User:SatyrTN/LGBT Studies

GLBTQ.com
3,000-piece Morris Kight Collection, which contains both fine art by gay men and lesbians and a variety of memorabilia including posters and photographs documenting the struggle for glbtq rights. Shortly before his death Kight donated this valuable resource to the ONE Institute.
 * "Eccentric"
 * "began exploring his sexuality while in high school"
 * Was married from 1950 to 55 and had two daughters
 * moved to LA in 1958
 * held semi-annual "garage-sales" where he would sell antiques he had picked up at thrift stores. One of his regular customers at these sales was Liberace.
 * A Ghandian pacifist
 * founded the "Dow Action Committee" in 1967 to protest the chemical company's production of Agent Orange
 * Did not join the Mattachine Society, which he found elitist
 * co-founded the LA-GLF in December 1969
 * Participated in the protest by the GLF and Reverend Troy Perry of MCC of "Barney's Beanery", which displayed a sign that said "Fagots [sic] Stay Out", as well as others. Protest was initially successful - the owner eventually handed Kight the signs.  After the media left, however, the owner replaced the sign.  It remained until West Hollywood's first lesbian mayor, Valerie Terrigno, took it down when the city council passed an anti-discrimination ordinance.
 * a firm believer in the importance of media attention
 * Organized Christopher Street West in 1970. He frequently participated over the years, last marching in 1999.
 * instrumental in establishing the Gay Community Services Center (later renamed the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center), which opened its doors in October 1971
 * often followed leftist strategies, which caused David Goodstein, who purchased "The Advocate" in 1975, to banned reporting on people whose activities he considered "deleterious to the cause", including Kight. Goodstein went so far as to send then cub reporter Randy Shilts to do an "expose" on Kight.  Shilts found no basis for a negative article and refused, eventually leaving the magazine.
 * In 1975 he founded the Stonewall Democratic Club
 * 1978 joined his partner Roy Zucheran
 * In the early 1980s Kight was appointed a member of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, on which he served for twenty years, retiring in 2002
 * One of his final projects was to have a corner in West Hollywood designated the Matthew Shepard Memorial Triangle

The Advocate

 * He cofounded the Los Angeles branch of an early gay activism organization, the Gay Liberation Front, as well as the Stonewall Democratic Club; he organized the Christopher Street West parade, Los Angeles's gay pride parade; and, with fellow activists Don Kilhefner and John Platania, he opened the Gay Community Services Center, now the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
 * In July 2002, Kight retired from Los Angeles County's Human Relations Commission.
 * Three days before his death he donated the Morris Kight Collection of memorabilia to the One Institute and Archives.

Gay and Lesbian - Political Action and Support Groups

 * In 1969, he and several others launched the Gay Liberation Front
 * In 1971, he co-founded the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center, the first and largest such center in the world.
 * He co-created Los Angeles' gay pride march, the Christopher Street West Parade, in 1970.
 * And, was a founder of California Stonewall Democrats.
 * Kight is survived by his partner of 25 years, Roy Zucheran; two daughters, Carol Kight-Fyfe of California and Angela Bonin of Texas; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
 * Friends of Kight have planted a magnolia tree in his memory in one of his favorite parks the Matthew Shepard Triangle.

Worker's World

 * Kight was the founder of the Gay Liberation Front in 1968.
 * He also organized the first Gay Pride march in Los Angeles in April 1971.
 * The same year, he helped found the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center-the first in the United States.
 * quote: The first Christopher Street West was a march of 1,500 people, not a parade. Back in 1970, I received a letter from a gay activist in New York saying we're going to hold a Gay Pride march in New York, what are you going to do in L.A.?

Gay Today

 * I recall you pointing to where you'd organized a demonstration against Dow Chemical in 1967 because of its manufacture of Agent Orange
 * quote: I am, and was, a Gandhian Pacifist
 * quote: I dislike, and reject the term. Its too heterosexist, and ditto for lover and significant other that could apply as well to a cat or dog. Domestic Partner, while terribly important sounds legalese. Companion, I love, and use to describe mine.
 * q: Special training in public administration—I am a graduate.
 * On Monday, November 16, 1998, the City Council of West Hollywood— some call it "the gay city"—presented you a Lifetime Achievement Award

Gay.com

 * founded the Gay Liberation Front in 1969
 * From the late 1960's to the early 1970's, Kight went on to launch the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, the Stonewall Democratic Club and Christopher Street West
 * a laborite, a civil rights advocate, a civil libertarian, and an advocate for oppressed people

Growing up Before Stonewall

 * degree in personnel administration and public administration (p22)
 * yard sales every six months - liberace (p23)
 * Ghandian pacifist (p 31)

LGBT Studies invitation
I've been thinking that the LGBT community on Wikipedia is pretty .. uninvolved. At least, from my perusing of the LGBT Studies page and the LGBT Notice Board page, there's been relatively little action lately.

So my thought was to find users that identify as LGBT through looking at:
 * people that have included MiraLuka's Gay Userbox
 * people that have included one of the other templates in MiraLuka's list
 * people that have included themselves as members of Gay Wikipedians
 * any other ways I'm missing?

With that list in hand, I was thinking of coming up with an "invitation box" - a template sort of thing that would be fairly generic, with it's main purpose being to alert the user of the existence LGBT Studies page and to invite them to participate in the activities there.

As someone who has (fairly) recently been active in the project, or the LGBT Notice Board, I thought I'd solicit your advice in the creation of said invitation. Any input?

Discussion / Input
Add your thoughts here...


 * Thanks for the invitation. However, I do not know that receiving that particular invitation box is the best way to engage people. I responded now because of the apparently personal nature of your message. But the box would have not have had the same effect. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I appreciate your concern - this is certainly an area that could use more attention since even when information is compiled it has a tendency to erode if not monitored. Haiduc 01:55, 20 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I put the same question on 10 people's talk pages - those who had most recently made changes to the LGBT Noticeboard or to the WikiProject LGBT Studies page.
 * Do you think a more personal version of the above would be better? Maybe putting their name at the top?  Or the specific link for where I found their name?
 * I guess my goal is to get the WikiProject LGBT Studies community more active in the LGBT pages. For instance, (as you know) we've recently gotten an InfoBox together.  I'm pretty sure, though, it hasn't propogated out to the pages in Wikipedia - a quick look shows 18 pages have it transcluded, while Google shows that 127,000 pages on Wikipedia have one or more of the words "gay", "queer", "lesbian", or "lgbt".  Of course, some of those are talk or user pages.  But still! -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs)


 * The problem with this approach is that it devolves responsibility onto a bunch of people busy with their own edits, and does not provide direction. It is too vague. If you really want to galvanize action I think you will need to select a particular topic, identify problems, and then call upon particular people to help resolve them. A goal-oriented mini-project kind of approach, with a definite beginning, middle and end. Tough. Perhaps the reason Wikipedia is so successful is that it lends itself so well to an individual, non-directed approach to the work, which also promotes a kind of natural democracy. Good luck, let me know if you need help with anything in particular. Haiduc 16:26, 20 August 2006 (UTC)


 * The idea is good, but the project is not limited to LGBT folks, I'd hate to give that impression. Davodd 03:57, 20 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Good point! I added "or are interested in Wikipedia's LGBT related pages".  Do you think that's enough? SatyrTN (talk | contribs)

Current Status of Invitations
I've decided to go ahead and "send out" the invitations. For my own records, the current (29 August 2006) "membership" numbers are: