New Pacific Academy

Last updated
New Pacific Academy
Discipline LGBT studies
Publication details
HistorySummer of 1990

New Pacific Academy (NPA) was an education and training program for young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists held in San Francisco, California in the summer of 1990. 104 students aged 18 to 30 attended the month-long program. [1] [2]

NPA was a program of the Critical Literacy Institute, a non-profit organization founded by Luke Adams in 1989 to merge inquiry and action, and to sponsor young activist scholars, particularly those from marginalized populations. Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, co-founded NPA. Joe van Es-Ballesteros served as general manager, and Karyn Andrade served as program director. [1] [2]

The curriculum covered the nuts and bolts of activism, LGBT history, organizing skills, health issues, and diversity. [3]

Adams and Jones saw the program as "basic training" for a new generation of LGBT activists, and as a way to address pressing issues including a rising incidence of HIV transmission among teens, a high suicide rate among LGBT youth, homophobia in school settings, and a "crisis of leadership" resulting from the loss of many movement leaders to AIDS. [2] [3]

The student body included 50% men and 50% women; approximately half were people of color. NPA recruited them by placing ads in LGBT newspapers throughout the U.S. They were chosen on the basis of their commitment to LGBT social service or activism, and were not charged for their participation in the program. The students came from 45 states in the U.S. [1] [4]

"I am going to do everything I can to get people my own age to get involved politically," NPA student Madrid San Angelo, 24, of Denver, told the Bay Area Reporter. [5]

The students were housed in a dormitory at San Francisco State University, and classes were held at the Metropolitan Community Church in the Castro neighborhood. [1]

The faculty included a diverse array of veteran LGBT activists. Guest speakers included Supervisor Harry Britt, folksinger Holly Near, and the former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Virginia Apuzzo. [1]

The students marched as a contingent in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade, and participated in various street actions including demonstrations and sit-ins. They organized a picket outside the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper to protest the publication of a column in which Herb Caen had written that "gays and lesbians do not have children, generally speaking." [1] [6]

NPA had a budget of $633,000, which was raised from corporations, foundations and individuals. [2]

Though organizers intended NPA to be an ongoing, annual program, they were unable to raise the $7 million endowment they estimated would be required, and the program ended after its inaugural year.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ACT UP</span> International AIDS activism, direct action and advocacy group

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queer Nation</span> LGBTQ activist organization

Queer Nation is an LGBTQ activist organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, by HIV/AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media. The group is known for its confrontational tactics, its slogans, and the practice of outing.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence (OPI), is a charitable, protest, and street performance movement that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality and fundraise for charity. In 1979, a small group of gay men in San Francisco began wearing the attire of Catholic nuns in visible situations using camp to promote various social and political causes in the Castro District.

Bob Ross was the co-founder and former publisher of the Bay Area Reporter and a key gay rights and AIDS activist in San Francisco. For his lifetime work he was inducted into the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame for creating two of the "most well-respected and enduring LGBT publications in the country".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center</span> LGBT community organization in New York City

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, commonly called The Center, is a nonprofit organization serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) population of New York City and nearby communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vito Russo</span> American historian and LGBT activist (1946–1990)

Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985, he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleve Jones</span> American LGBT rights and AIDS activist

Cleve Jones is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2020. In 1983 at the onset of the AIDS pandemic, Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which has grown into one of the largest and most influential advocacy organizations empowering people with AIDS in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GLBT Historical Society</span> American non-profit LGBT historical society

The GLBT Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of archival materials, artifacts and graphic arts relating to the history of LGBTQ people in the United States, with a focus on the LGBT communities of San Francisco and Northern California.

