Everyday LGBTQ Life
SF State’s student newspapers, like their counterparts elsewhere, addressed more than just the political and cultural topics addressed in previous sections; they also can be used to gain insights into what it was like to live as an LGBTQ college or university student in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Roommate advertisements offer tantalizing clues. In 1969, a “hip student, gay, 20,” placed an ad in the Berkeley Barb to share a studio apartment “near SF STATE & beach” with the “same.”[1] In 1970, a “liberal S.F. State couple” advertised in the Barb for a “bi girl.”[2] In 1972, a “clean,” “quiet,” and “responsible” SF State student advertised in the gay-oriented Bay Area Reporter in search of a room or apartment-share.[3] In 1973, “Judi” used the Phoenix to find a “female or gay male” roommate, presumably willing to live with anyone but a straight man.[4] In a sign of changing sexual mores, the Phoenix published multiple ads for “straight male” roommates in 1972 and 1973; in earlier years this preference would have been presumed rather than publicized.[5] In 1973, “Gloria” advertised in the Phoenix for a “straight female” to join her in a double occupancy luxury hotel room for a week in Acapulco.[6] A 1974 ad in the Phoenix sought “members” for a “co-ed” Donner Lake “gay ski cabin.”[7]
In 1972, the Phoenix reported on some of the problems that students encountered in shared housing, revealing in the process the existence of students with preferences for or problems with kink. According to “Linda,” when she came home early one day, “My roommate was in the bedroom, dressed in this crazy black leather outfit. She was whipping this other girl who was lying on the bed. I screamed at her to stop. But the girl on the bed looked up at me and said that she hadn’t reached orgasm yet.” Linda moved out the next day. The article also shared the story of “Gary and Jack,” who had been roommates for two years and were “the best of friends” until “a third male came into the scene.” According to the Phoenix, “Suddenly Jack and the third boy, Francis, were in a homosexual relationship.” Gary explained, “It’s really weird…. I’m not a homosexual, but I’ve been pretty jealous about Francis. Jack and I have been through a lot together, and this Francis is interfering.”[8]
The Phoenix’s long-running advice column, authored by Student Health Center Director Eugene Bossi, featured a large number of questions about sexual matters and a smaller set about LGBTQ topics. In 1972, “Dr. Bossi’s Bag” featured the query of a student who had “accidentally” discovered that his male roommate “has the compulsion to frequently masturbate while dressed in women’s clothes.” The letter writer was “confused” because “all other behavior of his appears to be strongly heterosexual,” so the student wanted to know “whether this practice is indicative of heterosexual or homosexual behavior.” Bossi responded by defining, and distinguishing among, homosexuality, transsexualism, transvestism, and fetishism. Using his definitions, Bossi deduced that the roommate was “exhibiting fetishism associated with transvestism,” which he said was “associated predominately with heterosexuality.”[9]
In 1973, Dr. Bossi was asked about the “frequency of hermaphroditism” and the issue of whether “this type of person” was “capable of having sex with men and/or women.” Bossi’s response described “a complex combination of congenital anomalies perhaps best classified under the general heading of gonadal dysgenesis.” After describing several of these “anomalies,” Bossi asserted (misleadingly) that “in none” was “complete sexual functioning as we know it (intercourse, orgasm, reproduction) possible.” He then clarified that “those individuals with fairly normal external female genitalia or those who have external female genitalia constructed by plastic surgery may be capable of full sexual intercourse” but not reproduction.” “In short,” Dr. Bossi concluded, “the fusion of Hermes to Aphrodite produces a genetic can of worms.” (For that, Bossi could have been diagnosed with a serious case of mixed metaphors.”)[10]
