More LGBTQ Sites, Places May be Preserved if New Report Adopted

A new report could lead to the historic preservation of more LGBTQ sites and places in San Francisco, two historians who produced the report said Sunday.

The LGBTQ Historic Context Statement is available for public review at http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=3673 on the San Francisco Planning Department’s website.

The report may be used to protect, identify, interpret and designate historic LGBTQ sites and places in San Francisco if the Historic Preservation Commission adopts it, co-author and architectural historian Shayne Watson said.

The Historic Preservation Commission will decide whether to adopt the report Nov. 18 in City Hall Room 400 starting at 12:30 p.m., Watson said. She said the public can participate at the hearing by offering comments to the commissioners during the meeting.

Until then the public can review and submit comments by mail or email in support or opposition of the report until Oct. 23, she said. Comments should be sent to Susan Parks, preservation planner, San Francisco Planning Department, 1650 Mission St., Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103 or susan.parks@sfgov.org.

The report documents LGBTQ history and experiences in the city from Native American times through the AIDS epidemic of the 1990s, she said.

Watson and co-author Donna Graves, a public historian, started the report in September 2013, building upon previous scholarship, Watson said.

The two historians conducted oral history interviews and listened to stories at community events to inform the report, Watson said.

Keith Burbank, Bay City News

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