Before Gay Meant Gay: Meet San Diego’s Early LGBTQ Pneers | Voice of San Diego

Contents:

• SAN DIEGO HONORS LONGTIME GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST NILE MURRAY RAMIREZ WH HONORARY STREET SIGN
• US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK
• BEFORE GAY MEANT GAY: MEET SAN DIEGO’S EARLY LGBTQ PNEERS
• BEN DILLGHAM: GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST, MUNY LEAR
• THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK
• SAN DIEGO GAY COMMUNY EMERG AS POWERFUL POLIL FORCE

SAN DIEGO HONORS LONGTIME GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST NILE MURRAY RAMIREZ WH HONORARY STREET SIGN

Murray Ramirez also prevly served on the regn’s Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force and the unty’s regnal task force on AIDS the public unveilg of the honorary marker was wnsed by about 100 people, cludg LGBTQ servicemembers, police officers, policians and members of fah groups.

US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK

1225124-sd-me-activist-honor_NL December 3, 2022 San Diego, CA (l to r) San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Nile Murray Ramirez, CA State Senate Print Pro Tempore Toni Atks and Longtime LGBTQ, Lato, and Jackie Biskupski, former Salt Lake Cy Mayor (who was the first openly gay person elected to that office) share a lgh durg civil rights activist Nile Murray Ramirez honorary street namg ceremony by the Cy of San Diego on Saturday afternoon, wh a portn of Harvey Milk Street beg signated as “Honorary Nile Murray Ramirez Way.

BEFORE GAY MEANT GAY: MEET SAN DIEGO’S EARLY LGBTQ PNEERS

And we owe that to Nile, ” said Gloria, who ma history San Diego as the first openly gay mayor and the first mayor of gatherg was anized by San Diego Councilmember Stephen Whburn, whose District 3 clus Hillcrt. Honorary namg is rerved for people or anizatns “that have performed an exemplary act or achievement of lastg tert to their muny, which reflects posively on the Cy of San Diego as a whole, ” reads the signatn a after San Diego changed Blae Avenue to Harvey Milk Street to regnize Milk, a civil rights activist who was one of the first openly gay elected officials the natn.

Protected by their soc-enomic stat om dishonor and prosecutn, upper class upl such as Lee and Teats or Shepard and Tonner did not suffer om stigma or the punishg laws wh which ls fortunate homosexuals of their day had to ntend. Gay historian Allan Bébé has famoly suggted that Ameri’s war effort also served to brg together many gays and lbians who had hherto been isolated small towns and ci all across Ameri, and a signifint subculture was th on s way to beg formed. For stance, gay bars such as Bradley’s and Blue Jacket the Gaslamp District proliferated durg the war years; locker clubs such as the Seven Seas Locker Club and Jack’s Steam and Locker Club beme not only facili where ary men uld change to civvi before a night on the town but also cisg grounds where those who were gay found sexual opportuni.

BEN DILLGHAM: GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST, MUNY LEAR

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) was rmed too—and bee homosexuals were prumptive crimals unr state and lol laws, the SDPD went to great lengths to hunt gay men down, even stakg out the streets where gays were known to cise.

THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK

Ed Hansen, a closeted mister at San Diego’s Chollas View Methodist Church, who had recently pleted an ternship at San Francis’s ultra-liberal Gli Memorial Methodist Church, started San Diego’s first anized gay group, “Dghters and Sons of Society.

SAN DIEGO GAY COMMUNY EMERG AS POWERFUL POLIL FORCE

” The group offered much-need emotnal support to the muny, but as s ntral name suggts, members sentially kept who they were a secret, which meant that they uld have ltle impact fightg discrimatory laws and homophobic prejudice.