This presentation features a lively history of the county’s LGBTQ+ residents and businesses, from José Sarria, to the boom and bust of gay-oriented businesses, to the opening of the first Pride Center. Learn about the rich, lively LGBTQ+ history of San Mateo County, in a presentation full of stories and images from newspapers and advertisements of the day. The presentation will also feature issues which have proved difficult to document and suggestions for further research. Presented by Michael Flanagan, a San Mateo and Menlo Park Library reference librarian and history columnist for the Bay Area Reporter.
Michael Flanagan is a reference librarian at Menlo Park and San Mateo Public libraries. He has been the reference assistant for the musician Diamanda Galas since 1987 and was president of the AIDS archival organization ‘Documentation of AIDS Issues and Research’ from 1987 through 1995 which provided materials for Group Material’s ‘AIDS Timeline’ for the 1991 Whitney Biennial. He writes for the Bay Area Reporter and has work published in multiple scholarly periodicals. He has lectured at the Beat Museum, GLBT Historical Museum and Yerba Buena Center and done online programs on the LGBTQ history of San Mateo County for both Menlo Park and San Mateo libraries.
Previously on the Courthouse Docket
On May 20, 2023, author Gene Slater presented Freedom to Discriminate: How Realtors Conspired to Segregate Housing and Divide America.
If you have questions about previous Courthouse Dockets, please email education@historysmc.org.
The Courthouse Docket is a series of presentations held in the History Museum’s Historic Courtroom A. The Courthouse Docket Series is sponsored by Cypress Lawn Heritage Foundation.
