Magazine


 2011 Vanguard Revisited Magazine

About the Magazine: 
This magazine resuscitates the history of the 1960s queer youth organization Vanguard and explores the ways in which its history is embodied in the present.

Tenderloin street youth founded Vanguard in 1966. They protested police harassment, picketed discriminatory businesses, and held same-sex dances in church halls. They also produced a blunt and honest magazine about poverty and queer politics; drug use and sex work; isolation and loneliness; artistic expression; and faith and queer theology.

Working with a variety of homeless youth services organizations, program coordinators Joey Plaster and Pastor Megan Rohrer presented the history of Vanguard to today’s queer youth. We then asked them to respond by submitting stories, art, and poetry “in conversation” with original 1960s essays, or touching on similar themes.

This magazine presents their writings along with reprints from the Vanguard Magazine of the 1960s. These materials are supplemented with archival materials, a historical narrative, and writings from urban ministers and youth organizers. Working over a period of three months with a group of youth at Larkin Street Youth Services, we sought to create a magazine that spoke to their expressed desire to “enlighten youth, celebrate the queer history of the Tenderloin, and create a voice for the unheard.”

The magazine is focused on the themes of:
Loneliness and Community, Poverty and Social Stigma, Drug Use and Sex Work, Sexuality and Gender, Mental Health and Queer Theology

Featured in the magazine are selections from the original Vanguard, oral history excerpts, original art, poetry and essays written by contemporary queer homeless youth in San Francisco's Tenderloin.


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Published Writings Include:  2011 Vanguard Revisited Magazine
Prejudice by JP Marat: 1966
Dis/RESPECT by Mia Tu Mutch: 2011
Tenderloin Transexual: 1967
Summary of the Tenderloin Problem: 1967
A (Brief) History of Vanguard by Joey Plaster: 2011
30 Types of Cereal by Clay Johnson: 2011
Why I'm Not a Billboard for HIV... and I'm Positive: 2011
Address to the People, Open Letter to the Fags by Gotti: 2011
Loneliness in the Tenderloin by the Rev. Ray Broshears:  1967
Ask Horny Horace: 1967
Tenderloin in the Loneliness by the Rev. Megan Rohrer: 2011
People Power by Mark Miller:  1967
People Power Continued by Juan A.Cerna-Aviles: 2011
What I Don't Like About San Francisco by A.E.: 2011
These streets ain't her home (musings on the experiences of an Intersexed girl's life in the Tenderloin) by Amy Zubreski: 2011
Camp Stamp: 1967
Penalties for Sex Offenses in the U.S.: 1967
Indy Boy romance... and the meth mistress by Gotti: 2011
Interview with "Mr. Fuck the World" by Gotti: 2011
Street Prophets Prediction: 1967
For a Freer Country by Taylor Brown: 2011
Central City, Profile of Despair by Mark Forrester: c. 1966
Pt. 2 Profile of Desperation by Beck: 2011
Is There Life On This Planet by Keith:  c. 1967
Cuddle up a little closer by K. St. Clare


Back Cover
Poems by:
Mark Miller: 1966
Marc Mercado: 2011
Anonymous Sex Workers: 1966 & 2011
Paul Mariah: 1967
Sharon Dupree: c.1966
Miss Shari Kenyon: 1966
Devyn Pleasants: 2011
Vinnie: 2011
Marc Anthony Holcomb II, aka Afa Kasi: 2011
Zack Smith: 2011
Adrian Ravarour: 1967
Glide Happening: 1967
p.c.t.: 2011
agit-free: 1967

Art By: 
Jose Osario, Gotti, the Rev. Megan Rohrer and the original Vanguard


Oral History and Archival Excerpts from:
Original Vanguard members: Joel Roberts, Adrian Ravarour, J.P. Marat
1960's Ministers and Glide Interns: the Rev. Larry Mamiya, Bishop Michael Itkin

Special thanks to the archives that provided us with materials including: the GLBT Historical Society and the ELCA Region 2 Archive