Tales From the OUTWORDS Archive: Lesser-Known Stories of LGBTQ Activism

The GLBT Historical Society collects, preserves, exhibits, and makes accessible to the public materials and knowledge to support and promote understanding of LGBTQ history, culture, and arts in all their diversity.The GLBT Historical Society is a registered 501(c)3 educational nonprofit organization.For more information, visitwww.glbthistory.org.

GLBT Historical Society

The OUTWORDS Archive is the first national effort to capture in-depth, professional quality, on-camera interviews with the full spectrum of LGBTQ pioneers and elders. So far, OUTWORDS has conducted more than 140 interviews in 26 states, including a robust cohort of subjects in the Bay Area. Some interviewees are better known to the public than others, but all played fascinating, important roles in struggle for queer rights and representation. Join OUTWORDS founder and Executive Director Mason Funk and a panel of OUTWORDS supporters and participants for a fascinating online conversation featuring clips from the completed interviews and a lively discussion of the enduring meaning and importance of these stories. 
 
SPEAKERS
Mason Funk is the founder and executive director of OUTWORDS, a Los Angeles-based, national nonprofit project dedicated to recording and disseminating professional quality, on-camera interviews with the pioneers and elders of the LGBTQ civil rights movement. In 2019, the first collection of OUTWORDS interviews, entitled The Book of Pride, was published by Harper Collins.
Marcus Arana was born in 1957 in Anchorage, AK to a family with Blackfeet, Ohlone and Mexican heritage. After coming out as lesbian in his teens, he made his way to San Francisco, where he transitioned in his mid-30s. Marcus has trained San Francisco police officers in transgender community awareness, integrated transgender women into women’s shelters and helped draft protocols for the fair treatment of transgender inmates.
Blackberri is a legendary singer/songwriter born in 1945 in Buffalo, New York. He developed a love of music from early on. After being kicked out of the U.S. Navy for being gay, Blackberri made his way to San Francisco. Blackberri’s music was featured in several Marlon Riggs’ films including "Tongues Untied" and "Black Is Black Ain’t." Blackberri has also worked extensively in the Bay Area as an HIV prevention educator and as a counselor to people with HIV/AIDS and their families.
Al Baum was born in 1930 in Chicago. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he moved to San Francisco, ditched his law career in favor of urban planning, used his combined skill sets to help save San Francisco Bay, and came out as a gay man at age 45. Since then, he has been a psychotherapist, restorer of old Victorian structures, and ardent philanthropist. In 2013, Al was honored as a Lifetime Achievement grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade.
Donna Sachet was born in 1954 in South Carolina, where she endured a violent, dysfunctional childhood. She escaped to New York for a career in retail fashion and moved to San Francisco in 1990. Ready for a fresh start, she got it by performing in drag at a Gay Men’s Chorus talent show. Since then, Donna’s performances have raised millions of dollars for various causes, including her annual Songs of the Season musical cabaret show to benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund.
Kitty Tsui was born in Hong Kong and raised in England. She arrived in San Francisco at age 16 in 1968, where she immersed herself in activism and writing. In 1979, Kitty co-founded Unbound Feet, a women’s performance group challenging stereotypes about Asian American women. In 1983, she published The Words of a Woman Who Breathes Fire, the first book by a Chinese American lesbian. Kitty’s work has been collected in over 90 anthologies, and has been translated into Japanese, German and Italian.
NOTE FOR ATTENDEES:
This event has been moved online. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to join the Zoom webinar as an attendee. Please make sure to scroll to the bottom of the email from Eventbrite to see the instructions!
Attendees will be able to participate as a virtual audience by asking questions, participating in polls and chatting with one another and panelists. Attendee registration is limited to 100 participants.
We will also be livestreaming this event on the GLBT Historical Society YouTube channel and linking to the video on social media for an unlimited amount of viewers. 
ADMISSION
Free | Suggested donation of $5.00
Limited to 100 attendees.
 
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Image credit: Two of the interviewees who have participated in interviews collected by the OUTWORDS archive; courtesy of Mason Funk.

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Tales From the OUTWORDS Archive: Lesser-Known Stories of LGBTQ Activism

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