Guide to the Sexuality in Society Ephemera,
1960-2004

Broadsides publicizing events, films, and exhibits, and flyers, brochures, buttons, bumper stickers, card decks, safe sex packets, single issues of newsletters, currency marked "lesbian money" and "gay money," and other materials relating to sexual politics and the culture of groups defined by sexuality. Primarily includes materials handed out at marches, rallies, parades, lectures, conferences, picnics, women's bookstores, and entertainment shows by, for, or about lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, from the 1980s on. Homophobia and responses to acts of homophobia are also documented. Also includes an erotic deck of cards with photographs of nude women and men engaged mostly in heterosexual and group sex scenes, circa 1960s.

Events documented include an October 12, 1992, ACT UP demonstration in D.C.; the 1992 Atlanta Pride March; the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Rights and Liberation; the 1994 Stonewall 25 Parade; and Toshi Reagon's and Sara Cytron's performances as part of the 150th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention, July 1998. Also included are posters announcing events at CLAGS, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York.

Material collected at San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration, June 30, 1991, includes documentation of transvestites and Asian-Americans.

Includes ephemera from a wide range of U.S. cities, including Flint and Ann Arbor, Michigan; New Hope, Pennsylvania; Cincinnati; Chicago; Charlotte; Oklahoma; Houston; Madison, Wisconsin; New York, Rochester, Syracuse, Trumansburg, and Ithaca, New York; and Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Sacramento, California.

Also, photocopies of Polish gay material, including INACZEJI, which has an article on the first gay pride celebration in Poland, and lesbian and gay ephemera from places including Montreal, Winnepeg, Vancouver, and Saskatchewan, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; Austria; Sydney, Australia; and Germany.

Art-related work includes New York City bus posters on AIDS; a signed copy of Audre Lorde's poem "Sisters in Arms"; publicity for artist Jan Phillips; AIDS benefit posters from the Austin Festival of Dance; and two posters acquired by Cornell's Johnson Museum of Art for its recognition of the Day Without Art, December 1, 1998.

A rainbow button with a buck, labeled "Bucks M.C. [Motorcycle Club] Present 2003 Santa Saturday," comes from an event on Saturday, November 29 at Cartwheel's Nightclub in New Hope, Pennsylvania. "Santa Saturday" is an annual event, at which bears from all over the East Coast gather for fun and as a charity benefit to raise money for holiday toys for underprivileged children. The event typically starts at 1:00 in the afternoon and goes throughout the day, featuring drag shows and an auction.

Responses to homophobia include labels made to affix to copies of Reader's Guide warning of the exclusion of lesbian and gay writing. These labels were distributed at a mid-winter conference of the American Library Association held in San Antonio in January 1992. The collection also contains posters that appeared on the Cornell University campus on Febrary 20, 1995, in response to Prof. Jim Aist's offer to provide Christian information and counseling to those seeking to "cure" their homosexuality.

Relevant items may be found in Regional History Broadsides, #6629, Cornell University Broadsides, #37-7-3406, and in collections related to the Gay Games and Stonewall 25.