Henry "Hank" Wilson was a longtime San Francisco LGBT rights activist and long term AIDS activist and survivor. The Bay Area Reporter noted that "over more than 30 years, he played a pivotal role in San Francisco's LGBT history." He grew up in Sacramento, and graduated with a B.A. in education from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Equality March</span>

The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The march was called for by activist David Mixner and implemented by Cleve Jones, and organized by Equality Across America and the Courage Campaign. Kip Williams and Robin McGehee served as co-directors. Leaders like actress Michelle Clunie, Courage Campaign marketing director, Billy Pollina and New York gubernatorial aide Peter Yacobellis hosted the first fundraiser in the spring of 2009. This was the first national march in Washington, D.C. for LGBT rights since the 2000 Millennium March.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisexuality in the United States</span>

The first English-language use of the word "bisexual" to refer to sexual orientation occurred in 1892.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Petrelis</span>

Michael Anthony Petrelis is an American AIDS activist, LGBTQ rights activist, and blogger. He was diagnosed with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1985 in New York City, New York. As a member of the Lavender Hill Mob, a forerunner to the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, he was among the first AIDS activists to protest responses to the disease. He was a co-founding member of ACT UP in New York City, New York, and later helped organize ACT UP chapters in Portland, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and New Hampshire, as well as the ACT UP Presidential Project. Petrelis was also a founding member of Queer Nation/National Capital, the Washington D.C. chapter of the militant LGBTQ rights organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ culture in San Francisco</span>

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) 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 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.

This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC, men who have sex with men, or related culturally-specific identities. This timeline includes events both in Asia and the Pacific Islands and in the global Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora, as the histories are very deeply linked. Please note: this is a very incomplete timeline, notably lacking LGBTQ-specific items from the 1800s to 1970s, and should not be used as a research resource until additional material is added.

Henry M. Tavera was an AIDS activist, artistic director, and archivist based in the Mission District of San Francisco, California; his 1979 move to the region put him at the forefront of the AIDS epidemic via his involvement in various HIV/AIDS service organizations as well as AIDS theatre. He also did work around Chicano Gay Activism and teaching/advising. Tavera died on February 27, 2000, at 56 years old from kidney cancer.

Roma Guy is an American LGBT- and women's-rights activist. She is openly lesbian and married her life partner in 2008.

Pat Norman was an American activist for women's rights, as well as the rights of the African American and LGBT communities.

The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the country's LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty inductees were unveiled June 27, 2019, as a part of events marking the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Five honorees are added annually.

The Castro Sweep was a police riot that occurred in the Castro District of San Francisco on the evening of October 6, 1989. The riot, by about 200 members of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), followed a protest held by ACT UP, a militant direct action group responding to the concerns of people with AIDS.

Ortez Alderson was an American AIDS, gay rights, and anti-war activist and actor. A member of LGBT community, he was a leader of the Black Caucus of the Chicago Gay Liberation Front, which later became the Third World Gay Revolution, and served a federal prison sentence for destroying files related to the draft for the Vietnam War. In 1987, he was one of the founding members of ACT UP in New York City, and helped to establish its Majority Action Committee representing people of color with HIV and AIDS. Regarded as a "radical elder" within ACT UP, he was involved in organizing numerous demonstrations in the fight for access to healthcare and treatments for people with AIDS, and participated in the group's meetings with NYC Health Commissioner Stephen Joseph as well as the FDA. In 1989, he moved back to Chicago and helped to organize the People of Color and AIDS Conference the following year. He died of complications from AIDS in 1990, and was inducted posthumously into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ganahl, Jane (July 2, 1990), "New academy trains lesbians, gays for life of activism, service", San Francisco Examiner
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bellm, Dan (July–August 1990), "Harvey's Children", Mother Jones, retrieved 24 March 2012
  3. 1 2 Wilson, Craig (June 20, 1990), "Training new activists", USA Today
  4. Gessen, Masha (25 February 1990), "Gay Summer School for Teens", Out Week, retrieved 24 March 2012
  5. White, Allen (June 21, 1990), "Young Gays Taking Leadership Roles", Bay Area Reporter
  6. "Column Spurs Protest", Oakland Tribune, vol. 117–170, pp. A3, June 19, 1990