Catching Up With Rachel Pokorny
One newest board member, Rachel Pokorny, joined the GLBT Historical Society this past summer. She has many years of experience with queer community-building, having worked with several openly queer musical organizations, including the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and the Queer Chorus of San Francisco.
Now that she’s settled in, we sat down for a chat with Rachel.
Why is working on the society’s board of directors important to you?
RP: As a queer woman and the granddaughter of Jews, I know how easy it is for marginalized people’s history to be rewritten or eradicated. Which is a fancy way of saying “the winners write the history books.” I'm privileged to live in a time when queers, and those whose shoulders we stand on have a crucial opportunity to preserve, narrate and present our stories. Serving on the board gives me a chance to ensure that future generations know about the triumphs and the struggles of past generations.
Which topics in queer history are you eager to learn more about in the archives?
RP: I’m a domestic historian, so personal housekeeping papers are a treasure. Grocery lists, budgets, cookbooks and inventories show a person’s priorities, obligations and milieu more clearly then love letters. I’d love to learn more about how coupled and uncoupled queer people established households and the domestic choices they made.
What figure in LGBTQ history or archival collections inspires you?
RP: Jon Reed Sims is an amazing example of how one person can make a difference. In the Anita Bryant years, he founded openly queer musical organizations, including the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band, that not only thrive today, but caused a ripple, then a wave of out and proud choruses and bands across the country. These organizations for 40 years have created communities that have positively impacted the lives of their tens of thousands of members and millions of audience members. The band he recruited from fliers in 1978 has parented international organizations and countless friendships and families.
Rachel Pokorny is the studio manager for Hardesty, Dwyer & Co, a bonus second career after two decades of queer community building with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and Olivia Travel. She also serves on the board of the Queer Chorus of San Francisco (formerly the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of San Francisco).