Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History

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The Pacifica Radio Archives is host to an extensive collection of programs that have dealt with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues, including what we believe to be the first radio program to explicitly address the topic from 1958. That program and others are featured in this collection, whose preservation and access were coordinated between New York University's Moving Image Archiving and Preservation graduate school program, the University of California, Berkeley Moffitt Library Media Resources Center, the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences and the Pacifica Radio Archives in the summer of 2009. This collection highlights recordings from LGBT programs that have aired over the years on Pacifica stations, such as The New Symposium, The Fruit Punch Collective, and IMRU, and features the voices of Harvey Milk, Urvashi Vaid, Larry Kramer, Martina Navratilova, and Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, the first active military member to declare his homosexuality in 1975.

The Pacifica Radio Archives would like to extend special thanks to the UC Berkeley Moffitt Library Media Resources Center for their assistance in making these audio recordings available. Visit the original Pacifica/UC Berkeley Moffitt Library LGBT Activism Sound recording page, which contains bibliographic citations and additional audio/video resources, at the UC Berkeley Moffitt Library Media Resources Center website.

Notice for copyright claimants: The Pacifica Radio Archives will honor all takedown requests in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable intellectual copyright laws. Please send all copyright inquiries to info@pacificaradioarchives.org or to the Archives' physical address at: 3729 Cahuenga Boulevard West, North Hollywood, CA, 91604 c/o Archives Director for review. Claimants are advised to leave detailed contact information including name, telephone number, e-mail address, and/or physical address where they may be reached, as well as all information pertaining to the specific nature of the complaint.

This project was supported in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

Recordings available as part of this project: 

The AIDS summit of the year / Amy Goodman and Mike Alcalay.

Coverage of the 6th International Conference on AIDS, held in San Francisco, California.|THE AIDS SUMMIT OF THE YEAR / Amy Goodman and Mike Alcalay. Coverage of the 6th International Conference on AIDS, held in San Francisco, California. CONTENT: pt.1. Introduction (2:00) -- pt.2.

Diminished capacity

Greg Gordon produced this program about the impact of the Dan White verdict. The assassination of San Francisco's openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, and the subsequent lenient treatment of his assassin, Dan White, had trememdous impact on diminished capacity rulings on the gay community. This documentary explores that impact includes actualities and interviews.

Discovering being gay

Cathy White, Bernadette Smith, Richard Persky, members of Gay Youth in NYC, discuss their experiences as gay and lesbian youths. Among the topics discussed are the effect of homophobia on LGBT youth; societal expectations of masculinity/femininity and homosexuality; the choice of being gay; relationships between homosexuals and heterosexuals; gay bars; and racism. Ronald Gold moderates.

Gay American history / Jonathan Katz

Katz appears in San Francisco to discuss his recently published book, Gay American History. Readings from Katz's book by the host are interspersed with clips of Katz's speech in SF.

Gay freedom day 1978

Program produced by Philip Maldari. This sound portrait of the parade held in San Francisco for the 8th Gay Freedom Day in 1978 includes an excerpt from Harvey Milk talking to KPFK, parade-goers interviewed about Anita Bryant and the Briggs Initiative.
KPFA Folio notes, June 1979, p.1: While pleased to have won the award, [Maldari] does not feel very comfortable with the 'special interest' category. "What is special interest today is general interest tomorrow."

Interview with a hustler

Charles Pitts from the New Symposium interviews "Jay Perry", a 19-year-old hustler, or male prostitute who offers sexual services to other males, whom the host met one evening while cruising on Christopher Street. "Jay" reflects on why he decided to become a hustler, the hazards of his chosen profession, sado-masochistic roles in hustling and his own sexual identity.

An interview with Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk sits down with Greg Gordon of IMRU (a weekly one-hour radio show made by a group of volunteers focusing on issues affecting the LGBT community in Southern California). Milk discusses being sworn in as a "candidate who is gay, not a gay candidate".

Moscone-Milk newscast

KPFA news broadcast from 27 November, 1978, which covered the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, as well as a story on the Jonestown Massacre, the defeat of Japanese Prime Minister Fukuta, and the Supreme Court ruling on journalists withholding information. Louis Freedberg, announcer.

National march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights : highlights

Jon Beaupre and Cindy Freedman hosted the KPFK coverage of the National March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, the third such march of its kind in US history. Organizers estimated an attendance of around one million.
Together Proud and Strong : official anthem -- phone reports from march participants -- speeches by Representative Nancy Pelosi, Phill Wilson, Martina Navratilova, Representative Gerry Studds, and Urva Shivaid.

The National march on Washington for lesbian and gay rights : radio documentary

On October 14, 1979, thousands of lesbians, gay men, and their friends traveled to Washington, D.C. for a march and rally to demonstrate to lawmakers and to the national press that the growing movement for lesbian/gay rights and dignity of the 1970's would continue to be a strong social and political force in the 1980's.

New directions from the gay left (Part 1 of 2)

On Labor Day weekend in 1976, a group of around 130 collectivist-minded gay men gathered in Wolf Creek, Oregon to hold a "Faggots and Class Struggle" conference, sponsored by the Lavender and Red Union of the University of Oregon.
Sensitive language.

New directions from the gay left (Part 2 of 2)

Excerpts from the "Faggots and Class Struggle" Conference held Labor Day weekend, 1976, plus interviews with participants. A dialectical approach to personal politics including feminism in the movement and the particular oppression suffered by "feminine identified" men. Produced by the Fruit Punch Collective of KPFA Berkeley.
Sensitive language.

Reaction to Dan White verdict

This tape features man-on-the-street reactions to the verdict of the Dan White trial that culminated in the White Night riot of May 21, 1979 in a program produced by the KPFA Fruit Punch Collective.

Time line (part 1 of 2)

Chronology of gay events in the late 20th century. 1969: Stonewall riots and the creation of militant gay groups. 1976: Rev. Troy Perry remembers the first Christopher St. West parade of 1970. 1977: Anita Bryant reacts against Dade County's ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexuality. Briggs Initiative designated to dismiss any homosexual from a teaching position.

Time line (part 2 of 2)

May 21, 1979 - White found guilty of manslaughter. White Night Riots. Milk's 49th birthday. Two gay journalists confront the makers of CBS Reports' "Gay Power, Gay Politics" for their slanted portrayal of gay subcultures. Protests over Friedkin's Cruising. George Crile and Grace Diekhaus. Harry Reasoner. Cruising in Buena Vista Park.

Cops and robbers II: Transsexuals and the police

Three transsexuals discuss police problems and their work as members of C.O.G., Conversion our Goal, with Police Community Relations Officer Elliot Blackstone of the San Francisco Police Department. Herb Kutchins of the San Francisco Bail Project moderates.

Urvashi Vaid

Urvashi Vaid, one-time attorney with the ACLU National Prisoners Project, former director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, co-founder of the Boston Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance and the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, is considered one of the leading voices in the progressive LGBT movement.

Why gay politics?

Eleanor Cooper, spokeswoman for Lesbian Feminist Liberation, Arthur Goodman, president of the Gay Activists' Alliance (GAA), and Nathalie Rockhill, legislative director and national coordinator of the National Gay Task Force summarize post-Stonewall LGBT political events.