Queer Rights Are Human Rights: Posters of LGBTQ+ Struggles & Celebrations

This exhibition is supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and The Getty Foundation.

Table of Contents 1. Unite to Fight 2. Pride & Protest 3. Organizing for Justice 4. Health Care & Community Healing 5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia 6. Immigration: No LGBTQ+ Exclusion 7. We’re Here & We’re Queer 8. Building Coalitions 9. Celebrating Empowerment

“Wh

hy is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?”

—Ernest J. Gaines (1933 –2019) Author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

“Queer Rights Are Human Rights: Posters of LGBTQ+ Struggles & Celebrations” shows the power of graphics to expose injustices, defend rights, and celebrate victories. Whether homophobia is institutionalized through legislation or conducted culturally through physical, psychological, or emotional violence, it is a human rights violation.

For more than 70 years, poster art has been central in fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. Although the contemporary movement credits the 1969 events at the Stonewall Inn in New York with giving birth to the movement, posters document organizing efforts that predate Stonewall by more than a decade. They also show a broad range of issues, changing demands, and constant efforts for inclusivity.

Many of the earliest posters produced after Stonewall refer to the Gay Liberation Movement.

Although lesbians were central from the beginning—as were transgender people and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)—the assumption that “Gay” was an inclusive term was quickly challenged, and “Gay and Lesbian” became more widely used. This then became LGBT. Q for Queer was soon added to represent a gender-neutral term. Today, 2S, I, A, and + are increasingly seen, indicating people who are Two-Spirit, Asexual, Intersex, and more. The + in this exhibition’s title refers to these and many other orientations and gender identities.

The Center for the Study of Political Graphics has incorporated LGBTQ+ issues into exhibitions since 1990, and produced our first exhibition focusing on LGBTQ+ rights in 2010. And while some laws and attitudes have changed over the decades, there are still many struggles that need to be fought. One of the major issues in the 2010 exhibition was marriage equality—which was legalized in all 50 states by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015. In 2010, there were relatively few

posters focusing on transgender issues—less than a decade later there are many posters. Yet as the struggle for Trans Liberation gains attention, there are 13 anti-trans laws across the country today and the reactionary backlash is taking the fight into bathrooms and high school sports.

Regretfully, many of the issues highlighted in 2010 continue, including racism, gender-based violence, and police brutality targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2021, openly transgender soldiers were allowed to serve in the U.S. military.

Yet in spite of—or because of—these and other gains, attacks against LGBTQ+ people continue in the courts, on the streets, and in private. Courts are allowing businesses to use their religious beliefs to discriminate against LGBTQ+ clients and workers. Violence disproportionately affects Black transgender women and femmes. LGBTQ+ youth are at much higher risk of suicide. Los Angeles is not immune—as recently as August 2020, three transgender women were attacked in West Hollywood, as bystanders laughed, hurled homophobic slurs, and videotaped.

“Queer Rights Are Human Rights: Posters of LGBTQ+ Struggles & Celebrations” celebrates how far the movement has come since Stonewall—and how much more there is to do.

Carol. A Wells Founder and Executive Director Center for the Study of Political Graphics

1. UNITE TO FIGHT

The Gay Liberation Front used Peter Hujar’s photo to publicize New York City’s first gay pride march in 1970. Hujar witnessed the Stonewall Riots in 1969, and documented queer life in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, as AIDS took its apocalyptic toll. He was diagnosed with AIDS in January 1987 and died 10 months later, at the age of 53.

1. Unite to Fight

1.

Gay Liberation Su Negrin, Suzanne Bevier Photo: Peter Hujar Times Change Press Offset, 1970 New York, NY Queer Rights Are Human Rights

2.

4th Congress I.C.S.E. International Committee for Sexual Equality Offset, 1955 Europe Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

1. Unite to Fight

This is the oldest poster in the exhibition, and one of a handful produced prior to the 1969 Stonewall uprisings. It was created during what is referred to as the homophile era, roughly between World War II and Stonewall, when gay and lesbian groups formed to foster communities celebrating homosexual love (phile in Latin).

In Europe, homophile organizations began forming in the mid-1940s, and in 1951 the International Committee for Sexual Equality (ICSE) was created in Amsterdam to link existing homophile groups across Europe. The founding meeting included representatives from Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The first U.S. organizations, ONE, Inc. and the Mattachine Society, joined in 1953.

The three languages in the poster—French, English, and German—were chosen to reach and communicate with ICSE’s international audience. The 1955 congress also marked the first time that German and English translations of the French speeches were made available.

Simultaneous translations to and from the three languages were offered in the 1958 congress in Brussels.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

3.

Crisis Artist Unknown Print, 1967 Los Angeles, CA Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

1. Unite to Fight

The Black Cat Riots took place more than two years before Stonewall. When the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day in 1967, plainclothes vice cops started arresting patrons at the Black Cat bar in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. A brawl soon broke out, more than a dozen gay men were arrested, and several were beaten or injured. Gay and other minority groups organized a campaign to protest the police brutality by calling the local news media, distributing fliers, and organizing demonstrations throughout the Los Angeles area on February 11, 1967.

This poster was created by the organization Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE), founded on July 7, 1966. PRIDE’s goals were twofold: to alter the relationship between the police and the gay community, and to provide social events for this community outside of the bar scene. PRIDE was key in organizing the February demonstrations attended by hundreds of protestors.

Two earlier acts of LGBTQ+ resistance also took place in California. The earliest was the Cooper Do-nuts Riot in 1959. The café was situated between two gay bars in downtown Los Angeles and often a target for police harassment. One night in May, two officers entered and attempted to arrest a gay man, two drag queens, and two sex workers. Onlookers threw donuts, coffee, and garbage at the police car until the officers fled without making the arrests. The subsequent uprising shut down Main St. for a day. Another early uprising was the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco in August 1966. The riot began after a trans woman, fed up with police abuse and harassment, threw coffee into an officer’s face. There are no known posters documenting these two historic events.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

4.

Stonewall June 27 76 Artist Unknown Silkscreen, 1976 Los Angeles, CA Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

1. Unite to Fight

The Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street in the New York’s Greenwich Village, originally was a Mafia-owned heterosexual nightclub. In 1966, the owners re-opened it as a gay bar. Customers’ ages ranged from the late teens to early 30s, and the racial mix was evenly distributed between white, Black, and Latina/o. Despite weekly police payoffs, raids were frequent.

But the early morning raid on June 28, 1969 was different. As they watched bar patrons being loaded into police cars, onlookers, many of them trans and queer people of color, did not retreat as they often had in the past. Instead they fought the police. Eventually police officers barricaded themselves in the bar and protestors set it on fire. The Stonewall Riots took place over three days.

Although at least three earlier multi-day uprisings led by LGBTQ+ people against police abuse took place in California prior to Stonewall (see previous poster), the events at Stonewall marked the start of the gay rights movement in the U.S. and around the world. It led to the founding of the activist group Gay Liberation Front, and LGBTQ+ Pride events continue to be held during the month of June, in commemoration of this uprising.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

5.

Stonewall Was A Riot Vienna Rye Digital Print, 2019 New York, NY

1. Unite to Fight

Sylvia Rivera (1951 – 2002, left) and Marsha P. Johnson (1945 – 1992, right) were transwomen who were central to the 1969 Stonewall Riots. They were also founding members of the Gay Liberation Front, and co-founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) in 1970. Both are seen as mothers and trailblazers of the LGBTQ+ movement and dedicated their lives to helping queer and trans people of color including youths, sex workers, and the incarcerated.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

1. Unite to Fight

Poster Text: From top left, James Baldwin/Writer 1924-1987, Willa Cather/Writer 1873-1947, Errol Flynn/Actor 1909-1959, Michelangelo/Artist 14751564, Edna St. Vincent Millay/Poet 1892-1950 From bottom left, Cole Porter/Composer 1893-1964, Eleanor Roosevelt/Social Activist 1884-1962, Bessie Smith/Singer 1894-1937, Walt Whitman/Poet 1819-1892, Virginia Woolf/Writer 1882-1941

6.

