Honoring LGBTQ History Makers

We are delighted to announce that the GLBT Historical Society’s annual Gala, “Reunion,” will take place on October 21 at 6:00 p.m.. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event will again take place in a virtual format. So while you will have to make your own hors d’oeuvres, we will still dish up a delicious menu of fantastic performances while honoring LGBTQ pioneers.

One of the highlights of this event is the presentation of our History Makers Awards, bestowed annually to individuals for “significant artistry and contributions to LGBTQ history and culture.” This year, three extraordinary individuals were selected from the many nominees by public vote.

The first honoree is Jewelle Gomez, (CaboVerdean/Wampanoag/Ioway), a novelist, essayist, poet and playwright. Her eight books include the first Black lesbian vampire novel, The Gilda Stories, which has been in print more than 30 years and was recently optioned by Oakland’s Cheryl Dunye (“Lovecraft Country”) for a TV miniseries. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including No Police=Know Future, Luminescent Threads: Tribute to Octavia Butler, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, Red Indian Road West and Love, Castro Street. Her plays about James Baldwin and Alberta Hunter were produced at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco, where she was playwright-in-residence, and in New York City. She was also on the founding board of GLAAD and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation.

“Serving on the early board of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation is significant to me because the organization was the first lesbian fund and it has grown spectacularly,” Gomez says. “At the beginning, in the early 1980s, we couldn’t use the word “lesbian” in the name of the organization even though we were all lesbians because we knew there were women's groups that wouldn’t dare to apply for funds.”

Our second honoree is Daniel Nicoletta, a freelance photographer who began his career in 1975 as an intern to the photo documentarian of the LGBTQ community, Crawford Barton (whose archival collections are held by the society). Nicoletta also worked in Harvey Milk’s camera store in the Castro district and was involved in Milk’s victorious 1977 election as California’s first openly gay elected official. Nicoletta’s body of work maps his long romance with San Francisco and its people, especially the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The first solo book of Nicoletta’s work, LGBT San Francisco—The Daniel Nicoletta Photographs , was released in 2017.

Of the challenges facing LGBTQ people today, Nicoletta says, “Challenging the ongoing scapegoating of the LGBTQ civil rights movements in many countries is essential. I would like to see more community focus put there. There is a universal truth in the notion that freedom to be one’s authentic self is an asset to improving societal conditions, not a detriment.” 

Finally, the third History Maker Award goes to Frances “Franco” Stevens. She founded Curve, the most successful lesbian magazine in the world, connecting lesbian community, changing the way lesbians are seen by the mainstream, highlighting the transgender experience, raising awareness of attacks on LGBTQ rights and amplifying the work of lesbian activists. Franco co-founded The Curve Foundation to empower the Curve community—lesbians, queer women, trans people and nonbinary people of all races, ages and abilities. The Foundation spurs storytelling and cross-generational dialogue by supporting journalism inspired by the tradition of Curve magazine, investing in the next generation of intersectional leaders and bolstering community archives to ensure LGBTQ women’s culture and history are known.

As we approach the two-year mark of the pandemic, gathering together—even if only virtually—to honor these three remarkable individuals is an opportunity to reaffirm our sense of belonging to our community. Get your ticket for the gala here!