Santa Clara Valley, once an agricultural hub, is now home to the tenth largest U.S. city, San Jose. From its bars and Imperial Courts, to fighting the Religious Right, to forming ethnic organizations, to battling HIV/AIDS, to fighting for marriage equality, San Jose’s rich history informs the greater LGBTQ+ movement in the United States. This is the story of a movement set in a traditional, heteronormative suburb. Even without a central gathering place like Castro Street, or Greenwich Village, progress still happened. The archival documents, personal narratives, photographs, and videos found here tell that story.
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Richard Mehlinger
Only a handful of cities in the Bay Area have managed to elect one LGBTQ+ representative to their city councils ...
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Jaria Jaug
At 23, San Jose State University alumna Jaria (rhymes with Mariah) Jaug (pronounced “Haug”) is the youngest person on the ...
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Judge Jonathan Karesh
In January 2019, Jonathan Karesh became the second LGBTQ judge ever elected to be the presiding judge of the San ...
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Cindy Weintraub
Silicon Valley/San Francisco LGBTQ Employee Resource Group Alliance founder Cindy Weintraub moved to Santa Clara from her hometown of Brooklyn, ...
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Dani Castro
Dani Castro, MA, MFT started doing drag in San Jose and throughout the greater Bay Area at the age of ...
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