Unfortunately, History Has Set the Record a Little Too Straight Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council, People Unlimited Offset, 1989 Minneapolis, MN

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

7.

In Celebration of Amazons Women’s Graphics Collective Silkscreen, 1974 Chicago, IL 1. Unite to Fight

Inspired by the West Coast Lesbian Feminists Conference held in Los Angeles in 1973, two women from the Lansing Area Lesbian Feminists organized their own Midwest Lesbian Conference in May of the following year. The conference and music festival (not to be confused with the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival founded two years later) took place at Michigan State University. Over 200 women attended the three-day event, which included workshops related to health and wellness, legal issues, parenting, and the concerns of Black lesbians.

The conference organizers worked with women’s groups from several states to gather resources, support, presenters, and attendees. In addition, as a more practical way of reaching large numbers of lesbians, they later founded “Lesbian Connection, ” a magazine described as “the free worldwide forum of news, ideas and information for, by and about lesbians.” This free, bimonthly magazine is still in publication today.

This poster was designed by the Women’s Graphics Collective, artists that worked in conjunction with the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

8.

Becoming Visible: The First Black Lesbian Conference Artist Unknown Silkscreen, 1980 San Francisco, CA Courtesy of Lincoln Cushing Collection of the Oakland Museum of California Art

1. Unite to Fight

The First Black Lesbian Conference was a two-day event held at the Women’s Building in San Francisco. It was the first conference in the U.S. that focused solely on African-American lesbians, and had an attendance of over 200. The conference theme was “becoming visible” and its purpose was to create a national support and educational network for Black lesbians.

Speakers included Andrea Canaan, Pat Norman, and Angela Davis. There were eight workshops: Business and Money Management; Lesbians and the Law; Feminism; African American Women Role Models in the Arts; Wellness Counseling; Health Issues and African Americans; African Americans and Imperialism; and Interracial Relationships.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

9.

Gay Youth of New York Come! Unity Press Offset, 1980 New York, NY Courtesy of Lincoln Cushing Collection of the Oakland Museum of California Art

1. Unite to Fight

The pink triangle was established as a pro-gay symbol by U.S. activists during the 1970s. Its use originated in World War II, when known gay men, bisexual men, and transgender women were forced to wear inverted pink triangle badges as identifiers in Nazi concentration camps—in the same manner that Jews were forced to wear the yellow Star of David, political prisoners (including socialists and labor organizers) were forced to wear red triangles, forced laborers and emigrants had to wear blue triangles. Others considered to be “undesirables” had their own colors such as political prisoners (including socialists and labor organizers) who were forced to wear red triangles and forced laborers and emigrants who had to wear blue triangles. A star made out of pink and red triangles indicated a gay political prisoner. Wearers of the pink triangle were considered at the bottom of the camp social system and subjected to particularly severe maltreatment and degradation.

The appropriation of the symbol of the pink triangle, usually turned upright rather than inverted, was thus a conscious attempt to transform a symbol of humiliation into one of solidarity and resistance. This poster uses both positions. By the outset of the AIDS epidemic, it was well entrenched as a symbol of gay pride and liberation.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

10.

Because Dan Kaufman Graphics Offset, 1991 Washington, DC

1. Unite to Fight

Poster Text: Because Gay Men And Lesbians Are Discriminated Against In Housing And Employment And Because How We Act Is More Important Than Who We Are And If We Get Harassed It’s Our Problem And If We Get Attacked We Provoked It And If We Raise Our Voices We’re Flaunting Ourselves And If We Enjoy Sex We’re Perverts And If We Have Aids We Deserve It And If We March With Pride We’re Recruiting Children And If We Want Or Have Children We’re Unfit Parents And If We Stand Up For Our Rights We’re Overstepping Our Boundaries And Because We Are Forced Constantly To Question Our Own Worth As Human Beings And If We Don’t Have A Relationship With Someone Of The Opposite Sex We Haven’t Given It A Chance And If We Have A Relationship With Someone Of The Same Sex It Is Not Recognized And We Are Told Our Love Is Not “Real” And If We Come Out Of The Closet We’re Just Going Through A Phase And Because Lesbian And Gay History Is Virtually Absent From Literature And Because Homophobia Is Sanctioned By The Supreme Court And. . . For Lots And Lots Of Other Reasons, I Am Part Of The Lesbian And Gay Civil Rights Movement. (c) 1991 Dan Kaufman Graphics PO Box 4901 Washington, DC 20008

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

1. Unite to Fight

This poster was produced for the first National Coming Out Day held in 1988. National Coming Out Day events are aimed at raising awareness of the LGBTQ+ community among the general populace. The day is still celebrated internationally on October 11 or 12.

11.

National Coming Out Day Keith Haring Offset, 1988 New York, NY Queer Rights Are Human Rights

02

2. PRIDE & PROTEST

Los Angeles’ Griffith Park had been a popular cruising area for gay men, but in 1968 gays and lesbians gathered at the park’s merry-go-round to hear Mike Hannon, a candidate for LA District Attorney, speak on the topic of police harassment. In 1970, the Gay Liberation Front organized multiple Gay-Ins at Griffith Park. During the April 5, 1970, event promoted on this poster, police arrived in riot gear and formed a charging line.

The center figure with the moustache is a self-portrait of this poster’s artist, Bruce Reifel.

2. Pride & Protest

12.

Gay-In Bruce Reifel Gay Liberation Front Silkscreen, 1970 Los Angeles, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

13.

Christopher St. West Tony Derosa Christopher St. West Peace Press Offset, 1971 Los Angeles, CA

2. Pride & Protest

The first-ever gay pride parade was held in Los Angeles on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots on Christopher St. in New York City (see posters #4 and #5). The Christopher St. West (CSW) parade was started by Los Angeles gay activists, prominent among them Morris Kight, Reverend Troy Perry, and Bob Humphries. Although several gay pride marches took place that day around the United States, this was the only “street closing” gay pride parade held in 1970—something emulated by the other parades the following year. In 1974, the CSW parade added a festival which became an annual feature.

There was always a tense relationship between CSW, the businesses the parade passed on Hollywood Blvd., and the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1979 the parade and festival were moved to the more friendly environs of Santa Monica Blvd. in soon-to-be-incorporated (1984) West Hollywood. Pride is now celebrated every June in West Hollywood.

This poster was for the second Christopher St. West parade held in Los Angeles. No offset printshop was willing to print it until organizers contacted Peace Press, a workers’ collective founded by anti-Viet Nam War activists (1967-1987). Peace Press not only printed this poster but was also enthusiastic about printing pamphlets about gay rights.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Harvey Milk (1930-1978) was the first openly gay elected official in California. His 1978 election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was in stark contrast to the national political scene that was characterized by the movement led by anti-gay activist Anita Bryant to “Save Our Children.” Milk served only 11 months before he was assassinated on November 27, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall.

George Moscone (1929-1978) was mayor of San Francisco from January 1976 until his assassination on the same day as Milk. He was known as “the people’s mayor” who opened up City Hall and its commissions to reflect the diversity of San Francisco.

Their killer, former City Supervisor Dan White, crawled through the basement window in order to avoid metal detectors. White had resigned his seat on the Board following the enactment of

2. Pride & Protest

the Gay Civil Rights Bill that he had stringently opposed. Convicted of two counts of voluntary manslaughter, he was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.

