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Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #1 Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #1
Date: 4/2/1994Call Number: JG/ 073Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberProgram: Camp Sister SpiritCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Camp Sister Spirit is a conference which took place at the Women’s Building in San Francisco in 1994. It is a conference between many of the organizations and NPOs that deal with queer issues and/or women’s rights. Sister spirit is defined as a call to action so that something can be built together to create permanent, grassroots change. The speakers are from diverse organizations and speak about ways to create collective change. Diedra McCalaugh (sp?) is a feminist singer/songwriter from Berkeley and performs songs from her album, “Everyday Heroes and Heroines”.
Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #2 Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #2
Date: 4/2/1994Call Number: JG/ 074Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberProgram: Camp Sister SpiritCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Camp Sister Spirit is a conference which took place at the Women’s Building in San Francisco in 1994. It is a conference between many of the organizations and NPOs that deal with queer issues and/or women’s rights. Sister spirit is defined as a call to action so that something can be built together to create permanent, grassroots change. The speakers are from diverse organizations and speak about ways to create collective change. On this tape many of the speakers talk about the need for increasing the public lesbian community through demonstrations and gatherings. This recording follows JG/LS 073.
Gender Issues in Russia, 1992 Gender Issues in Russia, 1992
Call Number: JG/ 085BFormat: Cass BProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Interview with Gene Peters, lesbian & gay activist who traveled to Russia in 1992 with Friendship Force to examine women's issues after the dissolution of the USSR. Peters talked extensively with female Russian professors and officials. She describes how many women were forced out of the workforce with the fall of communism, particularly in high status jobs. 70% of the Russian unemployed are women and fewer women have been elected to office since the fall of USSR. Peters describes the work of the Russian Federation of Women, a Soviet women's organization. She notes a lack of adequate medical supplies and dearth of contraceptives in Russia that renders an average of 8 abortions per woman. She describes the AIDS epidemic in the former USSR and current Russian AIDS campaigns. She also describes political reform initiatives for gay men & women who were brutally repressed under the Soviet regime, as well as the development of open gay life. She concludes with a general warning against Western media coverage of Russia, noting remarkable social retrogression and stratification in the wake of the fall of the USSR.
A Defiant Heart New Year 1995: Political Prisoner Program A Defiant Heart New Year 1995: Political Prisoner Program
Date: 12/30/1994Call Number: JG/ 089BFormat: Cass BProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
New Year 1995 show with a focus on political prisoners. Accounts of Puerto Rican political prisoners of the earlier 20th century. Reading of an article by Jan Sassler of the People’s Law Office of Chicago in ‘Bulldozer’ magazine that stresses biases in the American parole system. Discusses the San Francisco prison group Out of Control’s work as well as ‘The Key,’ a lesbian and gay prisoner newsletter.
Focus on Race in Black History Month Focus on Race in Black History Month
Date: 2/2/1996Call Number: JG/ 097Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Focus on Race in Black History Month. Interview with Charlene Kotherine, publisher of 'Venus' magazine and an activist in the African American Gay community in Atlanta, GA. Kotherine discuses the recent rally of gay and lesbian blacks in honor of Bayard Rustin at the Atlanta Martin Luther King celebrations, done in hopes of raising visibility for the movement and educating the larger black community about black gays and lesbians. She notes a recent more positive reception towards the gay community as a whole in Atlanta and increasing numbers of black gays and lesbians who have come out in the past five years. Kotherine believes nonetheless that coming out still unfortunately remains a privlidge of high economic status for blacks. She notes the need for a separate black gay and lesbian movement outside the mainstream gay and lesbian movement in Atlanta because of unique race concerns and the black need for acceptance from within the power bases of their community which has thus far been hesitant to accept them. She notes the steps forward that black gays and lesbians have made at organizing over the past year, including organizing a black gay pride parade.
