Coming Out West: LGBTQ+ Elders Share Their Stories

Coming Out West: LGBTQ+ Elders Share Their Stories

June 1 – December 17, 2023

Told through oral histories, images, art, and personal ephemera, visitors will experience a history of the LGBTQ+ community through the lens of people who shaped it.

Presented in collaboration with The Outwords Archive, this important exhibition features Jewel Thais-Williams, proprietor of the renowned LGBTQ club Jewel’s Catch One. Chuck Williams namesake of the venerated Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Judy Abdo, former Santa Monica city councilperson and one of the nation’s first out-lesbian mayors. L. Frank, Tongva-Ajachmem artist, writer, activist and tribal scholar. As well as artists and activists Don Bachardy, Mia Yamamoto, Marianne Diaz and celebrated Latinx author and descendant of one of Santa Monica’s oldest families, Terri de la Peña.

Santa Monica boasts a rich and diverse history of LGBTQ+ culture, activism, and community that dates back to its earliest inhabitants, the Tongva people, who embraced fluid gender identities and sexual orientations. However, with the arrival of Spanish and American colonization, strict gender norms and laws prohibiting homosexuality were imposed upon California, resulting in severe punishments, including forced sterilization, until 1951.

In response to discrimination, organizations such as the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society formed in the 1950s to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. These groups, along with publications, The Ladder, ONE Magazine, the Lesbian News, and Bob Damron’s travel guides, provided valuable information and welcoming spaces for the community.

The 1960s saw a pivotal moment in the gay civil rights movement as the LGBTQ+ community rallied against police raids on known gathering spots such as the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles and the Stonewall Inn in New York. This resulted in the first Pride parades, which increased mainstream visibility and awareness of the injustice and discrimination experienced by the LGBTQ+ community. Despite the gradual dismantling of anti-gay laws across the U.S., the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s brought new challenges, devastating losses of life, and continued stigma and discrimination. Nevertheless, from the 1990s to the 2010s, the LGBTQ+ community continued to achieve civil rights, including the legalization of same-sex marriage and greater positive representation in media and politics. However, these gains are still being contested today in legislative battles.

Throughout these struggles, LGBTQ+ individuals in Los Angeles and the Santa Monica Bay area have remained active in their creative expression, activism, and community-building efforts, making the city a more inclusive and vibrant place for all.

Curators: Anne Wallentine and The Outwords Archive