San Diego Citywide LGBTQ Historic Context Statement

GPA Consulting

From introduction: "The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) historic context for the City of San Diego was funded with a grant from the California Office of Historic Preservation. The purpose of this context statement is to provide guidance for identifying and evaluating potential historic resources related to San Diego’s rich LGBTQ history. The context offers a broad historical overview on the growth of LGBTQ identities, communities, and politics in San Diego and then focuses on themes and geographic areas associated with extant resources. As the narrative reveals, these resources date primarily from the 1970s and 1980s and are largely concentrated in neighborhoods like Hillcrest, Ocean Beach, North Park, Downtown, Golden Hill, and Pacific Beach. Resources located in adjacent cities are not included in the scope of this context because they are separate jurisdictions. While focusing on historical themes associated with political, social, and cultural institutions, the context also identifies individuals and organizations that played significant roles in LGBTQ history throughout San Diego. Historic resources associated with the LGBTQ community are the product, at their core, of the dynamic, conflicting, and intersecting perspectives of personal identity, public attitudes about human sexuality, behavioral science theories concerning sex and gender, and the resulting distillation of that discourse as public policy acted upon by agents of local and state government, such as the police. LGBTQ historic resources in San Diego include sites, buildings, structures, and districts in diverse locations throughout the city that were: Significant places of social interaction (e.g., city parks, bars, and nightclubs); Significant sites of political action and reaction (e.g., parks, city offices, college campuses, and parade routes); Associated with LGBTQ persons or key LGBTQ supportive persons who were significant in the political, cultural, and social history of the city (e.g., residences and offices); Associated with significant LGBTQ businesses (e.g., such as magazine publishers and bookstores); Associated with pioneering institutions and organizations developed as direct products of the early gay liberation movement to address the particular educational, cultural, health, or spiritual needs of LGBTQ persons (e.g., offices, churches, and health facilities)." Funding for this project was provided in part through a 2015 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the City of San Diego (project number CA-15-029) administered by the California State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P15AF00029) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. San Diego, California is a Certified Local Government.

San Diego Citywide LGBTQ Historic Context Statement

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