Headshot of Susan Stryker, courtesy of same.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
GLBT Historical Society executive director Terry Beswick will interview Susan Stryker, a historian, writer, director and producer who has helped define and shape the cultural conversation on transgender topics for over 20 years. A former executive director of the GLBT Historical Society, she is best known for her pioneering archival research that rediscovered the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, which she explored with co-director Victor Silverman in the 2005 documentary Screaming Queens. Since then, she has co-produced, consulted on or appeared in numerous high-profile projects exploring transgender history and culture.
This is the August installment of “Queer Culture Club,” our monthly series each second Thursday that focuses on LGBTQ people who are defining the queer culture of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Each month, Beswick interviews queer culture-makers, including authors, playwrights, historians, activists, artists and archivists, to learn about their work, process, inspirations, hopes and dreams.
SPEAKERS
Susan Stryker (she/her/hers) is the Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Women’s Leadership at Mills College in Oakland. She was previously associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Arizona, where she was also director of the Institute for LGBT Studies. She won a Lambda Literary Award for the anthology The Transgender Studies Reader (Routledge, 2006) and an Emmy Award for the documentary film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (Frameline/ITVS, 2005). She is the author of many articles and several books on transgender and queer topics, including, most recently, Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution (Seal Press, 2017).
Terry Beswick (he/him/his) has served as executive director of the GLBT Historical Society for five years. At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, he was a founding member of the local ACT UP and was the first national coordinator of ACT NOW, the national AIDS activist network. He advocated for HIV/AIDS research and treatment with Project Inform, the Human Rights Campaign and the White House Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. After the advent of effective treatments for HIV, Beswick worked as a journalist for the Bay Area Reporter and other LGBTQ community publications. More recently, he spearheaded a successful campaign to preserve the Castro Country Club for the queer recovery community in San Francisco, co-founded the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District and co-chaired the LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy. Beswick was a Community Grand Marshal for the 50th Anniversary San Francisco LGBTQ Pride Parade and Celebration in 2020. He holds an MFA in playwriting from San Francisco State University.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
This event will take place online. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to join.
ADMISSION
Free | $5 suggested donation
Tickets are available online here: https://bit.ly/360XXEn
ASL INTERPRETATION
ASL interpretation provided upon request. Please write at least three days in advance of event to leigh@glbthistory.org.
JOIN THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks: http://www.glbthistory.org/memberships.