Out of the Closet and Into the Street: Posters on LGBTQ Struggles and Celebrations

Out of the Closet and Into the Streets!

POSTERS ON LGBTQ STRUGGLES AND CELEBRATIONS

Funded in part by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs, The David Bohnett Foundation, The City of West Hollywood, The David Geffen Foundation, and individual donors.

Unite to Fight!

Su Negrin Times Change Press Inkworks Press Offset, 1976 Berkeley, California Unite to Fight! commemorates the Stonewall Riots that began on June 28, 1969.

The Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, was a Mafia-owned heterosexual nightclub. In 1966, the owners re-opened it as a gay bar. The age range of the clientele was between the upper teens and early thirties, and the racial mix was evenly distributed among white, black, and Hispanic.

Despite weekly police payoffs, police raids were frequent. But the early morning raid of June 28, 1969 was different. People fought back. The Stonewall riots took place over 3 days and are generally credited with being the first instance in the U.S. that gays and lesbians fought back against a governmentsponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities.

This defining event marked the start of the gay rights movement in the U.S. and around the world.

Unite to Fight! commemorates the Stonewall Riots that began on June 28, 1969.

The Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, was a Mafia-owned heterosexual nightclub. In 1966, the owners reopened it as a gay bar. The age range of the clientele was between the upper teens and early thirties, and the racial mix was evenly distributed among white, black, and Hispanic.

Despite weekly police payoffs, police raids were frequent. But the early morning raid of June 28, 1969 was different. People fought back. The Stonewall riots took place over 3 days and are generally credited with being the first instance in the U.S. that gays and lesbians fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities. This defining event marked the start of the gay rights movement in the U.S. and around the world.

Unite to Fight! was originally printed at Times Change Press, in New York, circa 1973.

Times Change Press was founded in 1970 by Su Negrin and Tom Wodetzki, and provided opportunities for artists representing various positions on the political spectrum, including anarchist, Marxist-Leninist, communitarian, socialist, feminist, lesbian and gay. Times Change Press closed in 1974, the same year that Inkworks Press was founded in Berkeley, California. Inkworks, a democratically run worker collective and a union shop, reprinted it in 1976.

National Coming Out Day Keith Haring Offset, 1988 New York, New York

Poster for the first National Coming Out Day, organized to commemorate the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights one year earlier, in which 500,000 people marched on Washington, DC for gay and lesbian equality. National Coming Out Day events are aimed at raising awareness of the LBGTQ community among the general populace. National Coming Out Day is celebrated internationally on October 11 or 12.

Every 10th Jesus is a Queer Eric Handel Offset, circa 1990 Los Angeles, California Based on: Sainte Famille (The Holy Family) William-Adolphe Bouguereau Oil on canvas, 1863 France

With the 1948 release of his groundbreaking study on sexuality, Alfred Kinsey shocked the world with his findings that ten percent of men in the U.S. were homosexual. Although later studies have shown a wide range of alternative estimates, Kinsey's initial calculation has become commonly accepted in society and even embraced by many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, as evident by groups such as the The Ten Percent Society, a North Dakota gay rights organization, and Ten Percent, a San Francisco magazine.

By incorporating this statistic into Bouguereau’s traditional religious portrait, Handel challenges the understanding of Christian views on homosexuality. Bouguereau’s idyllic depiction of the affectionate infants Jesus and John the Baptist in the loving embrace of the Virgin Mary evoke Christ's and Mary's love and compassion for all humanity, including the ten percent who may be gay or lesbian. The peacefulness of the scene emphasizes the stark contrast between the great benevolence and love expressed by Christ in the Bible and the hatred and violence directed towards the LGBTQ community that some attempt to justify with Christian ideologies.

Wer Braucht Charlie Brown?

Artist Unknown Offset, Date Unknown Germany

Translation: Who Needs Charlie Brown?

This reference to the popular "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz, first appeared as the October 1973 cover illustration for "Focus: A Journal for Gay Women" (Boston, MA).

An Evening of Women’s Music Women on Wheels Offset, 1976 California During the 1970s and 1980s, lesbian feminism became the dominant ideology among politicized lesbians as many became frustrated by the male dominance of the gay liberation movement and the lack of acceptance from the mainstream feminist movement. Critiquing both patriarchy and the institutionalization of heterosexuality, lesbian feminism encouraged and promoted cultural industries run by and for women, including publishing companies and record labels, collectively-run bookstores and community centers.

Women’s music festivals and concerts organized by lesbian feminists became prominent politicizing events that also championed anti-war, Leftists, and environmental issues. In 1976, the lesbian collective, Women on Wheels, produced the California statewide tour, An Evening of Women’s Music, which included Chino and a northern California women’s prison. Almost five thousand feminists and lesbians attended these seven sold-out performances.

Think Again's Queer Youth Manifesto THINK AGAIN (David John Attyah + S.A. Bachman) Digital Print, 1998-1999 Boston, Massachusetts

Unfortunately, History‌ Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council People Unlimited Offset, 1989 Minneapolis, Minnesota

La Homosexualidad No es un Peligro Ministerio de Salud Publica; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Offset, 2009 Cuba Translation: Homosexuality is not a danger, Homophobia is.

