Overview

Beginning in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, a new generation of LGBT students in California began to organize publicly on college and university campuses, inspired by contemporaneous social movements and informed by California’s rich history of LGBT community formation and political engagement. Here Are My People documents how a trailblazing group of queer student activists in California made their mark on the history of the modern LGBTQ movement and paved the way for generations of organizers who followed. Rooted in extensive archival research and original oral histories, Here Are My People explores how this organizing unfolded, comparing different regions, types of campuses, and diverse student populations. Through campus-based organizations and within women’s studies programs, and despite various forms of reactionary resistance, student organizers promoted LGBT-themed educational programming and changes to curriculum, provided peer support like counseling and hotlines, and sponsored events showcasing queer creative practices including poetry, theater, and film. Collaborating across various campuses, they formed regional and statewide alliances. And, importantly, LGBT student organizers engaged California’s vibrant gay liberation and lesbian feminist political communities, forging new and important relationships in the movement which enhanced both on and off-campus LGBT organizing.

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9780820366760

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Reviews

"Little of the history of LGB student groups on the West Coast has been told, despite the impact that California student organizations had on regional and national LGB politics and the fact that many leading LGB activists and writers got their start in these organizations. Given this glaring gap in the literature, a book like this is very much needed.--Genny Beemyn, director, the Stonewall Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; ""coeditor of Sage Encyclopedia of Trans Studies"" This is the first book to address the foundational years of LGBTQ+ student activism in California, a state that has played key roles in U.S. and global LGBTQ+ history. The topic is fascinating and important; the research is industrious and impressive; and the arguments are excellent and enlightening.--Marc Stein ""author of Queer Public History: Essays on Scholarly Activism"""

Author Information

David A. Reichard is Professor of History and Legal Studies at California State University - Monterey Bay. He has written extensively on oral history and student activism in California.

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