Exhibition OpeningChosen Familias: Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx Stories

Friday, June 77:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members A new exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum brings together photos, ephemera and text to center biological and chosen Latinx LGBTQ families as sources of hope and resilience. By queering the traditional family photo album, the show reframes historical documentation of mothers, daughters, fathers, children, siblings, aunts and uncles. “Chosen Familias” also features video interviews and footage of Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx activists and artists of the past four decades. Curated by Tina Valentin Aguirre, chair of the society’s board of directors, the exhibition expands the definition of LGBTQ family to encompass not just biological relatives, but also mentors, coalition members and the networks of people that have supported Latinx LGBTA people in the Bay Area. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are available online here.

Walking TourOUT of Site: SoMa — Produced by Eye Zen Presents

Saturday, June 8: 12:00–2:00, 3:00–5:00 p.m.Sunday, June 9: 1:00–3:00 p.m.Saturday, June 15: 12:00–2:00, 3:00–5:00 p.m.Sunday, June 16: 1:00–3:00 p.m.Howard Langton Community Garden10 Langton St., San Francisco$25 | $10 for students From the original Native American inhabitants, to the tent villages of gold miners, to the SROs housing factory workers, to the formation of an LGBTQ and leather community in the 1960s, to its current tech-fueled redevelopment, San Francisco’s SoMa District has been ever-changing. “OUT of Site: SoMa” is an immersive walking tour cosponsored by the GLBT Historical Society that offers a panoramic view of the transformation of this neighborhood. The walk lasts approximately two hours and covers about one mile. The tours are a project of Eye Zen Presents, a San Francisco-based theater company committed to honoring the stories of queer ancestors, histories and sites through performances and community-building events. More information is available here. Tickets are available online here.

Book LaunchRainbow Warrior: The Memoirs of Gilbert Baker

Tuesday, June 115:30–7:30 p.m.San Francisco Main LibraryKoret Auditorium100 Larkin St., San FranciscoFree San Francisco artist and activist Gilbert Baker (1951–2017) created the globally adopted rainbow flag as a symbol of the LGBTQ community in 1978. Baker’s life and work will be explored, illuminated and celebrated in this unique event organized for the posthumous release of his memoirs, Rainbow Warrior: My Life in Color (Chicago Review Press, 2019). Cosponsored by the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, the program will feature a short film about Baker’s life, selected readings from the memoirs and a discussion with social justice activists. The evening will begin with a reception and end with a book signing. More information is available here.

Panel DiscussionPreserving San Francisco’s Queer Historic Places

Thursday, June 136:00–7:30 p.m.San Francisco Main LibraryKoret Auditorium100 Larkin St., San FranciscoFree San Francisco’s queer culture is deeply intertwined in urban life, and it has not been immune to the changes in our city. Carving space in the urban landscape has been essential for queer survival, for building community and obtaining political and cultural power, and, quite simply, for finding each other. Some of those essential queer heritage institutions, sites and even whole neighborhoods now are being erased by hypergentrification. A panel including academics and community leaders will join GLBT Historical Society Executive Director Terry Beswick and senior public history advisor Gerard Koskovich to reflect on the status of San Francisco’s queer historic places and living cultural heritage and to consider what may lie ahead for them. The program is cosponsored by the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, More information is available here.

Living History DiscussionThrill Spot: The Raid on Tommy’s Place

Thursday, June 137:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members The 1954 police raid on Tommy’s Place, a lesbian bar in San Francisco’s North Beach, is the stuff of legend. Lurid headlines describing the seduction of teenage girls in a “vice academy” were followed by sensational stories teeming with swaggering butches, police graft and political intrigue. Lambda Award–winning author and visual artist Katie Gilmartin shares her research about this event, as well as excerpts from the draft of the fictional account inspired by the raid that she is currently writing. She’ll also offer reflections on how archives and oral histories serve as the basis for historical fiction imagining the lives of LGBTQ ancestors. The program is offered in collaboration with Openhouse and is made possibly by grants from the Queer Cultural Center and the Creative Work Fund. Tickets are available online here.

Film ScreeningStarman: Freddie Burretti, the Man Who Sewed the World

Monday, June 177:00 p.m.The Roxie Theater3117 16th St., San Francisco$13 Join us at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater for a special benefit screening of Lee Scriven’s 2018 documentary Starman, which details the fascinating story of Freddie Burretti, a close friend of David Bowie and his key Ziggy Stardust costume collaborator and stylist. By creating a sensational and inspiring onstage and offstage wardrobe, Burretti helped Bowie challenge British culture, fashion, homophobia and a skeptical rock music industry. All proceeds from the screening go the GLBT Historical Society. Tickets are available here.

Book LaunchThe Routledge History of Queer America

Tuesday, June 187:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members The Routledge History of Queer America (2018), the first comprehensive overview of the field of United States LGBTQ history, is a landmark work. Edited by Don Romesburg, professor of women and gender studies at Sonoma State University and former cochair of the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors, the anthology features more than 20 authors and nearly 30 chapters on essential themes in queer history from colonial times to the present. In this roundtable organized in celebration of the release of the new paperback edition, Romesburg will be joined by a panel of historians who will evaluate the state of the field of queer American history. Tickets are available here.

Performance¡Aplauso! Live Storytelling & Performances

Friday, June 217:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members An impressive group of Latinx queer artists and performance artists will stage dances, enact theater scenes, read poetry and show short films celebrating the culture and diversity of the queer Latinx community. Performers include transgender artist Donna Personna; artist, oral historian and activist Mason J.; drag queen Foxxy Blue Orchid; performance artist Xandra Ibarra; Chicana writer Natalia M. Vigil; activist, filmmaker and dancer Dulce; and writer and historian Juliana Delgado Lopera. This event is being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Chosen Familias: Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx Histories,” opening at the GLBT Historical Society Museum on June 7. Tickets are available online here.

Living History DiscussionLGBTQ Art, Film, Poetry & Dance in San FranciscoSaturday, June 222:00–3:30 p.m.De Young MuseumPiazzoni Murals Room50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr., San FranciscoFree for San Francisco residents Organized by the GLBT Historical Society in collaboration with San Francisco’s De Young Museum, a group of artists and culture makers will engage in an intergenerational discussion on LGBTQ people in the arts in San Francisco from the 1960s to the present.