of both sodomy and oral sex between consenting adults in private in 1976. Bérubé also discusses historical patterns relating to sex laws, and he contextualizes the debate between public versus private information. Activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, cofounders of the Daughters of Bilitis, discuss the history of legislation criminalizing lesbian sex, and they detail the creation of the Council on Religion and the Homosexual in the 1960s. This material was digitized through the generous support of Larry Brenner and Angelo Figone. |
1986-01-30 | |
Sodomy Laws Retrospective (2 of 3) | A panel discussion that took place ten years after California's "sodomy laws" were repealed. Activist Phyllis Lyon discusses the Council on Religion and the Homosexual's Brief of Injustices. Politician Willie Brown, then the California State Assembly's Speaker of the Assembly, discusses the legislative side of the creation and passing of the 1976 Consenting Adult Sex Law, which decriminalized private and consensual gay sex. Activist Jim Foster, then a member of the San Francisco Health Commission, reflects on his experiences as an out gay man when gay sex was still criminalized, and he discusses ways in which the community organized in the 1950s and 1960s, including San Francisco's Tavern Guild and the Mattachine Society, to protect itself and ultimately decriminalize gay sex and relationships. This material was digitized through the generous support of Larry Brenner and Angelo Figone. |
1986-01-30 | |
Sodomy Laws Retrospective (3 of 3) | A panel discussion that took place ten years after California's "sodomy laws" were repealed. Activist Jo Daly discusses instances of heterosexual individuals being convicted under anti-sodomy/anti-oral sex laws. Activist George Raya relates his experiences as a lobbyist in Sacramento in the 1970s who lobbied for the Consenting Adult Sex Law from 1974 until its passing in 1976. Leonard Graff, the legal director for the National Gay Rights Advocates, discusses the continuing fight against sodomy laws in the United States. This material was digitized through the generous support of Larry Brenner and Angelo Figone. |
1986-01-30 |