The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club (first known as The Alice B. Toklas Memorial Democratic Club) is a San Francisco-based association and political action committee for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Democrats.
The political club is currently active in its endorsement of Democratic candidates in the San Francisco area.
Founded in 1971 by activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Beth Elliott, and Jim Foster, it was the first organization for gay Democrats in the United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] It is named after lesbian writer and San Francisco native Alice B. Toklas. [5] The club has been known for its more moderate approach and in 1976, local LGBT activists broke off to form the more progressive Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club. [6]
The club hosts an annual breakfast during Pride. In 2016, the event was attended by more than 800 people and was addressed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, several members of Congress, and several state and local elected leaders. [7]
LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin and Phyllis Ann Lyon were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists.
LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean "LGBT culture" or to refer specifically to homosexual culture.
Stonewall Democrats, also known in some states as LGBT Democrats, is a caucus within the Democratic Party that advocates for issues that are relevant to LGBT Americans. The caucus primarily operates through individual chapters or political clubs supporting LGBT rights and affiliated with the Democratic Party.
The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration, usually known as San Francisco Pride, is a parade and festival held at the end of June each year in San Francisco, California, to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies. The 49th annual parade in 2019 included 289 parade contingents, and is described on the official website as "the largest gathering of LGBT people and allies in the nation".
Based in San Francisco, California, the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Democratic Club is a chapter of the Stonewall Democrats, named after LGBT politician and activist Harvey Milk. Believing that the existing Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club would never support him in his political aspirations, Milk co-founded the political club under the name "San Francisco Gay Democratic Club" in the wake of his unsuccessful 1976 campaign for the California State Assembly. Joining Milk in forming the club were a number of the city's activists, including Harry Britt, Dick Pabich, Jim Rivaldo, and first club president Chris Perry.
Theresa Sparks is an American woman, and is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and was a candidate for San Francisco Supervisor for District 6 in the November 2010 election. She is a former president of the San Francisco Police Commission and former CEO of Good Vibrations. She is also one of San Francisco's most famous transgender women and was a Grand Marshal in the 2008 San Francisco Pride Parade.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.
LGBT rights organizations are non-governmental civil rights, health, and community organizations that promote the civil and human rights and health of sexual minorities, and to improve the LGBT community.
The GLBT Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of archival materials, artifacts and graphic arts relating to the history of LGBT people in the United States, with a focus on the LGBT communities of San Francisco and Northern California.
James M. Foster was an American LGBT rights and Democratic activist. Foster became active in the early gay rights movement when he moved to San Francisco following his undesirable discharge from the United States Army in 1959 for being homosexual. Foster co-founded the Society for Individual Rights (SIR), an early homophile organization, in 1964. Dianne Feinstein credits SIR and the gay vote with generating her margin of victory in her election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969.
The history of LGBT residents in California, which includes centuries prior to the 20th, has become increasingly visible recently with the successes of the LGBT rights movement. In spite of the strong development of early LGBT villages in the state, pro-LGBT activists in California have campaigned against nearly 170 years of especially harsh prosecutions and punishments toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.
This article addresses the history of bisexuality in the United States. It covers this history beginning in 1892, which is when the first English-language use of the word "bisexual" to refer to sexual orientation occurred.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in San Francisco is one of the largest and most prominent LGBT communities in the United States, and is one of the most important in the history of American LGBT rights and activism alongside New York City. The city itself has, among its many nicknames, the nicknames "gay capital of the world" and "the gay Mecca", and has been described as "the original 'gay-friendly city'". LGBT culture is also active within companies that are based in Silicon Valley, which is located within the southern San Francisco Bay Area.
Beth Elliott is an American trans lesbian folk singer, activist, and writer. In the early 1970s Elliot was involved with the Daughters of Bilitis and the West Coast Lesbian Conference in California. She became a controversial figure when members of these groups felt she did not qualify as a woman and rejected her inclusion.
The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is an American memorial wall dedicated to LGBTQ “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes”. Unveiled at the Stonewall Inn in June 2019, as part of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the installation is located within the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history in the United States.