This stunningly light sentence was granted in response to what is now referred to as the “Twinkie defense”—White’s attorney argued that his client could not be held accountable for his actions due to the amount of junk food he had eaten on the day of the crimes. White was paroled after six years and took his own life shortly thereafter.

14.

Candlelight March & Memorial Inkworks Press Offset, 1983 San Francisco, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

2. Pride & Protest

On October 11, 1987, more than half a million people participated in the second national March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This poster shows three images of the six-day-long event, including the display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, the march itself, and the rally on the National Mall. The march succeeded in bringing national attention to the impact of AIDS, and the unveiling of the quilt offered a powerful tribute to the lives of the thousands killed by the pandemic.

The march demanded the full protection of civil rights for all Americans and the immediate increase of government funding for AIDS research, education, and patient care. Many prominent activists participated, including Eleanor Smeal, Byllye Avery, Cesar Chavez, and Morris Kight, who are pictured in the center panel supporting the banner.

15.

March for Life Photo Concern, Inc. Offset, 1988 Arlington, VA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

16.

AIDSPHOBIA Josh Wells and Jordan Peimer Critical Mass Committee of ACT UP/LA Offset, 1991 Los Angeles, CA 2. Pride & Protest

ACT UP/LA is the acronym for AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power/Los Angeles. It was a grass-roots, direct-action organization dedicated to fighting homophobic bias in government, religious, media, cultural, and public-health institutions during the AIDS crisis. This poster was created by Jordan Peimer and Josh Wells, members of Critical Mass, the Arts and Graphics committee of ACT UP/LA, for use in the group’s street protest of AIDSphobia in Hollywood at the 1991 Academy Awards ceremony.

The protest was organized to bring attention to the motion picture industry’s poor record of presenting stories of people with AIDS, an enormous, agonizing, and heartbreaking public health crisis which at the time had caused over 100,000 U.S. deaths and greatly impacted the queer community. With the exception of only two films, “An Early Frost” and “Longtime Companion,” the AIDS crisis was otherwise totally ignored by the movie industry. The Oscar shown on the poster was a real award, borrowed from a supporter. Today, while many drugs have been developed to extend the lives of people with AIDS, over 700,000 AIDS deaths have occurred in the U.S., over 30 million deaths globally—and there is still no cure.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

17.

Out Against the Right Carrie Moyer Lesbian Avengers Offset, 1994 New York, NY 2. Pride & Protest

Poster Text: Hey you pervert, freak, bulldagger, unfit, sicko, lesbian, bitch! Upstanding, Family-valued, God-fearing America Wants You gone. The Christian right is on our homosexual heels and it’s time we started kicking. Out Is Not Enough. From the schools and city councils, to the courts and the Congress, they’re coming after us with millions of dollars, thousands of prayers. Antilesbian, transsexual, transgender, bisexual and gay initiatives are pending in 8 states. Right-wing Attacks Are Occurring In All 50. There’s Nowhere Left To Hide.

[Text in picture] It’s Not Diversity It’s Perversity They’re Reaching Deep Into Our Safest Closets with legislation that will get us at our jobs, in the streets-- even in our homes. There is no minding you own business.

The majority of American voters think our lives are immoral and wrong. Fuck Lesbian Chic. Out Against The Right The Dyke Manifesto No One Is Safe We Have To Respond--Not On Their Terms But on Ours. Butch, femme and androgynous dykes, leather queers, drag kings and queens, transsexuals and trans-genders will not be thrown to the wolves so that straight-acting “gay people” can beg for acceptance at our expense.

Lesbian and gay people of color will not be forced into

partial identities that deny the complexity of our lives. No Discrimination Lewiston Queers Unite Unnatural Abnormal Perverse Wrong Lesbian and gay youth, people with AIDS and low-income Queers Will Not Be Denied Full Access, support and participation in our struggle for justice.

We have no desire to win a battle if it means losing the war. Now’s The Time To Fight Back And Fight Forward. Give Us A Call. Give Us Your Money. Give Us Your Vision, Your Passion. Join The Struggle. Take The Streets... 1,000s Of Angry Dykes Can’t Be Wrong-- And Won’t Give In. Ever.

The Lesbian Avengers were founded in 1992 in New York City as a direct-action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility. They organized more than 50 local actions, and at their height, had 22 chapters on four continents.

The Avengers worked with the ACT UP Women’s Network to organize the first nationwide Dyke March for lesbian visibility, held April 23, 1993, on the eve of the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. Over 20,000 women marched at the Dyke March, taking to the streets without a permit. The large turnout can be partly attributed to the fact that this march took place on the evening before the larger March on Washington, but also to the extensive community outreach work by the Avengers and ACT UP women. The poignancy of the event was strengthened by the presence of lesbians from other countries.

The march took place in gathering darkness and in front of the White House, where a dozen Lesbian Avengers stunned the crowd by dramatically eating fire, a familiar tactic at their demonstrations. Many participants, inspired by the event, brought the marches home and created a new tradition of Dyke Marches in many cities and countries.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Translation: 3rd Mexico City Lesbian March Lesbians, breaking barriers, crossing borders Women Only. No trucks. No propaganda from political parties Meeting and cultural event at the end Convened by individual women and: [list of sponsoring organizations]

18.

3a Marcha Lésbica Alma Lopez Offset, 2006 Designed: Los Angeles, CA Printed: Mexico City 2. Pride & Protest

This poster was produced for the 2006 Marcha Lésbica in Mexico City. Cristina Serna, a Chicana from East Los Angeles and a UC Santa Barbara graduate student, takes the pose of the classic We Can Do It! poster from World War II. Serna flexes her right fist and proudly shows off a tattoo of the Virgen de Guadalupe and La Sirena (mermaid) embracing each other as they float on a Viceroy butterfly surrounded by a Sacred Heart.

The background is composed of multiple photographs taken during the previous two Mexico City lesbian marches and demonstrations in the Zocalo, Mexico’s historic center. The butterflies symbolize the activists’ intention of scattering to diverse areas of Mexico, the U.S., and beyond, ignoring borders and creating awareness and change.

Alma Lopez, an artist based in Los Angeles, was invited by the march’s organizers to create the official event poster. Lopez and Serna were also members of Tongues LA, an activist arts group of queer women of color who traveled to Mexico City to participate in the march.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Photo by Judy Ornelas Sisneros taken on March 25, 2006. Poster wheat-pasted in a Mexico City subway, hand-drawn mustache added by unknown vandal. The tattoo showing LA Sirena embracing La Virgen de Guadalupe has been torn off. Standing next to the poster is LA-based Tongues activist Marissa Medina.

Photo by Judy Ornelas Sisneros taken on March 23, 2006. Poster wheat-pasted on an eletcrical box in Mexico City on Puento de Alvarado.

19.

17th Annual San Francisco Dyke March Melanie Cervantes, Dignidad Rebelde Inkworks Press Offset, 2009 Berkeley, CA 2. Pride & Protest

Los Angeles’ first Indigenous Pride event was held on October 7, 2018, in Barnsdall Park. The second, promoted on this poster, took place on the lawn of the Autry Museum of the American West in Griffith Park, on October 13, 2019. It was truly a celebration of Two Spirit, Indigiqueer, and Indigenous LGBTQ+ people, with food, live music, cultural performances, singing, dancing, arts and crafts vendors, and information booths.

20.

Indigenous Pride LA Yuè Begay Indigenous Pride LA Digital Print, 2019 Los Angeles, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

21.

Brooklyn Liberation Mohammed Fayaz Digital Print, 2020 New York, NY 2. Pride & Protest

The demonstrators wear face masks because the action took place on June 14, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite stay-at-home orders, it was important for the community to publicly come together and oppose the epidemic of racism and murder of Black transgender people, especially during Pride month. The masks show the movement’s commitment to demonstrating in as safe a manner as possible.