Don't ignore, ridicule or isolate anyone for their sexual orientation.

Holy Homophobia!

Robbie Conal Offset, circa 1992 Los Angeles, California Jesse Helms (1921 –2008), pictured here, was a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina. Helms was a leader of the modern American conservative movement and held negative views of LGBTQ people. In 1989, Helms attempted to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts for supporting the gay-oriented artwork of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and also for funding controversial pieces such as Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ. Although his efforts failed, Helms’ proposed cuts caused The Corcoran Museum of Art to cancel Mapplethorpe’s exhibition. This poster is a reaction to and criticism of the NEA funding crisis spearheaded by Helms. Conal made a companion piece with the same image but titled: Artificial Art Official.

Boycott Helms ACT UP Photocopy, 1990 Los Angeles, California National ACT UP action to boycott Miller beer and Marlboro cigarettes, as their parent company, Philip Morris, was a major contributor to Jesse Helms. In 2003, Philip Morris Companies changed its name to Altria Group, Inc., but continues to own 100% of Philip Morris USA. Some view this name change as an effort by Altria to deemphasize its historical association with tobacco products.

Poster Text: The parent company of Miller Beer is Philip Morris Companies, Inc., the largest corporate political donor to homophobic and AIDSphobic North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. Philip Morris is also the largest corporate donor ($200,000) to the right-wing extremist's self-glorifying "Jesse Helms Museum", slated to open in 1992.

BOYCOTT MILLER BEER!

Top Ten Signs to Tell if You're an Art World Token Guerrilla Girls Offset, 1995 New York, New York

1982 Gay Games Rob Anderson Silkscreen, 1982 San Francisco, California

The Gay Games is the world’s largest sporting and cultural event organized by and specifically for LBGTQ athletes, artists, musicians, and others. It welcomes participants of every sexual orientation and every skill level. Originally called the Gay Olympics, it was launched in San Francisco in 1982.

Less than three weeks before 1982’s inaugural Gay Olympics, event organizers were sued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) which claimed that the USOC had exclusive rights to the word Olympic in the United States. Defendants in the lawsuit contended that the law was capriciously applied and that if the Nebraska Rat Olympics and the Police Olympics did not face similar lawsuits, neither should the Gay Olympics. Many believed that homophobia was a motivation behind the lawsuit.

No Faggots Allowed Ryan Conrad Naughty North Collective Digital print, 2008 Portland, Maine This poster was designed for an anti-Red Cross culture-jamming project initiated by the Naughty North, a Maine-based, intergenerational, radical, queer, and trans direct-action group. The NN hoped to create greater dialog in Maine about the homophobic policy followed by the Red Cross and enforced by the FDA since the late 1970s that rejects blood from all men who have had any same-sex sexual experience on the grounds that they are probably infected with HIV. NN’s goal was not to seek mere inclusion in the Red Cross’s profit-making bloodbanking monopoly, but to challenge the pathologization of queer men as harbingers of disease.

The posters were placed on community bulletin boards across the city and were given to local businesses to hang in their front windows as if they were official Red Cross announcements. A press release was subsequently issued outlining the group’s demands to depathologize queer male sexuality and for the Red Cross to actively support comprehensive, queer-inclusive sexuality education in all public schools. David Wojnarowicz (1954 -1992) an artist/AIDS activist who had died of AIDS, was listed as the contact person and a NN member fielded questions posing as him. “Wojnarowicz” would appear on the evening news, the radio, web videos and was cited in numerous newspaper articles defending the group’s actions, as well as demanding the Red Cross take responsibility for their role in creating an atmosphere of hostility and discrimination that is directly linked to low self-esteem and higher rates of suicide amongst young queer people. There were numerous copycat poster actions across the United States in the months following.

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

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, Indiana 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 people in the face of national indifference and hatred. This event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most antitransgender murder cases — has yet to be solved. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgenderbased hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that transgender people are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers.

PHWEET Tsung Woo Han Community United Against Violence Offset, 1991 San Francisco, California

Founded in 1979, CUAV is the nation’s first LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) anti-violence organization. Its mission is to prevent and respond to violence against and within LGBTQQ communities through peer-based counseling, direct assistance, education and outreach, grassroots organizing, and policy advocacy. Born in the wake of the tragic murders of Harvey Milk and George Moscone, its early focus on addressing hate violence was expanded five years later to encompass domestic violence as well.

CUAV is one of the first agencies in the country to acknowledge the gravity of domestic violence in LGBTQQ communities. As part of the broader LGBTQQ social justice movement, CUAV works with a range of community partner organizations and service providers to build the LGBTQQ communities’ capacity to respond to, heal from, and prevent all forms of violence.

HIV & AIDS Nothing ignited queer activism like AIDS. HIV/AIDS instilled a purpose so dramatic and historic it could not be resisted. In the 1980s, as the illness mushroomed and the death toll mounted rapidly, queers were forced out of the closet. People with HIV/AIDS had to deal with an indifferent medical establishment, profit-motivated insurance companies, religious bigotry, hostile employers and fearful friends and families too often in denial.

