Vanguard Revisited - GLBT Historical Society

This magazine resuscitates the history of the 1960s queer youth organization Vanguard and
explores the ways in which its history is embodied in the present.
Tenderloin street youth founded Vanguard in 1966. They protested police harassment,
picketed discriminatory businesses, and held same-sex dances in church halls. They also
produced a blunt and honest magazine about poverty and queer politics; drug use and sex
work; isolation and loneliness; artistic expression; and faith and queer theology.
Working with a variety of homeless youth services organizations, program coordinators
Joey Plaster and Megan Rohrer presented the history of Vanguard to today’s queer youth.
We then asked them to respond by submitting stories, art, and poetry “in conversation”
with original 1960s essays, or touching on similar themes.
This magazine presents their writings along with reprints from the Vanguard Magazine of
the 1960s. These materials are supplemented with archival materials, a historical narrative,
and writings from urban ministers and youth organizers. Working over a period of
three months with a group of youth at Larkin Street Youth Services, we sought to create a
magazine that spoke to their expressed desire to “enlighten youth, celebrate the queer
history of the Tenderloin, and create a voice for the unheard.”
Thank
You
1:9
1967
The magazine is also part of a larger “Vanguard Revisited”
project that meets Monday nights between Feb-June 2011,
led by youth with the support of the San Francisco LGBT
Center’s Youth Program and the Faithful Fools Street Minist
ry. For more information, contact Youth Program Coordinator
Beck, at (415) 865-5560 or Beck@sfcenter.org.
Project Managers: Joey Plaster and the Rev. Megan Rohrer Site Coordinators: Beck,
Peter Carpou and Debbie Neigher Advisers: Martin Meeker; Bernard Schlager; and
Sharon Groves. Financial Support Provided By: Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries;
The Carpenter Foundation; The San Francisco Foundation; The Horizon Foundation;
San Francisco LGBT Community Center; The St. Francis Endowment of St. Francis Lutheran
Church in San Francisco; The Human Rights Campaign; The Rev. Megan Rohrer;
and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Partner Organizations: GLBT Historical
Society; Welcome; Larkin Street Youth Program; The San Francisco LGBT Community
Center: Youth Services; TransThrive; and Roaddawgz. Special Thanks to: The New
Vanguard Youth; Adrian Ravarou; Keith; Joel Roberts; the Rev. Larry Mamiya; the Rev.
Chuck Lewis; Joanne Chadwick; Ink Works Press; Paul Boneberg; Rebekah Kim; Lauren
Richards; Teddy Wallace; Paul VanDeCarr; Don Romesburg; Chris Carlsson; the Screaming
Queens; Kate Grzeca; Aimee Forster; Cecilia Chung; Felicia Elizondo; and Chelsea Ross.
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http://vanguardrevisited.blogspot.com