The Okra Project is a mutual aid collective that provides support to Black trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people. The Marsha P. Johnson Institute’s mission is to protect and defend the human rights of Black transgender people. GLITS addresses health and housing crises faced by LGBTQ+ individuals dealing with racism and criminalization. For the GWORLS is a Black, trans-led collective that curates parties to raise money to help Black transgender people pay for rent, gender-affirming surgeries, co-pays for medicines and doctor’s visits, and travel.

Black Trans Femmes In The Arts is a collective that provides support to Black trans women and trans non-binary femme artists.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

03

3. ORGANIZING FOR JUSTICE

California Proposition 6, which was defeated by voters in 1978, would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California’s public schools. It was the first failure in a movement that started the previous year with the successful campaign headed by Anita Bryant and her organization, Save Our Children, in Dade County, Florida, to repeal a local gay rights ordinance.

(See poster #31.)

Proposition 6 is a central theme in the 2008 film Milk.

3. Organizing for Justice

22.

Proposition 6 Vote No Artist Unknown Photocopy, 1978 California Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Proposition 63 was a state constitutional amendment that mandated English as the official language of California. It was extremely popular with voters in the 1986 midterm election, passing by a margin of 73 percent to 27 percent.

In 1986, Lyndon LaRouche, a rightwing extremist, successfully led a campaign to add Proposition 64 to the California ballot. The initiative proposed quarantining people with AIDS and barring those suspected of being HIV-positive from certain jobs in California. It was defeated by a large margin.

23.

Defeat the AIDS Quarantine and English Only Initiatives!

Fireworks Graphics Offset, 1986 San Francisco, CA 3. Organizing for Justice

Proposition 22 (or the California Defense of Marriage Act) was approved by California voters in 2000. It prohibited the state from recognizing same-sex marriages, even if contracted in another state. In May 2008, it was struck down by the California Supreme Court as contrary to the state constitution.

Proposition 8, on the November 2008 California ballot, would have prevented marriage equality by amending the state constitution. Although the proposition passed, it was later overturned in court.

24.

Rabid Homophobes Doug Minkler Silkscreen, 2000 Berkeley, CA

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

3. Organizing for Justice

25.

The Question Isn’t Whether the State Should Marry Queers, But Whether the State Should Marry Anyone.

THINK AGAIN (S.A. Bachman + David John Attyah) Offset, 1998 Boston, MA

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

26.

Support A Woman’s Right to Choose Her Spouse Kelly Fitzpatrick Offset, 2007 Washington, DC 3. Organizing for Justice

With this poster, the Dyke Action Machine (DAM) articulated the ambivalence of many lesbians about the corporate gay movement’s drive towards samesex marriage and parenthood as the norm. During June 1997, DAM wheat-pasted 5,000 of these offset posters on walls and other surfaces between 34th and Houston Streets in New York City.

27.

Gay Marriage Dyke Action Machine (DAM) HX For Her Offset, 1997 New York, NY Queer Rights Are Human Rights

28.

It’s Cake For God’s Sake Mel Greet Digital Print, 2017 Los Angeles, CA

3. Organizing for Justice

In 2012, Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, CO, refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple, claiming it conflicted with his religious views. The couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, went to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission because Philips violated a state anti-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation as a protected class.

The Commission ordered the shop to provide cakes to same-sex couples, and the Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with this decision. Masterpiece Cakeshop appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned that decision, ruling that the Commission had not been neutral towards religion when it issued its decision, and had therefore violated Philips’ right to free exercise of religion.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

The Coors Brewing Company (now the Miller Coors Brewing Company) has been the target of several boycott campaigns since the 1960s. These campaigns have focused on a variety of human rights and labor issues, including union-busting activities and discriminatory hiring practices against African Americans, Mexican-Americans, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. In 1977, Coors’ unionized employees in Colorado went on strike to protest labor conditions and discrimination.

In 1978, the AFL-CIO led the largest boycott to date against Coors. It was joined by Black, Latina/o, LGBTQ+, feminist, and student organizations.

Millions participated. In California, Coors’ market share dropped from 40 percent in 1977 to 14 percent in 1984. Coors eventually implemented some new anti-discrimination policies, but the boycott continued until 1987, when negotiations between Coors and the AFL-CIO resulted in an agreement that resolved the conflict.

3. Organizing for Justice

29. (left) Boycott Coors Beer Howard Quinn Co. Offset, circa 1970 San Francisco, CA 30. (right) Boycott Coors Coors Boycott Committee Offset, 1978 San Francisco, California Queer Rights Are Human Rights

31.

Florida Orange Juice is Hazardous to Your Existence Attributed to Frank T. Ventgen West American Advertising Offset, 1977 New York, NY Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

3. Organizing for Justice

In 1977, popular singer Anita Bryant launched the anti-gay campaign, Save Our Children, in Dade County, Florida, to counter a local ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Soon her celebrity and national campaign helped repeal similar antidiscrimination laws in St. Paul, Minnesota; Eugene, Oregon; and Wichita, Kansas.

Proponents of Proposition 6 in California, which aimed to ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools, echoed the “Save Our Children” motto. See poster #22.

This poster advertises the boycott against the Florida Citrus Commission, for which Bryant was a spokeswoman. The posters of the era reveal the national reach and wide-ranging strategies that LGBTQ+ activists used to fight against these homophobic initiatives.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

3. Organizing for Justice

In 1992, Colorado voters amended the state constitution to prevent any city, town, or county from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action recognizing LGBTQ+ individuals as a protected class. In response, the National Gay and Lesbian Task force called for a boycott of the state until Amendment 2 was repealed.

Almost immediately, the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights canceled their annual conference in Denver, followed by cancellations by several other major organizations.

Twenty-five cities formally banned government employees from traveling to Colorado on official visits, a large number of public figures who owned property in the Aspen area threatened to stay away during the winter, and the NBC television series “Frasier” relocated to Seattle from Denver, the original choice for the host city.

More than 100 organizations, municipalities, and public figures had signed on to the boycott call by the time the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against Amendment 2 in 1994. Colorado estimated that it lost more than $40 million in revenue as a result of the boycott. The battle over Amendment 2 eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was struck down as unconstitutional in the landmark decision of Romer v. Evans.

32.

Boycott Colorado Artist Unknown Offset, Circa 1992 United States Queer Rights Are Human Rights

33.

Homoph Robert B Offset, 1 Los Ange

3. Organizing for Justice

hobia Birch 1993 eles, CA

34.

Trans Liberation Not More U.S. Invasion Micah Bazant Digital Print, 2019 Berkeley, CA

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

04

4. HEALTH CARE & COMMUNITY HEALING

This now-iconic poster was designed by the six members of The Silence=Death Collective in New York, a year before ACT UP/NY was founded. Looking for a symbol that evoked the lesbian and gay community, the rainbow, the labrys, the lambda, and the pink triangle all were initially rejected as having too much baggage. (For a history of the pink triangle, see poster #9.)

The Silence=Death Project eventually selected the pink triangle but re-imagined it. The color was changed from pale pink to vivid fuchsia, and the Nazi point-down position was inadvertently reversed. The reversal, however, graphically added both strength and power, and what had been a mistake added a positive meaning.

When ACT UP/NY took over printing and distribution for their organizing and outreach efforts, design history and social history were made.

4. Health Care & Community Healing

35.

Silence=Death The Silence=Death Project ACT UP/NY Offset, 1987 New York, NY Queer Rights Are Human Rights

36.