Increasingly panicked Americans were met with a government that decided the disease affected only "fags and IV drug users." Yet from the beginning, the AIDS epidemic impacted the entire spectrum of the world population. As the skeletal images of emaciated, dying gay men continued to dominate the media coverage of AIDS, the public had a greater reason to hate and fear queers. Douglas Crimp in his essay "AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism" quoted an anonymous doctor saying "We used to hate faggots on an emotional basis. Now we have a good reason."

Queers thus had a life-or-death motive to get into the streets and make demands—not only demands for medical care, research and a cure for AIDS, but for all queer rights which had been denied them for centuries. For many, taking to the streets for the vital cause of fighting for people's lives also became a struggle to address inequalities affecting all marginalized people.

Taking "direct action" gave AIDS activists the opportunity to be public, open and proud, defiant in the face of death and discrimination. It enabled queers to get into the street, saying, "We're dykes, fags, people of color, straight, bi, trans..........deal with it! And we are not going to take your bullshit anymore!�

Silence=Death ACT UP/NY, Gran Fury The Silence = Death Project Offset, 1987 New York, New York

Gran Fury was a collective of AIDS activists, born out of ACT UP/NY, who provoked direct action to end the AIDS crisis. They chose the name 'Gran Fury' after the brand of Plymouth automobile used as a squad car by the New York City police department. They manipulated sophisticated advertising strategies in print and video to render complex issues understandable, and to reach an audience not often addressed by governmental and corporate media. They also retaliated against government and social institutions that made those living with AIDS invisible.

The pink triangle was established as a pro-gay symbol by activists in the United States during the 1970s. Its use originated in World War II, when known homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps were forced to wear inverted pink triangle badges as identifiers, much in the same manner that Jews were forced to wear the yellow Star of David. Wearers of the pink triangle were considered at the bottom of the camp social system and subjected to particularly severe maltreatment and degradation. Thus, the appropriation of the symbol of the pink triangle, usually turned upright rather than inverted, was a conscious attempt to transform a symbol of humiliation into one of solidarity and resistance. By the outset of the AIDS epidemic, it was well-entrenched as a symbol of gay pride and liberation.

He Kills Me Donald Moffett Offset, 1987 New York, New York Donald Moffett, one of the founders of Gran Fury, designed this poster in response to President Ronald Reagan’s refusal to acknowledge AIDS. Although AIDS was first reported in the medical and popular press in 1981, the first year of Reagan’s presidency, it was only in October 1987 that President Reagan publicly spoke about the epidemic. By the end of that year 59,572 AIDS cases had been reported and 27,909 of those women and men had died.

Reagan ignored this ever-expanding epidemic as he and others in the Republican Christian right, including television evangelists such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, defined it as a “gay” disease, and even as “God’s punishment against gays.” As a result of the reactionary social agenda of the Christian Right demonizing gays, AIDS research was chronically underfunded. When health and support groups in the gay community initiated education and prevention programs, they were denied federal funding. In October 1987 Senator Helms amended a federal appropriations bill to prohibit AIDS education efforts that "encourage or promote homosexual activity" — that is, efforts that tell gay men how to have safe sex.

AIDS Crisis Gang, ACT UP/NY Offset, 1990 New York, New York Since 1954, Philip Morris USA Inc. featured rugged-looking cowboys to promote its Marlboro cigarettes, making the "Marlboro Man" the longest-running and most conceptually successful ad campaigns promoting cigarette use. By superimposing President George H. W. Bush's face onto the cowboy, and appropriating the text font in the original ads, ACT UP/NY alters a familiar image to call attention to AIDS statistics. It also takes advantage of the irony of using virile healthy men to promote smoking, a leading cause of illness and death.

How am I Doing?

Artist Unknown Photocopy, Date Unknown Place Unknown

Obama: Disappearing Promises ACT UP Philadelphia Digital print, 2009 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The day before the 2009 G-20 began in Pittsburgh, AIDS activists, dressed in black and marching behind coffins and funeral wreaths, held a funeral procession for the thousands of people with AIDS who have died and will continue to die as a result of the broken promises made by the wealthiest nations regarding global health funding. Activists said that the G-20 nations are using the financial crisis as an excuse to cut promised funding for global AIDS programs. In particular, activists called out President Barack Obama, who promised on the campaign trail to provide $50 billion over five years to global AIDS efforts.

The funeral procession was sponsored by ACT UP Philadelphia, Azania Heritage International, Black Radical Congress of Pittsburgh, Health GAP, Housing Works, New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice, NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), Proyecto Sol Filadelphia and Roots of Promise (a Thomas Merton Center project).

AIDSPHOBIA Josh Wells, Michael Albanese ACT UP/LA Offset, 1991 Los Angeles, California ACT UP/LA is the acronym for AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power/Los Angeles. Part of an international and nationwide movement, ACT UP/LA is a grass-roots, democratic, militant, direct action organization dedicated to creating positive changes around AIDS in federal and local government, the media and the medical and pharmaceutical industries through non-violent public protests. This poster was produced for the 1991 ACTUP/LA protest of the Academy Awards ceremony to bring attention to Hollywood’s depiction of LGBTQ individuals and people with AIDS.

Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do Gran Fury ACT UP/NY Offset, 1989 New York, New York This poster came out of a two-part political art action appropriating 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.The image was designed to evoke the well known “United Colors of Benetton� clothing campaign. 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.