Queer in Cuba (Part 1) Queer in Cuba (Part 1)
Date: 10/25/1992Call Number: JG/ 102Format: CassetteCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
In Part 1 of this moderated discussion recorded in 1992, Sonja De Vries and Jorge Cortinas talk about their experiences in Cuba and their observations on how HIV/AIDS and other LGBT issues are addressed in the country. De Vries spent six months in Cuba interviewing gay men and women. Cortinas spent a year in Havana, working for the National Center for Health Education. Several key topics raised during the discussion include: how the Communist party in Cuba is dealing with HIV/AIDS and LGBT issues, the impact of U.S. foreign policy, the effectiveness of sanatoriums, and different methods of safe sex education. In addition to this, both De Vries and Cortinas talk about daily aspects of queer life in Cuba, like the visibility of the LGBT community and the influence of machismo.
Queer in Cuba (Part 2) Queer in Cuba (Part 2)
Date: 10/25/1985Call Number: JG/ 103Format: CassetteCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
In Part 2, the question and answer portion of a moderated discussion continues. Members of the audience asked the speakers, Sonja De Vries and Jorge Cortinas, questions that called for a further exploration of the impact of race, class and colonialism on Cuba. De Vries and Cortinas talk about their experiences in Cuba and their observations on how HIV/AIDS and other LGBT issues are addressed in the country. De Vries spent six months in Cuba interviewing gay men and women. Cortinas spent a year in Havana, working for the National Center for Health Education. Several key topics continued from Part 1 include: how the Communist party in Cuba is dealing with HIV/AIDS and LGBT issues, the impact of U.S. foreign policy, and the effectiveness of sanatoriums.
Race, Class and Gender Workshop Race, Class and Gender Workshop
Call Number: JG/ 105Format: CassetteProgram: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy InstituteCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
This is a recording is of a workshop and moderated discussion about the intersections of class, race, and gender in LGBT movements. The workshop is held at a 1993 conference sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. Several critiques on the direction that the mainstream LGBT movement is going in are made, including: The movement catering to the image of the affluent white gay male, problematic assumptions about and comparisons to the Civil Rights movement, the closet as a classist construction, and the lack of dialogue on the impact of economic policy. Other issues addressed are: gays in the military, strategies on dealing with the Right, and the spectacle of queerness in the media.
Les Chanteuses Africaines Les Chanteuses Africaines
Call Number: JG/ 106AFormat: Cass ACollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Broadcasting from the Atlanta-based WFRG station, Alicia Banks hosts her weekly radio program "Les Chanteuses Africaines: The African Female Singers featuring the Musical & Literary Voices of Black Women". In this particular recording, the show at hand is part of a special marathon of gay and lesbian themed programming at WFRG. During the course of the show, Banks addresses the intersecting issues of race, homophobia and the AIDS crisis. She also critically examines contradictions of homophobia within racially oppressed communities, and dissects the notion of the need of a singular construct of closet and coming out. Included are clips of stand-up comedy from Lea Delaria, Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Kinison, There are also songs performed by and are about LGBT people. The songs “B.D. Woman Blues” by Lucille Bogen and “The Prove It To Me Blues” by Ma Rainey remain in good audio quality, while some of the other songs included are of a poorer recording quality.
A Defiant Heart: Focus on Sodomy A Defiant Heart: Focus on Sodomy
Date: 1/8/1990Call Number: JG/ 104Format: CassetteCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld Georgia state sodomy laws in the landmark case "Bowers vs. Hardwick". Recorded here is a mass demonstration against such laws. The demonstration takes place at the Georgia state capitol on the opening day of its 1990 state legislature. Groups represented ranged from the Aids Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the National Organization for Women (NOW) to religious groups to advocates for AIDS awareness, pro-choice, anti-racism, and anti-ableism. Speakers touched upon many subjects, from the importance of choice in and out of the bedroom, the danger of sodomy laws' silencing consequences in the face of the AIDS crisis to sodomy laws' place in the long-standing history of persecution in the U.S. and in the world. Many of the speeches featured are intended to rally the crowd and do not go into great depth.