Fight for the Living Bradley Rader ACT UP/LA Offset, 1989 Los Angeles, CA 4. Health Care & Community Healing

This poster promoted a huge Los Angeles AIDS demonstration that was part of a national day of demonstrations across 20 cities. It was organized by ACT UP Los Angeles, ACT UP Long Beach, and the Orange County Visibility League. LGBTQ+ and pro-choice groups, and other supporters, joined in this action.

In 1989, in the U.S., there were 100,000 cases of AIDS, and 60,000 deaths; in LA County alone, 8,000 cases and 5,000 deaths had been recorded. It was time for a larger show of force to demand an immediate government response to the AIDS crisis. On October 6, 1989, 400 activists shut down the Westwood Federal Building and 80 were arrested. It was the largest Los Angeles AIDS demonstration to-date.

AIDS deaths and the fight for a government response continued for years. Today, due to unrelenting high pressure by activists, AIDS drugs are available and have improved the lives of people with AIDS. But there is still no cure.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

37.

Kiss Gra ACT Offs New 4. Health Care & Community Healing

sing Doesn’t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do an Fury T UP/NY set, 1989 w York, NY

This poster came out of a two-part political art action that appropriated mainstream advertising and media strategies to educate a broad audience about AIDS. Part One was a large mailing of a postcard image of three kissing couples of mixed race and sex with the words, “Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do.” The back of the card read “Corporate Greed, Government Inaction and Public Indifference Make AIDS a Political Crisis.”

For Part Two, the image and text were produced as 12 x 3-foot full-color posters mounted on dozens of buses in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.

The image was designed to evoke the well-known “United Colors of Benetton” clothing campaign.

Genderqueer photographer Lola Flash is pictured on the far right.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

38.

Health Care Not Death Care Ellen Yellowbird, Josh Wells, Jordan Peimer, and Michael Fuller Critical Mass Committee of ACT UP/LA Silkscreen, 1990 Los Angeles, CA 4. Health Care & Community Healing

In 1990, the overcrowded California Institution for Women, Frontera, was the nation’s secondlargest women’s prison. All women in the state’s prison system known to have HIV or an AIDS diagnosis were segregated inside the AIDS unit, where the conditions were deplorable. There was no infectious disease doctor and no licensed infirmary. Women died in their cells without medical attention. The prison staff did not want to come in contact with the infected women, whose deaths were sometimes discovered when their food trays piled up.

This poster was first used in an ACT UP/LA demonstration held outside the prison on November 30, 1990. Prisoners inside were placed on lockdown but could hear AIDS activists chanting, “Sisters on the inside, sisters on the outside, ACT UP is watching, you won’t die.” When a series of protests moved to the California Department of Corrections in Sacramento the following year, members of ACT UP/CA took over the Chief Medical Officer’s offices to demand adequate medical care and an end to the inhumane conditions for incarcerated people with AIDS. Gradually several of ACT UP/LA’s demands were implemented. An infectious disease doctor was assigned to the AIDS unit. The segregation policy was changed and women with AIDS were moved into a medical facility. These actions by California ACT UP chapters—and in particular the ACT UP/LA Women’s Caucus, which led the campaign—inspired ACT UP chapters in other states to advocate for better treatment for all prisoners living with AIDS.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

In 1989, ACT UP/Los Angeles began to challenge the private and public healthcare insurance systems’ greed and unwillingness to provide urgently needed coverage for AIDS patients. This poster was created by ACT UP/LA’s Insurance Committee. Activist Jake Epstine posed as the greedy doctor.

Private insurance companies’ responses to the AIDS crisis cost thousands of lives when they adopted corrupt and unethical business practices.

39.

Healthcare Not Wealthcare Insurance Committee of ACT UP/LA Offset, 1992 Los Angeles, CA Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

4. Health Care & Community Healing

for providing inadequate funding to public hospitals and to government programs that covered costs for the uninsured, for ignoring consumer complaints, and for taking no action against unethical private insurers.

Update (San Diego) February 6, 1992

These included deceptive policy writing, denying coverage of AIDS-related claims, terminating coverage with no notice, increasing the cost of monthly premiums, and refusing to pay for potentially lifesaving experimental drugs. Public insurance agencies were also criticized

ACT UP/LA passionately endorsed a universal healthcare plan that would address these problems. It battled the insurance industry with letterwriting campaigns and phone zaps, and at public hearings.

Their protests included marches, guerilla theater, and mock funerals at private insurers’ and state agency offices. ACT UP/ LA activists wrote the ACT UP Network’s universal healthcare handbook. It was endorsed by all U.S. chapters.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

This poster was created by ACT UP/LA in response to Operation Desert Shield, launched in August 1990, and to the impending Persian Gulf War (aka Operation Desert Storm), launched in January 199 At this time, AIDS deaths were rapidly increasing, treatment options were extremely limited and diffi to access, and activists were fighting for increased public health funding from a federal government indifferent to the AIDS pandemic. With 85,000 U.S dead from AIDS in 1990, the federal budget for AID funding was approximately $3 billion, while the budget for Operation Desert Shield, with four dead started at $12 billion. Additional costs for Operatio Desert Storm, with 298 deaths, added up to a conservative estimate of $51 billion.

40.

AIDS Crisis ACT UP/LA Hand-colored Photocopy, Circa 1991 United States 4. Health Care & Community Healing

e

a 91.

fficult d

S. DS

d, on

As shown in the photograph, large signs with this poster’s image were used in demonstrations. Photocopies also were wheat-pasted in public places.

Nov/Dec 1990 ACT UP newsletter, page 12

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

41.

Break the Cycle Delaney Marner GLSEN Digital Print, Circa 2011 New York, NY 4. Health Care & Community Healing

Poster Text: LGBT Students Are Three Times More Likely to Commit Suicide Due to Bullying The following numbers are from 2021. If you are thinking about suicide, or worried for a loved one, these resources are available:

Trevor Project: 866-488-7386 (for LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-24)

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: Text ‘Start’ to 741-741

LGBT National Hotline: 888-843-4564

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

42.

Two Spirit Loved & Accepted THRIVE Digital Print, 2016 Portland, OR 4. Health Care & Community Healing

Two Spirit is a term sometimes used by Indigenous people in North America to describe community members whose identities and cultural roles aren’t by western colonial standards considered cisgender heteronormative. These identities and cultural roles vary from tribe to tribe, from nation to nation, and from people to people.

The term was created in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-Tribal Native American, First Nations Gay and Lesbian American Conference in Winnipeg, Canada. Two Spirit was chosen as a pan-Indian, umbrella term for use with general audiences, and to replace an offensive term, berdarche, used by anthropologists.

Two Spirit is sometimes criticized as erasing already-existing, community-specific terms, of which there are hundreds. Two Spirit is not synonymous with LGBTQ+. It is its own identity, distinct from the Eurocentric and colonial understanding of gender and sexuality. Many people who identify as Two Spirit will additionally identify as LGBTQ+, and Indigenous people can identify as LGBTQ+ without identifying as Two Spirit.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

43.

End Intersex Surgery Johanna Toruno The Unapologetic Street Series Intersex Justice Project Digital Print, Circa 2019 Chicago, IL 4. Health Care & Community Healing

Intersex is a broad term for people who have sex characteristics (such as hormones, genitals, internal anatomy, and/or chromosomes) that do not fit into the typical binary sex categories of male or female. The term is used to describe several dozen different conditions that may or may not be immediately visible.

It is estimated that one in 2,000 babies are born with genital differences that a doctor may suggest surgically altering. Most intersex surgeries are unnecessary procedures that are typically done before a child is 2 years old. These surgeries are tied to damaging ideas about gender and how “normal” boys and girls are supposed to look. Intersex surgeries may include reducing the size of a clitoris, creating or altering the vagina, moving the urethra, or the removal of gonads.