Fight for the Living Bradley Rader ACT UP/LA Silkscreen, 1989 Los Angeles, California

March for Life Photo Concern, Inc. Offset, 1988 Arlington, Virginia 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 to promote the 1988 March on Washington shows three images of the sixday-long 1987 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 on gay communities and the unveiling of the quilt offered a powerful tribute to the lives of the thousands killed by the pandemic. The poster’s demands include 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 in the march including Eleanor Smeal, Byllye Avery, Cesar Chavez, and Morris Kight, who are pictured in the center panel supporting the banner.

Veterans Observance We Remember Lesbian and Gay Veterans Organizations of the United States Offset, 1987 Rohnert Park, California

Out Against the Right Carrie Moyer Lesbian Avengers Offset, 1994 New York, New York

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 created more than 50 local actions. At its height, the Avengers had 22 chapters on four continents.

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

Out of the Classrooms: High School Students Make Art

If a Bullet Should Enter My Brain Aiesha Jones Digital print, 2010 Granada Hills, California

Marco Colรณn Free Zone Gay Straight Alliance Network Silkscreen, 2002 San Francisco, California This poster and Get Me Out of Here! were part of a series of seven posters created by youth for youth through Free Zone 2002, a collaboration of GSA Network, LYRIC, and Mission Grafica. Entitled Liberation Ink, the series was designed to build a presence of youth voices for justice, peace and youth empowerment and against hatred, harassment and discrimination of all kinds.

The Gay Teen Years Sean Adams, Noreen Morioka, Ashton Taylor Adams Morioka, Inc. Blake Little, photographer Offset, 2002 Beverly Hills, California

Poster Text: Gay teenage males are seven times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Isolation, intolerance and hate are the causes.

Get Me Out of Here!

Evelyn Krampf Free Zone Gay Straight Alliance Network Silkscreen, 2002 San Francisco, California Transgender is the state of one’s “gender identity” (self-identification as male, female, both or neither) not matching one’s “assigned gender” (identification by others as male or female, based on physical/genetic sex).

Transphobia refers to discrimination against transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender identity. Because of the unyielding dominance of our society’s rigidly constructed two-gender model, transgendered individuals often face great discrimination. Many are rejected by their own families and friends. Most face social isolation, and are discriminated against in employment, health care, social services and housing.

Day of Silence Anonymous Digital print, 2009 Pasadena, California Founded in 1996, the National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Students across the country take a vow of silence each year on National Day of Silence as an act of solidarity with LGBTQ individuals who cannot vocalize their sexuality due to the threat of bullying. The students’ silence draws attention to the voices that go unheard because of intolerance and hatred.

Organizing L.A. 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 at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City. The CSW parade was started by a number of Los Angeles gay activists, prominent among them Morris Kight, Reverend Troy Perry, and Bob Humphries. Although one of several gay pride parades that 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. After several troubled years (no parade was held in 1973), the CSW parade returned in 1974, and originated yet another feature of the modern gay pride movement by adding a festival to its annual event.

There was always a tense relationship between CSW, the businesses on Hollywood Boulevard and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), so in 1979 the parade and festival were moved to the more friendly environs of Santa Monica Boulevard, in the soon-to-be-incorporated (1984) City of West Hollywood. CSW is now celebrated every June in West Hollywood, and involves an all-weekend festival.

Christopher St. West Peace Press Offset, 1971 Los Angeles, California

It’s a Gay, Gay World!

Christopher Street West Offset, 1975 Los Angeles, California

Gay-In Bruce Reifel Gay Liberation Front Silkscreen, 1970 Los Angeles, California

Gay In III Gay Liberation Front Digital reproduction of offset original, circa 1972 Los Angeles, California The Lavender Menace was an informal group of lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and lesbian issues from the feminist movement at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970. Members included Karla Jay, Rita Mae Brown (later ‘Rubyfruit Jungle’ author), Lois Hart, Barbara Love, Ellen Shumsky, and Michaela Griffo, and were mostly members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the National Organization for Women (NOW). At the Congress event they dramatically turned off the lights and took over the stage, wearing ‘Lavender Menace’ T-shirts. The action was partly in response to NOW President Betty Friedan’s remarks* describing the threat she believed associations with “man-hating” lesbian stereotypes posed to NOW and the emerging women’s movement. *Friedan's remarks about the “lavender menace” were quoted by Susan Brownmiller in a New York Times Magazine article in March, 1970.

The Family of Women Dance Bia Lowe Lesbian Art Project, Woman's Building Offset, 1978 Los Angeles, California In the late 1970s, it seemed as if every telephone pole on the east side of Los Angeles was strikingly festooned with bright posters advertising music and dance events in the Latino community. Bia Lowe appropriated that distinctive look for the design of this poster, advertising a Lesbian Art Project event. It was initially planned that a crew would get together and plaster the neighborhoods with these posters. But in 1978, this didn’t feel safe, and the organizers didn’t want to direct potentially hostile strangers to this lesbian dance. So they mocked up one poster, put it on a telephone pole, photographed it, and immediately removed it. The photo became the real poster, which was discreetly mailed to an in-house mailing list, but it imagines a world in which lesbian events can be announced as publicly as any other cultural event.

