Vanguard Revisited - GLBT Historical Society

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1:5 1967 1:3 1966 “We walked the streets of San Francisco at night accompanying Ray. He was not preaching- he was seeking people in distress who we could help. If we were separated and needed him we were to blow our whistle so he'd join us. He then would look in his thick wallet of phone numbers and go to a pay phone and call the person he had helped in the past & then call in the favor of the assistance for these new people. No matter how badly people dished Ray, I saw him do more to assist others than those who only spoke of kindness or concern.” -Vanguard member Adrian Ravarour (oral history with Joey Plaster, 2010)
“A ‘Secularized’ Church Pursues Its Mission In Unorthodox Causes, Wall Street Journal, March 13, 1967, Courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society. San Francisco Homosexuals Helped by Glide Methodist; Some Members Unhappy Movement “part of a wider trend called ‘secularization.’” “The clergy is a major source of recruits for the civil rights movement.” “Essentially, they say, their job is to apply Christian ideals of charity to urban problems.” “Glide’s members are especially concerned about homosexuality. It is widespread in San Francisco. Police estimate that 80,000 to 90,000 San Franciscans, or more than 10% of the city’s 790,000 people, are homosexuals. Glide permitted the Vanguards, a group of young male prostitutes, to have a dance in the church. Glide also has made office space available to the Vanguards, helped them secure a clubroom and bought them furniture. “We were the only ones who would respond to the needs of these people, says Mr. Williams. “If you make yourself available to people, there’s got to be a complete commitment. A commitment just to help those its easy to help is hypocritical.” Glide ministers haven’t tried to ‘reform’ the homosexuals. But Mr. Durham says some have responded to the sympathetic treatment they have received. “One fellow who was really struggling with his sexual identity has gotten married and found a job,” he says. “Two or three have joined the church. Some who have gotten away from the kind of life they were leading have even come back to help those still caught up in it.” … Whatever else may result from the aid to the Vanguards, it already has opened some communication between homosexuals and the police department. A policeman has been assigned to counsel the group. Oddly, among those unhappy with the Glide, Vanguard relationship were leaders of several other homosexual organizations. “We thought the publicity (about dances and prostitution) would tend to perpetuate in the public mind a stereotype of the homosexual as irresponsible and sexually permissive,” one says. …[mentions Saul Alinksy preaching, abortion “defender” preaching, CCH, etc.]… If Glide’s activities appear unorthodox, its ministers say, it is largely because of a strong ‘anti-urban’ strain in American Protestant thinking. While most denominations have willingly, even eagerly, dispatched missionaries to primitive and sometimes savage foreign lands, many religious leaders have sied away freom work in the domestic ‘jungles.’ Heretofore, says Mr. Durham, “The role of the church in the city was somehow to save people from the evils of the city and to remind them of the sanctity of their rural heritage.” But no matter how “atheistic, Godless, immoral, demonic” modern city life may seem to be, Mr. Durham says, God create it and loves it.” 28
Page 1 and 2: REVISITED February 2011
Page 3 and 4: This magazine resuscitates the hist
Page 5 and 6: dis/RESPECT DAY AFTER DAY I FACE DI
Page 7 and 8: 1:9 1967 1:6 1967 1:9 1967 6
Page 9 and 10: “Billy Garrison self described hi
Page 11 and 12: In July 1966, the gay newspaper Cru
Page 13 and 14: 30 Types of Cereal: Clay Johnson 20
Page 15 and 16: In 2011, the youth at Larkin Street
Page 17 and 18: more than I was then. I feel eterna
Page 19 and 20: I would try to lighten this up just
Page 21 and 22: 1:4 1967 When a man becomes trapped
Page 23 and 24: “Perhaps I have seen the other pr
Page 25 and 26: People Power Continued: Juan A. Cer
Page 27: These streets ain’t her home: Amy
Page 32 and 33: Indie Boy romance ...and the meth m
Page 34 and 35: From the Don Lucas Papers, Courtesy
Page 36 and 37: Interview with "Mr. Fuck the World"
Page 38 and 39: I’m not like you Gotti, Until tho
Page 40 and 41: For a Freer Country: Taylor Brown 2
Page 42 and 43: 1:10 1967 1:5 1967 1:3 1966
Page 44 and 45: 1:1 1966 1966, Rev. Chuck Lewis Pap
Page 46 and 47: 1:5 1967 Ev E ry o t h E r d ay , I
Page 48 and 49: 1:9 1967 A Special Thanks to Ink Wo
Page 50 and 51: Exert yourself Once in a while Eith
Page 52: 51 my fav o r I t E pErson t o d ay
Page 55 and 56: 1:10 1967 1:10 1967 54
Page 57 and 58: Keith 1:8 1967 Photo of the Rev. Ra
Page 59: 3:1 1970 2011 3:1 1970

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