Intersex people are typically too young to consent to these surgeries, and parents seldom receive enough information to make informed decisions about these irreversible surgical interventions. Under these conditions, intersex surgeries are violations of human rights and bodily autonomy. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published major reports showing the physical harm and psychological suffering that is risked by intersex surgeries. In 2017, three former U.S. Surgeon Generals wrote that “there is insufficient evidence that growing up with atypical genitalia leads to psychosocial distress.” In 2015, Malta become the first and only country to pass a law banning intersex surgery on minors without informed consent.

The Intersex Justice Project explains that it “works to end unnecessary intersex surgeries by empowering intersex people of color as changemakers.”

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

In 2017, the Washington Post reported from a whistleblower that the Trump administration directed officials at the Center for Disease Control to abstain from using the seven words listed on this poster in its budget proposal to Congress, with the understanding that they were too controversial. The words on the list are very telling. They indicate the administration’s hostility towards transgender people, abortion, people of color, and scientific evidence.

44.

CDC Banned Words Tyler Blake Littwin Digital Print, 2017-2020 United States

4. Health Care & Community Healing

45.

Trans Masculinity Rommy Torrico Gender Justice LA Digital Print, 2021 United States

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

5. STOPPING VIOLENCE & HOMOPHOBIA

For decades, police officers had been staking out cruising sites such as bars, public restrooms, and parks, and arresting gay men with no warrants, no witnesses, and no victims.

This poster was used at a January 23, 1971, Los Angeles protest and rally against police brutality and entrapment of gay men. Approximately 275 people participated in the demonstration. Peaceful protestors carried this poster outside of the Hollywood Police Station on Wilcox Ave. Also present were three uniformed Nazi counter-protesters.

According to a contemporaneous report in the Advocate, one of the speakers at the rally at DeLongre Park was Bill Beasley, a Black Gay Liberation Front worker and founder of the Revolutionary Gay Alliance. He said, “This is not just one police officer who is harassing the gay community. It’s the whole police department . . . and the individual police officer is just carrying out the orders of that department.” Fortunately, no arrests were made at this demonstration.

5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia

46.

Fag Tony DeRosa Gay Liberation Front Silkscreen, 1971 Los Angeles, CA

Photo by Lee Mason, Advocate Records

Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

47.

Stop Anti-Gay/Lesbian Violence National Gay Task Force Offset, 1980s New York, NY

5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia

Poster Text: Stop Anti-Gay/Lesbian Violence Start by calling the Crisisline. Have you been harassed, threatened or attacked because you are gay/lesbian? Have you witnessed any such incidents? Call the NGTF Crisisline and help us document, publicize and combat anti-gay/ lesbian violence nationwide. We will take a confidential report and refer you to support services in your community. Call Monday-Friday, 3-9 p.m. (Eastern Time) Toll-Free 800-2217044. In New York, Alaska, and Hawaii, call 212-807-6016 (We will return your call, if you wish). For all other businesses: 212-741-5800. National Gay Task Force, 80 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia

Left: In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie. His murder brought national and international attention to hate crime legislation at both the state and federal level. In October 2009, the U.S. Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and President Barack Obama signed it into law. (James Byrd Jr. was a Black man who was killed in 1998 by white supremacists in Jasper, Texas.)

Center: In 2011, Norma Hurtado and her mother were shot and killed by Jose Alfonso Aviles in Austin, Texas. Aviles’ 18-year-old daughter and Norma were in a romantic relationship that Aviles did not accept.

Right: In 2010, Brandon Bitner, a high school freshman, died by suicide in Mount Pleasant Mills, PA. Friends said he was bullied mercilessly because he dressed in emo-style clothing and was perceived as gay.

48.

Bullying Destroys Lives Liz Hale Design Stonewall Democrats Offset, 2011 Los Angeles, CA Courtesy of the artist

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 11/16-17/09 Graveyard and Signs in Dunn Meadow East by the IMU Steps 11/16 Mon•7pm FineArts015•PBS Documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria 11/17 Tues•6pm FineArts015•Speakers then Procession to•7pm Graveyard Service

•

BROUGHT TO YOU BY NOGLSTP at IU and GLBTSSS with support from: American Indian Student Association bloomingOUT B OUT 2 News, Views, & More Boxcar Books

Fiore Magazine Keshet Lutheran Campus Ministry at IU (ELCA) OUT

For More Information visit: http://www.noglstp.net/iu/

ALL ARE WELCOME

5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia

49.

Transgender Day of Remembrance National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services Digital Print, 2009 Bloomington, IN

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was established to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice, and to express love and respect for trans people in the face of national indifference and hatred. This event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28, 1998, kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil. Hester’s murder—like most anti-transgender murder cases—has yet to be solved.

Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. Day of Remembrance reminds nontransgender people that transgender people are their sons, daughters, parents, friends, and lovers.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

50.

49 Pulses Artist Unknown Filmhub Digital Print, 2017 United States

5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia

On June 12, 2016, a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 at Pulse, a gay nightclub, in Orlando, FL. It was “Latin night,” so most of those killed were Latinx. The gunman purchased his weapons legally at a shop in Port St. Lucie, FL, and his family told reporters that he was homophobic. Witnesses said that at the time of the shooting he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Other witnesses came forward and said they had seen the gunman at the club before and on gay dating apps. Regardless of the motive, this crime remains the deadliest attack against the LGBTQ+ community in the United States. It was also the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history until the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas.

To add insult to injury—and due to outdated assumptions about high rates of HIV/AIDS in the gay community—the FDA largely barred gay and bisexual men from donating blood to help the injured. Queer men who had been celibate for one year could donate blood, as well as queer women, and sexually active heterosexuals.

This poster promotes a documentary film on the massacre.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Translation: Homosexuality is not a danger, Homophobia is. Don’t ignore, ridicule or isolate anyone because of their sexual orientation.

51.

La Homosexualidad No Es Un Peligro Ministerio de Salud Publica, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Offset, 2009 Cuba 5. Stopping Violence & Homophobia

This poster was produced by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, which is a national grassroots organization working to end all violence against women of color, including state sanctioned violence. It uses direct actions, critical dialogue, and grassroots organizing tactics.

52.

Stop Police Brutality Cristy C. Road Incite!

Digital Print, 2017 Los Angeles, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

6. IMMIGRATION: NO LGBTQ+ EXCLUSION

LGBTQ+ families are impacted not only by racially discriminatory immigration laws but by heterosexist reunification laws that keep binational partners and their children from being together. Many immigration laws are based on family relationships. This is a problem because many LGBTQ+ people are not legally recognized as spouses, children, or parents. This poster honors the struggling families that are victims of these policies.

In the U.S., because marriage equality was legalized in 2015, same-sex binational couples now can apply for a green card through marriage.

The poster was one of five produced for the May 2008 conference convened in Mexico City by the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action. This historic event brought together over 300 migrant leaders from the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America to form a global reinvestment fund that would provide countries with an alternative to foreign aid and financial institutions.

6. Immigration: No LGBTQ+ Exclusion

53.

Keep Our Families Together!

Melanie Cervantes Taller Tupac Amaru, Tumis Designs Offset, 2008 Oakland, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Poster Text: In June 2015, Jennicet Gutierrez interrupted a White House gay pride event, with a call to end detainment & deportation of LGBTQ immigrants.

For 500+ years, gender violence has been a key strategy of European Christian conquest + genocide in the Americas. Today, trans women fleeing violence are denied U.S. asylum, held with men and assaulted, and tortured in solitary. Trans & queer freedom means an end to torture & deportation. Mi Exisir Es Resistir

54.