Brothers for Sisters Aron Morgan Connexxus Women’s Center Data-Boy Printing Digital reproduction of offset original, 1986 Los Angeles, California

In gratitude for lesbian feminist support early in the AIDS crisis, gay men in Los Angeles donated $30,000 to this April 1986 “Brothers for Sisters” campaign to support Connexxus/Centro de Mujeres, LA’s lesbian center.

The campaign was created before the infamous summer of ’86 when the AIDS Quarantine Initiative, Prop. 64, qualified for the November 1986 California ballot. The unusual campaign was created by Jeanne Cordova, Connexxus’ Board vice-president. A wide coalition defeated Prop. 64.

De Todas Partes, De Todos Colores, Somos Raza Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos Silkscreen, 1984 Los Angeles, California

National Black Gay & Lesbian Conference Bob Smith Offset, 1988 Los Angeles, California

Night of the Livid Queers Queer Nation Los Angeles; Kate Sorensen Photocopy, 1992 Los Angeles, California In the early 1990s, in the midst of the AIDS pandemic, continued cinematic demonization of the LGBTQ community was still the Hollywood movie industry status quo. Among the Hollywood products released in 1991 and promoted in the award season's marketing campaigns were a de-lesbianized Fried Green Tomatoes , the homophobic JFK and the transphobic Silence of the Lambs. Immediately after the Academy Award nominations were announced on January 3, 1992, a small but dedicated group of Queer National activists, disgusted with the movie industry's constant portrayals of queers as murderous, weak, disposable or sick, held their own press conference officially calling for a national protest at the awards ceremony.

Night of the Livid Queers was among the posters used to raise awareness of the issue in both the LGBTQ community and the movie industry, and as a rallying cry for the national protest itself. The posters were affixed all over Hollywood, Silver Lake, West Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles and around the various movie studios. By the day of the actual Academy Awards, March 30, 1992, national and international press had helped to create such a huge air of fear that queer party crashers and "terrorists" were going to take over the Oscar stage, the anticipation of what would actually happen during the Awards ceremony reached an astounding level. Approximately 500 protestors heeded the call of Queer Nation Los Angeles from all over the country and showed up at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as scheduled. A loud brash protest ensued with whistles blowing, loud chanting and signs waving. Most protesters were held back from the red carpets by steel barriers. About one dozen activists attempted to get closer to the Awards entrance but were quickly surrounded by LAPD on horses, rounded up, arrested and held hostage in nearby buses.

This stunning yet under-appreciated protest had an immense impact on Hollywood's attitudes about queer representation. The message had been heard loud and clear— homophobia in Hollywood product would not go unnoticed or unchallenged. It was a message that indelibly impacted industry output, opened opportunities for many queer filmmakers, and continues to have an impact today. Comparing pre-1992 Hollywood, with the Hollywood films produced after the 1992 Oscar protest, and there is no question that this challenge to Hollywood homophobia, aided by many of the clever political graphics, resulted in improved and more balanced portrayals of queers in Hollywood cinema.

AIDS Leadership?

ACT UP/LA Photocopy, circa 1993 Los Angeles, California The AIDS Cure Project was written by ACTUP New York with help from the other ACTUP chapters nationwide. This detailed plan was a proposal for an emergency program (outside of the National Institute of Health) to find a cure. The goal of the AIDS Cure Project was to re-create the idea of the Manhattan Project, in which scientists came together in an intensive concerted effort to develop the atom bomb during World War II. Clinton promised he would authorize such a project in the struggle to find a cure for AIDS when he ran against President George H. W. Bush in 1992. The AIDS Cure Project was opposed by most of the larger AIDS service organizations including AIDS Project Los Angeles whose executive director signed a letter opposing the project although admitting he had not read it.

The larger AIDS service organizations opposed an AIDS Cure Project fearful that it might jeopardize their organizations’ funding from pharmaceutical companies. The AIDS Cure Project was introduced in Congress on January 31, 1995, where it languished. Bill Clinton forgot his campaign promises.

Over 300,000 U.S. AIDS Deaths Jeff Schuerholz ACT UP/LA Digital print of photocopy original, 1996 Los Angeles, California This poster was created for a demonstration held at Ronald Reagan's 85th birthday party at Chasens Restaurant, West Hollywood, February 6th, 1996. “We went there to spoil their party, the way they've spoiled our lives,” said ACT UP Los Angeles member Pete Jimenez. This was a very dramatic demonstration. Ronald Reagan himself did not attend the event for health reasons.

300 demonstrators banged drums, blew whistles shouted through bullhorns and created a very loud and boisterous disturbance about genocidal Republican AIDS policy. As Newt Gingrich, California governor Pete Wilson, Colin Powell, other Republican leaders and celebrities arrived at Chasen's restaurant for Ronald Reagan's 85th birthday party/fund-raiser they were greeted with signs reading “You killed all my friends" and shouts of "Money for AIDS, not for dining!” Many demonstrators carried signs with a picture of Ronald Reagan and caption; “Over 300,000 US AIDS deaths - SHAME!” Several times the demonstrators surged toward the entrance of the restaurant only to be held back by the West Hollywood Sheriffs.

