FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2018

CONTACT
Gerard Koskovich


January History Programs Highlight AIDS activism, Bay Area Two-Spirit Culture 
    
San Francisco -- The program series for January 2019 sponsored by the GLBT Historical Society will highlight direct-action protest during the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco and the history and resiliency of the Bay Area American Indian two-spirit community. The events take place at the GLBT Historical Society Museum at 4127 18th St. in the Castro District. For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.  
    
      
Fighting Back 
Stop AIDS Now or Else: Protest as Community Catalyst 
Thursday, January 24
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. 
The GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Admission: Free; $5.00 donation welcome

The latest in the GLBT Historical Society's monthly "Fighting Back" series exploring contemporary queer issues in a historical context, this community forum commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Stop AIDS Now or Else sit-in on the Golden Gate Bridge during morning rush hour on January 21, 1989. Bringing traffic on the bridge to a halt, the activists insisted there would be "no more business as usual" until the government and society as a whole addressed the AIDS crisis.

SANOE brought together a diverse group of individuals from a range of organizations to carry out innovative and highly visible protests centered on nonviolent direct action. Their efforts helped build a wider community movement for understanding inequality and galvanizing change. A panel of allies, organizers, activists and historians will reflect on what it meant to be an AIDS activist and organizer then, and how that activism has shifted over time according to our needs today. Tickets are available online at https://bit.ly/2EnQAuU.  
 
Exhibition Opening 
Two-Spirit Voices: Returning to the Circle 
Thursday, January 31
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Admission: $5.00; free for members

A new exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum celebrating the 20th anniversary of Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits, an organization committed to activism and service to the two-spirit and ally communities of the San Francisco Bay Area. Curators Roger Kuhn, Amelia Vigil and Ruth VillaseƱor focus on four main themes: gay and two-spirit pride, the annual BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow, indigenous medicine and responses to HIV/AIDS, and two-spirit meaning within indigenous communities. Drawing on regalia and textiles, medicines and herbs, and photography and video on loan from community members, as well as materials recently donated to the GLBT Historical Society archives, the exhibition highlights the resiliency of two-spirit people. The opening reception will feature brief remarks by the curators. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets available online at https://bit.ly/2C3kRfW.
 

ABOUT THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM
     
Open since January 2011, the GLBT Historical Society Museum (formerly known as the GLBT History Museum) is the first full-scale, stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States. Its Main Gallery features a long-term exhibition on San Francisco LGBTQ history, "Queer Past Becomes Present." Its Front Gallery and Community Gallery host changing exhibitions. The institution also sponsors forums, author talks and other programs.

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is a project of the GLBT Historical Society, a public history center and archives that collects, preserves and interprets the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and the communities that support them. Founded in 1985, the society maintains one of the world's largest collections of LGBTQ historical materials. For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.
 
 
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GRAPHICS: The following images may be reproduced only in association with coverage of the GLBT Historical Society program series. Credits noted in captions are mandatory.   

January 24: Stop AIDS Now or Else  
 
Activists from Stop AIDS Now or Else staged a sit-in on the Golden Gate Bridge during morning rush hour on January 21, 1989 -- the only time in history protesters halted traffic on the bridge. Photo: Rick Gerharter; used with permission.

January 31: Two-Spirit Voices      
   
Members of Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits form a drum circle at the GLBT Historical Society Museum. Photo: Gerard Koskovich.
Conceptual drawing for the BAAITS contingent in the San Francisco Pride Parade (2002); on loan from Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits. Used with permission; all rights reserved.