No Pride for Some of Us without Liberation for All of Us Micah Bazant Digital Print, 2013 San Francisco, CA

6. Immigration: No LGBTQ+ Exclusion

55.

I’ll Be Damned Julio Salgado Digital Print, 2017 Los Angeles, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

6. Immigration: No LGBTQ+ Exclusion

56.

Out of the Closets!

Julio Salgado, Yahaira Carrillo CultureStrike Digital Print, 2013 Berkeley, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

07

7. WE’RE HERE & WE’RE QUEER

7. We’re Here & We’re Queer

57.

The 10th Annual International Two Spirit Gathering George Littlechild Offset, 1997 Minneapolis, MN Courtesy of Lincoln Cushing Collection of the Oakland Museum of California Art

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Poster Text: “Tranarchy What Is Transgender? Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identification deviates from the traditional binary gender system (a system in which biological men and biological women act or appear as society expects).

Many trans people recognize the limitations of a two gender system where gender & gender roles are said to be biologically determined & based on genitalia alone).

We rebel Against This Socially Enforced Institutionalized Gender System by creating our own definition of what it means to be a man, woman, or Something Else Entirely.

58.

TranArchy Artist unknown Woodcut and Letterpress Early 2000s United States 7. We’re Here & We’re Queer

Transpeople Come In Many Different Varieties And May Have Very Individualized Identifications. Some Transpeople May Take Hormones Or Make Other Physical Modifications To “Transition” Into A More Comfortable Body, While Others May Change Theur Name And Or Pronouns, Or Go By Ze And Hir, Or Simply Identify As Trans Without Changing A Damn Thing.

Transgender is not a code word for gay, lesbian, or queer.

Gender identification and sexual orientation are not the same!

Transpeople’s sexualities are as diverse as the rest of the world.

Things We Can Do To Be Trans-Positive Allies. Ask respectful questions–How do you identify? Begin to look at and breakdown gender in your life beyond male and female norms. Question the assumtion [sic] of what is nartural and who it benefits. Think about everyday things you do that may be an uncomfortable situation for a trans person. Using a public bathroom...? Have open discussios with people about gender but remember- Speak from your own experience! Recognize and take on transphobia in yourself and the gay lesbian queer communities. Be sure to always use preferred names and pronouns and if by chance you mess up, except [sic] full responsibility without making excuses!

How To Create Trans-Positive Spaces Have Resources Available For And About Trans People. Don’t assume that your space being queer, womens, radical, anarchist, etc. are trans inclusive. Invite Trans Speakers, Performers, Artists Etc. To Your Space To Be A Part Of Regular Community Activities -But- Don’t Tokenize Or Put The Burden On Them To Education Or Inform You. Take The Initiative To Become Educated And To Educate, Don’t Wait For It To Become An Issue. Consider How Intersecting Oppressions Including Racism, Sexism, Classism, Homophobia & Ablism [sic] Can Effect Gender & Sexuality Issues.

As Radical people, Breaking Down gender should be a part of our own Revolution.

For More info My Gender Workbook Gender Outlaw both by Kate Bornstein Read My Lips by Rikki Anne Wilchins The Last Time I Wore A Dress by Daphne Scholinski Transgender Warriors Transliberation both by Leslie Feinberg Body Alchemy by Loren Cameron Various Zines! Selfpublications! Websites! [signed] xoxo j 10/116”

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

ETHAN X PARKER

7. We’re Here & We’re Queer

59.

Black Trans Lives Matter Ethan X. Parker Breakout!, Justseeds Forward Together Digital Print, 2015 New Orleans, LA

The Human Rights Campaign found that from 2013-2020, at least 170 transgender women, 12 transgender men, and 14 non-binary, gender-nonconforming or queer people were murdered. 73 percent of the victims of violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people were Black. There were at least 22 Black victims in 2020.

In 2015, Breakout!, a New Orleans Black youth-led organization that seeks to end the criminalization of LGBTQ+ youth, organized the first Trans Day of Resilience march. While the Transgender Day of Remembrance (see poster #49) is a day to grieve and remember those who were murdered, the Trans Day of Resilience was a national call for actions to celebrate the strength and fortitude of queer and trans people of color.

The artist, Ethan X. Parker, wrote, “This project allowed me to further explore black trans communities and feel more confident stepping out into the world understanding that I am not alone in fighting for equality, understanding and acceptance.”

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Non-binary people do not identify as exclusively a man or a woman.

They can identify as both man and woman, somewhere in between, or fall outside the two categories.

This poster was produced as part of a bilingual campaign to spark conversation about the need for more television and film characters who are LGBTQ+, Afro-Latinx, Indigenous, disabled, Central American, Caribbean, or a mix of these identities.

60.

Gente No Binaria Existe / Non Binary People Exist Rommy Torrico Digital Print, 2017 New York, NY 7. We’re Here & We’re Queer

WHAT’S THE

BIG DEAL

ABOUT SEX?

ASEXUALITY

Why don’t we just have cake instead?

www.Asexuality.org

www.Asexual-Awareness.org.au

Asexual people do not experience sexual attraction; they are not drawn to people in a sexual way.

Many asexuals remain this way for their entire lives. Celibacy, which is a choice to abstain from sex, is different from asexuality. This is why asexuality is considered an orientation. It is estimated that 1 percent of the world population is asexual. This poster contains the asexual pride flag.

61.

What’s The Big Deal About Sex? Natnie Digital Print, Circa 2010 Australia Queer Rights Are Human Rights

7. We’re Here & We’re Queer

This poster was created for the Trans Day of Resilience Art Project in November 2015. The artist, Adelina Cruz, collaborated with a coalition of Indigenous and Latina trans women and femmes. “Hozho Baa’na’sha’doo” is a Diné (Navajo) expression that means “walking in beauty and balance.”

62.

Hozho Baa’na’sha’doo Adelina Cruz, New Mexico Trans Women of Colour Coalition Forward Together, Justseeds Digital Print, 2015 Albuquerque, NM

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

8. BUILDING COALITIONS

63.

Truth - Nine Point Platform Rommy Torrico Transgender Law Center, GSA Network Digital Print, 2018 New York, NY 8. Building Coalitions

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Translation: For Socialism, Disarmament, and Gay Liberation PSP Gay Work Group Pacificist-Socialist Party

64.

Voor socialisme, ontwapening en homobevrijding PSP Homogroep Pacifistisch-Socialistische Partij (PSP) Lithograph, 1980s Amsterdam, Netherlands Courtesy of ONE Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

8. Building Coalitions

65.

Queer Community ≠ Gay Capitali$m Artist Unknown Made at CSPG stencilmaking workshop Stencil, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

This poster was part of a campaign aimed at LGBTQ+ travelers to encourage them to patronize unionized hotels and support hotel workers by honoring picket lines and boycotts. In 2006, when the poster was made, U.S. gay men and lesbians represented a $60 billion travel market. UNITE HERE and other labor unions have historically supported LGBTQ+ workers by codifying nondiscrimination clauses in union contracts, and by providing inclusive healthcare coverage for trans people and unmarried same-sex couples.

66.

LGBT Power + Union Power = Equality UNITE HERE Offset, 2006 United States 8. Building Coalitions

67.

Gay People in Support of the Nicaraguan Revolution Max Dashú Inkworks Press Offset, 1981 Berkeley, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Translation: Lesbians, Trans, Intersex, Bisexuals, Gays Exploited and Oppressed.

The time for revolt has struck!

Free PMA, and accessible to All! Tactics against LGBTphobes. NPA New AntiCapitalist Party The New Anticapitalist Party (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste or NPA) is a French far-left political party founded in February 2009.

68.

L’heure De La Révolte A Sonné!

Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste, Imprimerie Rotographie Offset, Between 2009-2017 Monteuil, France

8. Building Coalitions

Translation: Gay Self-confident Self-determined Of course

Die Grünen (The Greens) was a green political party started in West Germany in 1980. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, it merged with two green parties from East Germany. Today it is known as Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.

69.

Schwul Die Grünen Offset, 1983 Germany

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

8. Building Coalitions

70. #takecareof Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo 2-color Risograph Print, 2016-2019 Oakland, CA

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

09

9. CELEBRATING EMPOWERMENT

The Northern California Alliance was a socialist organization founded in January 1976 and committed to building what it called “a revolutionary movement rooted in the working class and representing all of its sectors, especially Third World peoples and women.”

9. Celebrating Empowerment

71.

Gay Rights Are Human Rights John Jernegan Northern California Alliance Silkscreen, late 1970s San Francisco, CA Courtesy of Lincoln Cushing Collection of Oakland Museum of California Art

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

72.

LGBTQ Equality For All Ivan Ciro Palomino Huamani Digital Print, 2020 Lima, Peru

9. Celebrating Empowerment

73.

Queers Demand A World Without Prisons Roan Boucher Digital Print, 2018 Carrboro, North Carolina

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

9. Celebrating Empowerment

74. & 75.

LGBTQ Pride Innosanto Nagara, San Francisco Unified School District Offset, Circa 2015 San Francisco, CA Left: LGBTQ Pride District Wide Right: LGBTQ Family, Its A Pride Thing Queer Rights Are Human Rights

76.

Lesbians Are Coming Out In Full Force See Red Women’s Workshop Silkscreen, Circa 1980 London, UK 9. Celebrating Empowerment

One of the signs in this poster references pinkwashing—a blending of pink and whitewashing. It is a strategy intending to give a positive spin to an organization, corporation, country or government, while deflecting from or covering up something negative. The phrase was first coined In reference to LGBTQ+ rights, by Sarah Schulman, co-founder of Lesbian Avengers, in an op-ed piece for The New York Times entitled “Israel and Pinkwashing.”

Schulman showed how Israeli tourism is described as tolerant and LGBTQfriendly, while ignoring the occupation and depicting the rest of the Middle East as homophobic.

77.

Love Letters To the Queers Julio Salgado Digital Print, 2018 Los Angeles, CA Queer Rights Are Human Rights

78.

Militant QTPOC Vienna Rye Digital Print, 2019 New York, NY 9. Celebrating Empowerment

LGBTQ+ icons Miss Major, Stormé Delarverie, and Audre Lorde are pictured on this poster.

Miss Major is a transwoman who was arrested at the 1969 Stonewall Riots. She later served as the first executive director of the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project, which helps trans people of color inside and outside of prisons, jails, and detention centers.

Stormé Delarverie has been credited as the butch lesbian who threw the first punch at the 1969 Stonewall Riots. She worked at various times in her life as a drag performer, MC, singer, bouncer, and bodyguard. She was also known as a vigilante who walked the streets of Greenwich Village with a licensed gun to protect other queer people from harassment.

Audre Lorde was a self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Her writing and activism contributed to many intersecting struggles, especially those of Black women and Black lesbians.

Queer Rights Are Human Rights

Special Thanks To Queer Rights Are Human Rights: Posters of LGBTQ+ Struggles & Celebrations was an extraordinary collaborative effort. First and foremost, we thank the artists, cultural workers, activists, and organizations who produced the posters.

Special thanks to everyone who saved the posters and donated them to CSPG so that future generations might learn from these powerful graphics.

ACT UP/Los Angeles ACT UP/New York Michael Albanese Pat Allen Seba Aravena S.A. Bachman Yuè Begay Rachael Baker (Detroit Renter City) Dejan Batrićević Micah Bazant Robert Birch Roan Boucher Lukaza BranfmanVerissimo Marlena Buczek Smith Andrea Busi Taber Calderon Yahaira Carillo Center for Cultural Power (formerly CultureStrike) Melanie Cervantes Christopher Street West Come! Unity Press Maya Conn Ryan Conrad Coors Boycott Committee

Critical Mass Committee Adelina Cruz Dan Kaufman Graphics Max Dashú Tony Derosa Design Action Dignidad Rebelde Tim & Jo Drescher Dyke Action Machine Elizabeth Hale Design Mari Carmen Estevan Mohammed Fayaz Fireworks Graphics

Collective Kelly Fitzpatrick Forward Together Michael Fuller Cheri Gaulke & Sue

Maberry Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services Gay Liberation Front Gender Justice LA

GLSEN Nancy Gotthart Gran Fury Die Grünen GSA Network Eric Handel Rikke Hansen Keith Haring Howard Quinn Co. He Huang Wenjie Huo HX For Her Incite!

Imprimerie Rotograph Indigenous Pride LA Inkworks Press Intersex Justice Projec John Jernegen Eric Johnson Justseeds Seymour & Millie Kapl Hyungjoo Kim Garland Kirkpatrick Jean-Paul Krammer David Kunzle Lesbian Avengers Liberty Hill Foundatio

hie

ct

lan

on

Walter Lippmann George Littlechild Tyler Blake Littwin Alma Lopez Zihao Lu Delaney Marner Sudi Memarzadeh Carrie Moyer Doug Minkler Ministerio de Salud Publica (Cuba) Raqee S. Najmuldeen Natnie New Mexico Trans Women of Colour Coalition Northland Poster Collective Jessica Nemeroff Ritz National Gay Task Force National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste Northern California Alliance

Innosanto Nagara Ivan Ciro Palomino Huamani Ethan X. Parker Peace Press Vladimir Pegov Jordan Peimer People Unlimited Casey Peters Photo Concern, Inc. PSP Homogroep Ray Reece Bruce Reifel Luis Antonio Rivera Rodriguez Cristy C. Road Estate of Michael Rossman John Ruege Vienna Rye Julio Salgado San Francisco Unified School District Jolimar Scardua Silva Jeff Schuerholz & Pete Jimenez See Red Women’s

Workshop The Silence=Death Project Smutchey Associates Claudio Sotolongo Stonewall Democrats Mary Sutton Syracuse Cultural Workers Taller Tupac Amaru THINK AGAIN THRIVE Rommy Torrico Johanna Toruno Transgender Law Center Tumis Designs United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) UNITE HERE Rafał Urbański Sherry Vatter Ventgen Zuzana Vanišová Agnieszka Węglarska Josh Wells West American Advertising

Michał Wielgosz Irene Wolt Women’s Graphics Collective Ellen Yellowbird Toby Zoates Digital Loans from: Lincoln Cushing Oakland Museum of California Art (OMCA) ONE Archives at University of Southern California Libraries Liz Hale

Credits Lead Curator Carol A. Wells, CSPG

Exhibition Catalog Design Camille Wong

Community Curatorial Committee Liz Hale Ezak Perez, Gender Justice LA Loni Shibuyama, ONE Archives at USC Libraries Judy Sisneros Emily Sulzer, CSPG Camille Wong, CSPG

CSPG Interns & Volunteers Rebecca Liu Haley Vallejo Annette Lam John Danforth-Appel Meghan Suhosky Sam Regal Sherry Anapol Cheryl Revkin

Translators Armida Corral, David Kunzle Timeline Juan Carlos Gomez, Jr. Editor Susan Henry

CSPG Staff Emily Sulzer, Archivist Alejandra Gaeta, Archivist Carol A. Wells, Founder & Executive Director Camille Wong, Office & Social Media Manager

Images are used by CSPG for educational and research purposes only. Distribution or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. All reasonable attempts have been made to correctly credit images reproduced in this catalogue. Please address any oversights to cspg@politicalgraphics.org.

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