Gender and sexual non-conformity generated an array of other comments in the Phoenix. In 1970, the student paper published the Poetry Center’s poem of the week, O. Selzer’s “Hardhat Haikus.” Narrated from the perspective of a parent concerned about her son’s long hair, one haiku stanza exclaimed: “Hitler would gas them / Shag-nasty motherfuckers / Queer commie hippies!”[11] A 1971 report on SF State’s two-day activities fair quoted the lamentation of Sue, who declared, “There’s one foxy guy down at the Gay Lib booth, and I wish he wasn’t gay.”[12] In 1972, the Phoenix reported that the annual May Fair would feature a contest for “most outrageous Fair Queen,” noting that it was “open to both men and women.”[13] In 1973, the Phoenix published a story about a new fashion trend: “pierced ears for men.” One woman who worked at Earring House said of her male clients, “Most of them are gay, but we pierce all types.” A straight male campus vendor who had gotten his left ear pierced explained that he chose that ear because he had heard that “gay people are supposed to pierce their right ear, and bisexual men pierce both.” A first-year male student who had gotten his left ear pierced at the Stonestown Mall noted that his choice had “nothing to do with sexual persuasion.” “I sleep on my right side,” he explained.[14] In 1974, the Phoenix reported on the discrimination that senior Art major Nicholas Quirarte had experienced at the campus bookstore, which had refused him entry because he was carrying a “large and expensive leather purse.” A female Phoenix staffer was allowed to enter the store moments later, leading Quirarte to claim that the store had discriminated against him on the basis of sex. The store claimed that it was attempting to reduce theft and noted that it provided lockers for customers to store their valuables. Quirarte complained first to the store manager and then to one of the university president’s aides, who insisted that the administration had no control over bookstore operations.[15]
For students in need of counseling, information, and support on LGBTQ issues, new options emerged in the early 1970s. In 1972, Associated Students established the Educational and Referral Organization for Sexuality (EROS), which described itself as a counseling and referral service for sexuality and a source of information on birth control, venereal disease, homosexuality, abortion, and other sex-related topics.[16] In 1973, Phoenix columnist Paul Thiele thought he was being funny when he mentioned that “there is no truth to the rumor that the EROS sex advice center is planning to expand with a gay hotline called ‘The Swishboard.’”[17] Also in 1973, Rabbi Benjamin Segal hosted a trio of seminars on sexuality in Judaism at Hillel; the topics covered included “masturbation, contraception, pre- and extra-marital sex, abortion, marriage, and sexual identity.”[18] In 1974, an advertisement for the Student Health Service noted that its Human Sexuality Center provided advising on “venereal disease, homosexuality, genetics, pregnancy, and feminine hygiene.[19] Around the same time, an article about SF State Women’s Center’s noted that it had “a referral system for the San Francisco Area on employment for women, birth control problems, gay organizations, and other women’s groups."[20]
[1] Classified advertisement, Berkeley Barb, 12 Sept. 1969, 15.
[2] Classified advertisements, Berkeley Barb, 11 Dec. 1970, 19.
[3] Classified advertisement, Bay Area Reporter, 1 Mar. 1972, 39.
[4] Classified advertisement, “Room-mate Wanted, Female or Gay Male,” Phoenix, 8 Nov. 1973, 16; Classified advertisement, “Room-mate Wanted, Female or Gay Male,” Phoenix, 6 Dec. 1973, 13.
[5] Classified advertisement, “Apartment to Share with Straight Male,” Phoenix, 23 Mar. 1972, 5; Classified advertisement, “Free Living Accommodations for Responsible Straight Male,” Phoenix, 10 May 1973, 12; Classified advertisement, “Free Living Accommodations for Responsible Straight Male Student,” Phoenix, 20 Sept. 1973, 10.
[6] Classified advertisement, “Want Straight Female,” Phoenix, 3 May 1973, 16.
[7] Classified advertisement, “Gay Ski Cabin,” Phoenix, 24 Oct. 1974, 4.
[8] “Finding a Roommate—A Universal Problem,” Phoenix, 16 Mar. 1972, 1, 6.
[9] “Dr. Bossi’s Bag,” Phoenix, 2 Mar. 1972, 2.
[10] “Dr. Bossi’s Bag: Two Sexes Better Than One?,” Phoenix, 12 Apr. 1973, 2.
[11] Poetry: O. Selzer, “Hardhat Haikus,” Phoenix, 8 Oct. 1970, 3.
[12] David Perlman, “Faire Booths: From Balls to Souls,” Phoenix, 28 Oct. 1971, 8.
[13] “May Fair Starts Monday,” Phoenix, 27 Apr. 1972, 9.
[14] Alison Strobel, “Like Pirates; Pierced Ears for Men,” Phoenix, 29 Mar. 1973, 4. For a reference to an SF State straight male student who wore makeup, see Susan Berman, “The Cosmetic Giggle,” San Francisco Examiner, 28 July 1974, 22-24.
[15] “Purses Nixed by Bookstore,” Phoenix, 7 Feb. 1974, 1.
[16] Rick Lee, “EROS, Tutors, Child Care Offered,” Phoenix, 13 Apr. 1972, 8; “Eros Offers Sex Advice,” Phoenix, 26 Oct. 1972, 3. See also “Coming Events,” Phoenix, 21 Sept. 1972, 8.
[17] Paul Thiele, “Universitems: Greatest Hits,” Phoenix, 10 May 1973, 2.
[18] “Announcements,” Phoenix, 1 Mar. 1973, 5.
[19] Announcement, “Health Service,” Phoenix, 28 Mar. 1974, 12.
[20] Kim Baldwin, “Women’s Center: A Place for Caring,” Phoenix, 19 Sept. 1974, 4.
