Day 24 of LGBTQ History Month
In 1985, it was unsafe to be trans in public. As a response, private salons were opened for people in the community to dress as their true selves. Carla’s Salon opened in 1985 by Carla Blair, a heterosexual woman. Those who attended would have a private place to explore their gender identity. It was a combination tearoom, beauty salon, boutique, and social center that became popular worldwide within the transgender community.
Day 24 of LGBTQ History Month
Aejaie Franciscus’s story starts with a letter to Santa Claus at five years old, “I asked Santa to make me a little girl for Christmas, as I was born a boy. To say the least, that present wasn’t under the tree, but it did set me on my life’s journey,” she recalled.
Day 23 of LGBTQ History Month
In 1984, students at San Jose State University, Mary Jeffrey, Marilyn Cook, and Karen Hester, met with Amy Caffrey to discuss the need for a women’s bookstore and coffeehouse where women could socialize and enjoy live music by women. After several meetings, the group named this project Sisterspirit.
Day 22 of LGBTQ History Month
For 15 years, ENTRE NOUS provided an opportunity for lesbians to speak out in print. News, profiles, book and movie reviews, discussions of controversial issues and much more were contributed by a large number of talented writers. Original staff members found community in group mailing parties hosted to distribute the publication.
Day 22 of LGBTQ History Month
Check out all the vibrant content that has been published by the Silicon Valley LGBTQ+ community! We are thrilled to present a brief history of ENTRE NOUS, Our Paper/Your Paper, Lesbian Voices, OutNow, and more. Are we missing your publication? Send us a message! We’d love to include you.
Day 21 of LGBTQ History Month
Arturo Magaña first experienced a folclórico performance in 1992 when he was 18 years old, and it inspired him to keep dancing for the rest of his life. He has fought long and hard for a space where the LGBTQ+ community could express themselves through this type of dance, and it was with this spirit that Ensamble Folclórico Colibri was born.
Day 20 of LGBTQ History Month
Content Warning: Police Violence and Transphobic Language
On May 4th, 1986, a young Black man named Melvin Truss was shot and killed by a member of the San Jose Police Department. He was 17 years old. The SJPD claims that Truss was an armed robbery suspect. The community, however, was outraged over the murder of this young person’s untimely death. They fought for his justice. BAYMEC was successful in having the San Jose City Council approve of LGBTQ sensitivity training of the police department, led by Wiggsy Sivertsen.
Day 19 of LGBTQ History Month
Content Warning: Homophobia
The 1980s were a decade wrought with homophobia fueled by the public’s fear of the growing HIV/AIDS crisis. Many people believed that the virus could be transmitted by mosquitoes, from public toilet seats, and through the air like a common cold.
In November 1986, Proposition 64 went on the ballot, calling to quarantine AIDS victims by forcing those with positive test results to publicly disclose their health status and enforcing limitations on these people’s access to education and travel. A Los Angeles Times poll published the previous summer found half of the public favored quarantining AIDS victims, and a quarter believed that “AIDS is a punishment God has given homosexuals for the way they lived.”
Day 18 of LGTBQ History Month
Curious about how, where and when San Jose/Silicon Valley Prides have occurred? After much research, Queer Silicon Valley has the answers! Check out the website to learn where the first local Pride was held in 1976 and all the other 44 Prides since then. Do you know when Harvery Milk spoke or when RuPaul performed? Were you there? Curious about the parades? Have you marched? There is an interactive map to view the locations of the parades and all the Pride festivals.
We’d love to see your Pride pictures. Tag@queersiliconvalley and we will add them to our gallery!
Day 17 of LGBTQ History Month
A haven for Vietnamese members of the LGBTQ+ community could be found every Sunday night on Song That Radio, the nation’s first Vietnamese gay and lesbian radio show broadcast out of KSJX in San Jose. Translated as “live truthfully,” the hour-long program was founded in March 1999 by Vuong Nguyen. She was known as the “Eldest Sister” of the ST family, who also founded one of the country’s first Vietnamese gay and lesbian groups in San Jose in the late 1980s.