Project Outline

The First Oral History Project To Interview Members of Vanguard: Cited as the first gay liberation organization by historians, our project interviewed some of the original members of Vanguard and the pastors who made their work possible. This stage of the project will help us to put together a multimedia presentation about the history of Vanguard, that we've been able to present at Sonoma State University and as a part of the Queer Arts Festival. We will also be documenting the entirety of the project described below with audio recordings and oral histories. This part of the project is made possible by the support of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and the Horizon Foundation.

Happenings: During this stage of our project, we will have happenings in partnership with 7 organizations that work with populations similar to those who participated in the original Vanguard. These happenings will introduce the history of Vanguard to the community, encourage them to name the issues that currently exist within that community and inspire individuals to create a dialogue with the historical Vanguard by responding in writing to articles and images from the original Vanguard Magazine. Some of the organizations we will work with during this stage of the project include: Road Dawgs; Larkin Street; Trans Thrive; Welcome; The Night Ministry and the Faithful Fools. This portion of the project is made possible by the support of the Human Right's Campaign's Religion and Faith Program and the San Francisco Foundation.


Empowering Individuals Living in Poverty to Become Politically Active: In this stage of our project we will be giving stipends to individuals living in poverty in San Francisco's Tenderloin. After listening to the conversations about the current experience of living in the Tenderloin, this team will design a creative political action/event/performance that will bring attention to the issues of Tenderloin residents and help individuals in poverty to become more politically engaged. This portion of the project is made possible by the support of the Human Right's Campaign's Religion and Faith Program and the San Francisco Foundation.

Creating a Zine: From the written reflections created at the happenings, individuals living in poverty will receive commissions for writings that are selected for publication in a zine and for work creating and editing the zine. This portion of the project is made possible by the support of The St. Francis Endowment of St. Francis Lutheran Church.

Writing a Book: We will be compiling a book of essays, photos and writings about the history of the original vanguard and describing our work in this project. Proceeds from the book will benefit the Oral History Program at the GLBT Historical Society. This portion of the project is made possible by the support of The St. Francis Endowment of St. Francis Lutheran Church.

Exhibits: We will be creating a physical exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society, an online multimedia exhibit, a high quality exhibit available for download for congregations and organizations to create and a traveling exhibit that will feature talks by Joey Plaster and Megan Rohrer that will travel the country to share information about the Vanguard project with congregation, organizations and institutions. This portion of the project is made possible by the support of the Carpenter Foundation.