1997 Los Angeles Dyke March Liz Hale Digital print, 1997 Los Angeles, California

Electoral

Defeat the AIDS Quarantine and English Only Initiatives!

Fireworks Graphics Offset, 1986 San Francisco, California

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

Proposition 64 In July 1986, Lyndon LaRouche, a right-wing extremist, introduced Proposition 64, an initiative designed to quarantine people with AIDS and bar those suspected of being HIV-positive from certain jobs in California. Proposition 64 was defeated by a large margin in November. In 1994 State Department of Health Services Director Kim Belshe, in a letter to the President of the California Medical Association, stated that Mandatory Names Reporting was not appropriate for California. One of the reasons cited was that the potential for discrimination could discourage individuals from seeking testing and early access to treatment.

Boycott Colorado Artist Unknown Offset, 1992 Place Unknown On November 3, 1992, Colorado became the first state to legalize discrimination against gays, lesbians & bisexuals at the ballot box. Colorado's Amendment 2 was part of a nationwide attack by the religious right on LGBTQ civil rights. Following the passage of Amendment 2, hate crimes against gays and lesbians in Colorado jumped by more than 400%.

The Colorado Boycott was a powerful grassroots movement working to fight the religious right and stop the spread of anti-gay & lesbian ballot initiatives across the United States. The boycott garnered national attention and support and resulted in long-term fiscal consequences for states that voted against LGBTQ civil rights.

In 1996, the Supreme Court case ruled in Romer v. Evans, that Amendment 2 was unconstitutional.

Proposition 6 Vote No Artist Unknown Photocopy, 1978 California

California Proposition 6, (1978) was sponsored

by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, and commonly known as The Briggs Initiative. This failed initiative would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California’s public schools. The Briggs Initiative was the first failure in a movement that started 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.

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

Absolute Liar Artist Unknown, Offset, 1991 California California Assembly Bill 101 would have added sexual orientation to the list of protected categories against discrimination in employment and housing. Governor Pete Wilson’s veto on September 29, 1991 instigated the largest series of LGBTQ protests in the history of Los Angeles, and possibly the state. Hundreds and thousands of protesters took to the streets for a series of both spontaneous and planned demonstrations that continued for nearly two months, with protesters doggedly trailing Wilson and his GOP cohorts from official event to event.

The AB 101 protests, sometimes referred to as AB 101 riots, came to a head on the night of October 23, 1991, during a demonstration outside a Wilson-attended GOP fundraiser at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City.

Police rioted and assaulted protestors on foot and also charged the crowd with their horses. The last of the major AB 101 protests occurred on Nov. 15 at another GOP-sponsored event at the Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills. 38 activists among 500 were arrested protesting both the AB 101 veto and Senate Bill 982, which sought to criminalize sexual activity for HIV+ individuals.

Rabid Homophobes Doug Minkler Citizens to Elect Our Public Defender Silkscreen, 2000 Berkeley, California Proposition 22 (or the California Defense of Marriage Act) was a law enacted by California voters in 2000 to prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex marriage, even if contracted in another state. In May 2008 it was struck down by the California Supreme Court as contrary to the state constitution.

Authored by state senator William "Pete" Knight, it is known informally as the Knight initiative.

Vow Now Larimie Garcia Digital Print, 2008 San Francisco, California Proposition 8 (or the California Marriage Protection Act) was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections. The measure added a new provision, Section 7.5 of the Declaration of Rights, to the California Constitution. By restricting the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples, the proposition overturned the California Supreme Court’s ruling of In re Marriage Cases that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The wording of Proposition 8 was precisely the same as that which had been found in Proposition 22, which, as an ordinary statute, had been invalidated by the Supreme Court.

California’s State Constitution put Proposition 8 into immediate effect the day after the election. The proposition did not affect domestic partnerships in California or same-sex marriages performed before November 5, 2008.

The campaigns for and against Proposition 8 raised $39.9 million and $43.3 million, respectively, becoming the highest-funded campaign on any state ballot that day and surpassing every campaign in the country in spending except the presidential contest. After the elections, demonstrations and protests occurred across the state and nation. Same-sex couples and government entities filed numerous lawsuits with the California Supreme Court challenging the proposition’s validity and effect on previously administered same-sex marriages. In the Strauss v. Horton case, the court upheld Proposition 8, but allowed existing same-sex marriages to stand (under the grandfather clause principle). Additional lawsuits in federal courts are still pending.

Legislate Against Hate by ‘08 Mike Joyce Interfaith Alliance Digital Print, 2008 Washington, D.C.

Serving the State

Out Against the War Anticapitalist Asspirates/Asspirateurs Anticapitalistes Digital Print, 2005, Montreal, Canada

It Costs the Pentagon 27 Million Dollars to Replace Gay Personnel Women's Action Coalition (WAC) Photocopy, circa 1992 New York, New York

Let's Go All the Way with Military Discrimination!

John Jonik Digital print, Date Unknown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Stop Police Brutality Against Women of Color and Trans People of Color Cristy C. Road INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence Digital print, 2005 Redmond, Washington

Free the New Jersey 4!

