Politics & Activism Timeline
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Wiggsy Sivertsen
Born Aimee Devereaux Sivertsen in Southern California, she has gone by Wiggsy since early childhood, after her sister mispronounced “wiggles” to describe her rambunctiousness. She graduated from San Jose State University in 1962, and later received a master’s degree in social work from Tulane University in New Orleans. Wiggsy’s career …
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Ken Yeager
Ken had come to San Jose when he was 18 to start a new life away from conservative Riverside, where he knew he could not be openly gay. He graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in political science and held numerous jobs working on public policies to …
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Measure B in Palo Alto
In the 1980s, even liberal Silicon Valley cities voted against LGBTQ+ rights. In the mid-1970s, being openly gay often meant facing prejudices in facets of everyday life, from housing to employment. A handful of cities and counties began granting protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, in the absence of …
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Meet Silicon Valley’s First-Ever Lesbian Mayor: Laura Parmer-Lohan
An historic first occurred in the City of San Carlos on December 14, 2020, when Councilwoman Laura Parmer-Lohan was sworn in as mayor. Although it was not reported anywhere, when she raised her hand to take the oath of office, she (surprisingly) became the first out lesbian mayor of any …
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Oak Grove Trio
The November 2020 election saw a historic “rainbow wave” of LGBTQ+ candidates running for office nationwide, but a Santa Clara County district school board took that one step further: a majority of its members are queer.` Jorge Pacheco Jr., Carla Hernández and Beija Gonzalez will each openly serve as part …
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Santa Clara County Trans Leaders In Conversation
Supervisor Ken Yeager interviews Sera Fernando, senior management analyst in Santa Clara County’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and Jules Chyten-Brennan, medical director of the Gender Health Center, about Santa Clara County’s efforts in ensuring healthcare for transgender, gender-non-binary and gender expansive people. Sera Fernando Jules Chyten-Brennan Office of LGBTQ Affairs …
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Santa Clara County LGBTQ+ Equality Leaders in Conversation
Supervisor Ken Yeager interviews Maribel Martinez, Director of the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and David Campos, Deputy County Executive, about the county’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and Division of Equity and Social Justice. Office of LGBTQ Affairs Yeager Proposes Office Ken Yeager …
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Raising the Rainbow, Transgender, and Bisexual Visibility Flags
The month of June holds special meaning for many people because it is known around the world as LGBTQ Pride Month. In San Jose and Santa Clara County, the governing boards issue pride proclamations and raise the rainbow flag, usually at their first meeting in June. Ken Yeager was the …
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Marriage Equality
The hurdle for people to marry someone of the same gender always seemed too high to ever be a reality. Throughout the 1990s when there was more public discussion of the idea, polls in California and throughout the country showed high levels of opposition—too high to be obtainable. One by …
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The Fight Against Prop. 64
Efforts to Quarantine AIDS Patients The early to mid-1980s was a time of widespread misinformation and hysteria about AIDS. There were public fears that AIDS could be transmitted through the air like the common cold or by mosquitoes. Into this atmosphere stepped Lyndon LaRouche, a one-time Marxist who, by 1986, …
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Measures A & B: Local Anti-Discrimination Attempts
Measures A and B. Anita Bryant. Rev. Marvin Rickard. The Los Gatos Christian Church. Saying these names today is likely met with blank stares. But in 1980, they were at the center of a battle for local policies protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public services. In …
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23 Years Waiting for a Gay Pride Proclamation
The politically charged story behind San Jose’s Pride proclamation reflects the local struggle for LGBTQ rights and the community’s long fight with the Religious Right.Although the first U.S. Pride marches and parades were held in June 1970, it wasn’t until 1975 that leaders in San Jose’s LGBTQ community asked then-Mayor …
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BAYMEC
Provided by BAYMEC In 1984, the local LGBTQ community was still reeling from the 1980 repeal of city and county ordinances which would have given gays and lesbians protection in housing and employment. In a mean-spirited and homophobic campaign, the fundamentalists used such slogans as “Don’t let it spread,” “Vote …
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Silicon Valley Stonewall Democrats
Provided by the Silicon Valley Stonewall Democrats The Silicon Valley Stonewall Democrats was founded in 2003 as the Silicon Valley LGBT Democratic Club. At the time, Silicon Valley was the only major metropolitan region in the country without an LGBT Democratic Club, and Clark Williams was committed to changing that …
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