For Immediate Release
SPORTING LIFE:
GLBT ATHLETICS AND CULTURAL CHANGE
FROM THE 1960S TO TODAY
NEW MAIN EXHIBIT OPENS AT GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Contact: Jason Riggs, 415-871-7351,
jason@jasonriggs.org
SAN FRANCISCO-On April 2, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
and Transgender Historical Society and Museum (GLBTHS)
will hold the kickoff celebration for its new Main
Gallery exhibit, Sporting Life: GLBT Athletics and
Cultural Change from the 1960s to Today.
There will be a special preview reception for media
and sponsors on Thursday, March 24, from 6-8 pm.
Sporting Life will run from April - December 2005.
Sporting Life explores how Bay Area LGBT athletics
have challenged homophobia and created community. From
early 1970s gay softball games versus the police to
the launch of the now-worldwide Gay Games, to the
breaking down of barriers in professional sports, the
way we play has transformed society. Today, over 4,000
openly LGBT Bay Area athletes participate annually,
breaking records, defying stereotypes, and inspiring
others.
One of the many evocative items is a rare 1979 Glenn
Burke Oakland Athletics baseball card. Burke, credited
with inventing the "high five," had been traded to the
A's from the Dodgers, largely due to homophobia.
Ongoing antigay hostility and a knee injury led him
soon after to leave pro ball. Afterwards, he became a celebrated member
of San Francisco gay softball teams. In 1982, he became the first pro
baseball player to come out.
"Through months of collaboration with the LGBT sports community,
collecting uniforms, photos, and artifacts, Guest Curator Jim Provenzano
has created a dynamic, entertaining, and moving exhibit," said GLBTHS
Executive Director Terence Kissack. "Sporting Life is our most ambitious
exhibit yet, incorporating multimedia elements and a coordinated oral
history project."
Guest Curator Jim Provenzano bridges his athletic, interviewing, writing
and artistic skills to curate Sporting Life with over two decades of
experience in journalism, stage design and art installation. He is the
author of the nationally syndicated gay athletics column "Sports
Complex" and of the novel PINS, adapted for the stage in 2002.
The Sporting Life opening party will be Saturday,
April 2, from 5:30-8:00 p.m. at the GLBTHS, located at
657 Mission St., Ste. 300 (between New Montgomery and
Third St.). Thereafter, the exhibit will be open to
the public from 1-5, Tuesdays through Saturdays,
through December.
Sporting Life is made possible by a grant from the
California Council for the Humanities, as part of the California Stories
initiative. Additional sponsors include Fastsigns, the Gay & Lesbian
Tennis Federation, the Golden Gate Wrestling Club, and San Francisco
Spikes Soccer.
Exhibit photos available to the media upon request.
The GLBT Historical Society's mission is to increase
public understanding, appreciation, and affirmation of
the history and culture of gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and other sexual minority individuals and communities. For
more information about the GLBTHS, call 415.777.5455 or visit
www.glbthistory.org. ###