Bay Area NJ4 Solidarity Committee Offset, 2008 California Full annotation on next page

On August 18, 2006, seven young African American lesbians traveled to New York City’s West Village from their homes in Newark, New Jersey for a night out. When walking down the street, a male bystander assaulted them with sexist and homophobic comments. The women tried to defend themselves, and a fight broke out.

Despite their acts of self defense, the women were arrested as the assumed aggressors and charged with gang assault in the second degree. Three of the women took plea bargains and the other four, Renata Hill(24), Venice Brown(19), Patreese Johnson(20), Terrain Dandridge(20) received sentences ranging from 3.5 to 11 years on June 14th, 2007. These women became known as the New Jersey 4.

The Free the New Jersey 4! poster depicts the historical continuity from the slave ships to the modern day prison industrial complex (PIC), a system that uses policing, courts, and imprisonment to solve problems. Angela Y. Davis is one of the founding members of Critical Resistance, an abolitionist organization whose mission is to put an end to the PIC. Critical Resistance is working to build safe and healthy communities that do not depend on prisons and punishment. Their goal is not to improve the system but to shrink the system into nonexistence.

Full graphic on previous page

From the Arawak Indians to Norma Jean Croy EstÊr Hernandez Silkscreen, 1992 San Francisco, California Norma Jean Croy is a Native American from Shasta, CA. She was arrested on July 16, 1978 in Yreka, California following a shoot out with the police resulting in the death of one policeman. Also arrested were three relatives (Jasper, Carol Thom, and Darrell) and Norma Jean's brother, Patrick Hooty Croy. Patrick’s death penalty sentence for shooting the policeman was overturned due to circumstance of self defense. Norma Jean Croy was convicted and received a life sentence. She remained imprisoned in Chowchilla, CA long after all the other party's had been released, and was finally released February 7, 1997.

Prisoners with AIDS Have the Right to Live ACT UP Offset, circa 1991 California ACT UP/LA demonstrated at Frontera Women's Prison in November, 1990, demanding an infectious-diseases doctor and access to proper medications for HIV positive inmates. Because those demands were not met, ACT UP/LA went to Sacramento in May, 1991, to support prisoners with HIV/AIDS. The action involved civil disobedience. Shortly thereafter, an infectious-diseases doctor was assigned to Frontera. In June, 1992, and October, 1993, ACT UP/LA returned to Sacramento to demand improvements in the care of prisoners with HIV/AIDS. The October 1993 visit to the offices of the California Department of Corrections resulted in the arrest of one ACT UP/LA member.

We are Family

Keep Our Families Together!

Melanie Cervantes Taller Tupac Amaru Offset, 2008 Oakland, California Lesbian, Gay, and Queer families are impacted not only by racially discriminatory immigration laws but by heterosexist reunification laws that keep bi-national partners and their children from being together. This print honors those struggling families who are victims of these policies.

This is one of a five part poster series produced for the historic conference convened by TIGRA (Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action) that took place in May 2008 in Mexico City. It brought together over 300 migrant leaders from the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America to form a global association of remitters and their families.

Gay Marriage Dyke Action Machine HX for Her Offset, 1997 New York, New York With this poster, the Dyke Action Machine (DAM) articulated the ambivalence of many lesbians about the corporate gay movement's drive towards gay marriage and parenthood as the norm. DAM wheat-pasted 5,000 of these offset posters between 34th and Houston Streets, New York City, June 1997.

The Question isn't Whether the State Should Marry Queers THINK AGAIN (David John Attyah + S.A. Bachman) Digital Print, 1998-1999 Boston, Massachusetts

Did We Vote on Your Marriage?

Jesus Barraza Silkscreen, 2010 Berkeley, California

A Family of Pride '93 Christopher Street West Offset, 1993 Los Angeles, California Morris Kight (far left), Connie Norman (center), Jewel Thais-Williams (3rd from right), Empress ChuChu (Ray Matsunaga) of the now defunct Imperial Court of San Fernando Valley (2nd from right).

Morris Kight (1919-2003), was active in many political, civil rights, and labor rights groups and is considered a founder of the American gay and lesbian civil rights movement. In 1967 he founded the “Dow Action Committee” to protest the Dow chemical company and its production of Agent Orange during the Viet Nam War. He launched the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in October 1969, the third GLF in the country (after New York and Berkeley). He also co-founded Los Angeles’s Christopher Street West gay pride parade in 1970, the Gay Community Center in 1971, the Stonewall Democratic Club in 1975, Aid For AIDS in 1983, (now the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center), and other organizations.

Kight's strong beliefs sometimes put him at odds with members of the gay community. In 1977, Kight began what became a national Coors boycott to expose how the Coors Brewing Company used its millions to finance union-busting legislation and anti-gay politicians. Morris infuriated organizers of Outfest the year the festival accepted Coors funding. He organized a demonstration in front of the event, using the opportunity to educate the community about the ways anti-gay corporations try to clean up their public image by funding cash-starved gay organizations and events. Morris persevered and Outfest no longer accepts Coors funding.

