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Seeking Stories of Queer California: A Hidden Histories Online Exhibit Main Menu Introduction Galleries A guide to each of the online galleries in this digital exhibit, grouped by topic or theme. Arts Asian & AAPI LGBTQ+ people Bisexual People Black LGBTQ+ People Communities Defying Expectations Gay men HIV/AIDS Latino/a/x LGBTQ+ people Lesbians LGBTQ+ Activism LGBTQ+ Discrimination LGBTQ+ Life in California Politics Pride Religion and Spirituality Transgender People

Marriage and Families

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Marriage and family are core elements of most societies, providing structure, support, and stability for individuals and communities. However, LGBTQ+ people have historically been denied those foundations through discrimination and lack of acceptance from those closest to them. The campaigns for acceptance of LGBTQ+ marriage, parenthood, and family have made great strides in recent years, allowing LGBTQ+ people to create thriving families in many forms, built on love, respect, communication, and mutual support.

Collection Information

For more information on the materials in this gallery, see their holding institutions.

Center for the Study of Political Graphics
It's Cake for God's Sake
Prop 8 What Should We Amend Next

Claremont Colleges Special Collections & Archives
Black Lesbian Newsletter

The Huntington Library
Joseph Hansen, letter to the Los Angeles Times editor
Joseph Hansen, “Why I wrote Early Graves"

LAPL Photograph Collections
Gay Fathers Group
Gay Marriage Case
A Proud Mom

Self Help Graphics & Art
Intertwined

University of California Riverside Special Collections & University Archives
The World Book of Naders

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Seeking Stories in Queer California Beth McDonald
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Rally for marriage equality day of decision, 2008
Jeff Horton, Larry Pickens and their son at Los Angeles gay pride, 1995
Sisters at March on Sacramento, 1988
Joseph Hansen, letter to the Los Angeles Times editor, 1984
Prop 8 What Should We Amend Next?, 2008
Joseph Hansen, “Why I wrote Early Graves,” circa 1987
Lesbian Wedding, 1987
Lesbian parents and their children at the March on Washington, 1993
A Proud Mom, 1989
Ron Douglas (left) and Jack Wilson cut their wedding cake at the private marriage ceremony, 1970
Gay Marriage Case in Court, 1979 Rob Brown, Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library. Photograph caption reads, "From left, attorney David M. Brown, plaintiffs, Anthony Corbett Sullivan, Richard Frank Adams. Sullivan and Adams are married, Adams a US citizen and Sullivan an Australian citizen. Both were issued a marriage license in Bolder [sic] Colorado and were married in Bolder [sic]. When Sullivan reapplied in Los Angeles in November 1975, the District Director of Immigration and Naturalization Service an immigrant visa. 'You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots', Dist Director."
Intertwined, 2007 Artist: Luciano Martinez. As real and imagined borders separate same-sex partners, the artist considers a new obstacle Gay Latino men face: gay marriage. Intertwined addresses the forbidden love between two men, sometimes complicated by geographic and cultural differences, trapped by an invisible cell that confines yet separates them. The prison-like bars that separate the lovers in the artwork are not only geographic, racial, and cultural but ominously political, highlighting the cross-national restrictions on gay marriage and the difficulties of recognizing same-sex partners within conservative societies. Part of the exhibit "At the Heart of It: LGBT Representation at Self Help Graphics", curated by Ruben Esparza.
The World Book of Naders, undated
Black Lesbian Newsletter, December 1982
It's Cake, for God's Sake, 2017
Gay Fathers Group, 1981