You Are here

Claiming your place in history

Opened April 11, 2024

About the Exhibition

For hundreds of years, small minded groups have sought to erase LGBTQ people from the landscape and to write us out of history. There is a clear line connecting the people promoting "Don't Say Gay" legislation today to the people who forced gay men and lesbians out of government jobs during the Lavender Scare; between those banning books in schools and the Nazi-supporting youth who looted and burned the Institute of Sexology’s library in the 1930s; and between those erasing opportunities for trans kids today and the conquistadors who tried - and failed - to erase the complex and diverse gender systems of the pre-conquest Americas.

At the same time as our enemies have sought to erase us, we have kept our stories alive for each other. Shared through oral traditions, hidden in plain sight through codes and secret languages, and carefully passed down from generation-to-generation LGBTQ people have kept our stories alive for centuries.

The GLBT Historical Society is part of a long line of people and organizations who maintain this tradition. We carefully preserve and share more than a thousand archival collections – one of the largest selections of LGBTQ historic material ever assembled in human history. Our archives hold intimate portraits of hidden love, brave stories of resistance and rebellion, the minutiae of countless groups working to make the world a better place, and so much more.

You Are Here is an intentionally incomplete exhibition, offering a timeline of some important moments in LGBTQ history. We invite visitors to learn about the people and moments that have shaped the world they inhabit today, and to consider how their life will be remembered in the future. 

Visitors are invited to share a memory they want to live on by adding them to the timeline, help us imagine what comes next by declaring a hope for the future. 

The GLBT Historical Society exists because countless people have invested time, energy, and resources into ensuring our history survives. As you ponder your place in history, we invite you to join us and help us keep our history - your history - alive. Visit glbthistory.org/donate or scan the QR code below for more information about how you can help us preserve and share our vast queer past.

About the GLBT Historical Society

Founded in 1985, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. Our operations are centered around two sites: our GLBT Historical Society Museum, located since 2011 in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood; and our Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Research Center, open to researchers in the Mid-Market district.

Additional resources

Credits

PHOTO CREDITS. SLIDESHOW: An early Daughters of Bilitis meeting at Juanita’s in Sausalito. Left to right: Del Martin, Josie, Jan, Marge, Bev Hickok and Phyllis Lyon, circa 1959; photograph by Cecil Davis, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Papers (1993-13), GLBT Historical Society. José Sarria papers (1996-01). Attendees of the first National Bisexual Conference, held in San Francisco in 1990. Photograph copyright Efrain John Gonzalez. Used with permission. Visitors in the Main Gallery at the GLBT Historical Society Museum; photograph by Gerard Koskovich.

EXPLORE OUR HISTORY: 1985 International Lesbian & Gay Freedom Day Parade; photograph by Sandy Morris, used with permission. BROWSE OUR ARCHIVES: The stacks of the GLBT Historical Society archives; photo by Dave Earl.

Portions of this exhibition were adapted by the GLBT Historical Society from research conducted by Gerard Koskovich. Gerard Koskovich is a San Francisco–based historian, curator and rare book dealer. A founding member of the GLBT Historical Society, he has been active in the movement to create LGBTQ archives and museums for nearly four decades and has curated numerous exhibitions on queer history and culture. Koskovich has presented and published widely in English and French, most recently with a focus on the history of queer history as a cultural practice in the United States and on LGBTQ place-based history, preservation and intangible cultural heritage. Follow him on Instagram at @gkoskovich.