Jewel Thais-Williams is the founder of the club Jewel’s Catch One in Los Angeles, which began as a black gay and lesbian disco. When Jewel saw the toll HIV was taking on gay patrons in the 1980s, she partnered with other activists to launch the Minority AIDS Project in 1985. By 1989, she opened the first residential home for women and children living with AIDS in the country. Jewel’s Catch One now raises money for the Village Health Foundation, a non-profit clinic that provides free and low-cost therapy, acupuncture and other holistic health treatments. Thais-Williams, who founded the Village Health Foundation, now serves as its executive director.

Connie Norman Artist Unknown Digital Reproduction of photocopy original, 1996 Los Angeles, California "I often tell people that I am an ex-drag queen, ex-hooker, ex-IV drug user, ex-high risk youth, and current postoperative transsexual woman who is HIV-positive." – Connie Norman

Born in Texas, Connie Norman fled to Hollywood at the age of 14. Having recovered from drug addiction, Norman underwent therapy and then a sexchange operation in 1976. She began her political life as an AIDS and Queer activist with the Los Angeles chapter of ACT UP. In 1991 she transformed the media landscape by becoming the first openly queer host of a commercial talk radio show. “The Connie Norman Show” aired daily on XEK-AM where she was able to share her views on LGBTQ and human rights issues. In 1993 Norman became the first transgender Director of Public Policy at AIDS Service Center in Pasadena, a California non-profit agency. Norman’s reach was broad, as she also co-hosted an LGBTQ Cable TV program and was a newspaper columnist for a San Diego publication.

Because of her unyielding activism, she was honored with awards from various groups including the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, California State Senate and California Assembly. ACT UP/LA never gave an award or honor to anyone except Norman. Just before her passing they made official her selfproclaimed status as “AIDS Diva.” Her ashes were scattered on the lawn of the Clinton White House as part of the national ACT UP "Ashes Action" on October 13, 1996

Mark Kostopoulos Artist Unknown Digital reproduction of photocopy original, 1992 Los Angeles, California The iconic photo of Mark Kostopoulos was taken by Chuck Stallard, a member of ACT UP LA, when Mark was arrested at the FDA action in Rockland MD on August 11, 1988. The posters were used in Mark’s political funeral which was a loud and angry torch lit march down Santa Monica Boulevard to San Vicente. The posters of Mark were also used in the 1992 Pride march. All ACTUP members marched in silence holding the poster of Mark.

Mark Kostopoulos was born in Augusta, Maine in 1954. He grew up in the Midwest and came to California to complete his undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University. Kostopoulos is widely remembered and celebrated as one of the founders of ACT UP/LA (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) who brought the organization to Southern California in 1987, not long after the first chapter opened in New York. During the 1970s and 1980s he was also active among other progressive groups including the Revolutionary Socialist League and the Lavender Left. He fought for adequate health care for all Angelinos stricken with HIV/AIDS, and in the 1990s defended abortion clinics. His day employment was with the United States Postal Service, but he passionately devoted all of his free time to these causes. He also pioneered the networking of AIDS activist organizations as well as the grassroots movement for universal healthcare. Complications from AIDS Related Complex did not lessen his drive or deter his commitment to these causes. In June of 1992, however, he finally succumbed to the disease. This was written of Kostopoulos in 1997: "For those who receive their care at 5P21 (the L.A. County AIDS clinic), not one single day should pass that you do not publicly speak the name Mark Kostopoulos in pride.

You benefit from his courageous fights."

Harvey Milk Rink Foto Metropolitan Human Rights Commission Offset, 1993 Portland, Oregon Harvey Milk (1930-1978) was the first openly Gay person to be elected to the Board of Supervisors (City Council) in San Francisco. His election was in stark contrast to the national political scene that was characterized by the movement that was being led by anti-Gay activist Anita Bryant to "Save Our Children". Milk served only eleven months before his assassination on November 27, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall. His killer, former City Supervisor Danny White, crawled through a basement window in order to avoid metal detectors. White had resigned his seat on the Board following the enactment of the Gay Civil Rights bill that he had stringently opposed. Convicted of two counts of voluntary manslaughter, White served only seven years and eight months.

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 in prison and committed suicide shortly thereafter.

Unite to Fight

Marcha Lésbica Alma Lopez Global Fund for Women Offset, 2006 Mexico: Mexico City Cristina Serna, a native Chicana from East Los Angeles and UCSB graduate student, poses as J. Howard Miller’s classic W.W. II rendition of Rosie the Riveter, traditionally titled, “We Can Do It!” Serna flexes her right fist and proudly shows off a tattoo of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Sirena 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. Behind hundreds (and possibly thousands) of lesbian activists uniting from various cities in Mexico and the U.S., is the largest and oldest cathedral in the Americas and the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. A nearby banner reads, “Lesbians, breaking barriers, crossing borders.”

Butterflies fly up into the sky. The idea is that the activists’ intention created in that space and time will scatter to diverse areas of Mexico, the U.S. and beyond ignoring borders, and creating awareness and change.

Gay Liberation Su Negrin, Peter Hujar, Suzanne Bevier Times Change Press Offset, 1970 New York, New York

Out of the Closet and Into the Streets: Posters from LGBTQ Struggles and Celebrations is available as a traveling exhibition.

For more information about bringing this exhibition to your institution, please contact us at admin@politicalgraphics.org or (310) 397-3100.