From Clandestine Territories to Public Places: San Francisco LGBTQ Historic Sites

Gerard Koskovich

Stevenson 101
9:30 AM

Koskovich, a historian, curator and rare book dealer, will assert that stories tied to historic places have long served to reflect the power of the state and restrict social belonging. Historic place-making has traditionally erased LGBTQ heritage, just as LGBTQ people themselves have been marginalized throughout much of American history. This talk will offer a critical look at the function of historic sites and trace organizing in San Francisco over the past four decades to transform place-based history into a tool for publicly commemorating the LGBTQ past and for honoring LGBTQ people in the present. Koskovich, a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society, has been active for nearly four decades in the movement to create LGBTQ archives and museums and has presented and published widely in English and French, most recently with a focus on the history of queer history as a cultural practice and heritage effort in the United States. In 2014–2016, he was one of 15 historians invited by the U.S. National Park Service to advise on improving representation of the LGBTQ past in federal heritage programs.