Community before liberation: theorizing gay resistance in San Francisco, 1953-1969

Thesis

This thesis offers the first detailed account of the early history of homophile ideas of community. Its geographical centre is San Francisco. The thesis covers the period from the advent of homophile organising in the city in 1953 to the arrival of a new generation of post-Stonewall gay liberationists in 1969. In these sixteen years, ideas of community first emerged in San Franciscan gay bar-based activism, took hold, and from there, began to travel across the United States.

The thesis delivers two overarching arguments. First, it revises our understanding of when homophile ideas of community first surfaced. In the standard historical narrative, homophile activists first forged ideas of community in mid-1960s San Francisco. This thesis uncovers an earlier genesis. It locates the birth of ‘community’ in the mid-century activism of Latino female impersonator José Sarria, particularly his 1961 campaign for San Francisco City Supervisor. In the following years, ideas of ‘the community’ circulated in the newspapers of Sarria’s collaborator Guy Strait, gradually winning a national audience. The mid-1960s activists often heralded as community’s inventors were in fact the inheritors of this earlier generation.

Second, the thesis contends that the early history of homophile ideas of community demonstrated much greater doctrinal diversity than has previously been recognized. According to John D’Emilio’s influential account, homophile activists primarily conceived of community as sexual community, rooted in shared sexual behaviours and interests. In contrast, my thesis uncovers a plurality of traditions of imagining community to which homophile activists contributed in the 1960s. In particular, the thesis traces homophile projects which pursued broader, coalitional communities in concert with other contemporary political movements, including the Civil Rights, Black Power, sex workers’ and immigrant movements. Recovering their legacy corrects myths of a monolithic homophile investment in a single-issue gay politics.

Authors: Reithmayr, M

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-xmnkaq2aj
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: queer intellectual history; Jose Sarria; gay community; history of queer political thought; Society for Individual Rights; League for Civil Education; Gay San Francisco; homophile movement