By Eduardo Morales, Ph.D.–
The 1981 National Tour of the SF Gay Men’s Chorus
For me and others who were also present, this was a very memorable, transformative tour. It occurred for a two-week period during June 1981, just three years after the chorus was founded in the fall of 1978. It was early in 1979 that I joined the chorus, thinking this was a very creative and effective way to incorporate the performing arts as part of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. Imagine being in a gay men’s chorus and singing classical and popular music that often had double meaning.
As the chorus evolved and matured, discussions concerning a then-envisioned national tour throughout the U.S. became a prominent goal. Interestingly, we learned that one member of the chorus owned the dress that Jeanette MacDonald used in the 1936 movie San Francisco. Before the tour, we were to sing at St. Ignatius Church with a program appropriate for a place of worship. The Jesuits later refused to host us, which resulted in legal action and the chorus receiving damages in a civil suit. This provides some sense of what the political-social climate was like at the time.
Three chorus members actually mortgaged their homes to finance the first national tour. The kickoff concert was at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on June 4, 1981. Our tour group was so large that United Airlines had to schedule two planes for each of our flight stops to transport us to the various cities. They included Dallas; Minneapolis; and Lincoln, Nebraska, where we discovered there were two openly identified LGBTQ+ elected officials on the local city council. A church in Lincoln opened its doors and fed us with a wonderful welcome dinner with matching place settings. While at Lincoln, the local television station refused to have part of the SF Gay Men’s Chorus sing on television unless we dropped the word “gay.” This was previously scheduled and registered with the FCC, so their demand was a violation of FCC regulations; it led to a controversy with media headlines throughout the U.S. The mayor of Lincoln came to apologize and welcomed us to his city.
We then went on to sing at the Opera House in Boston and then at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. While in D.C. we gathered within the Jefferson Memorial and sang “The Testament of Freedom” with words by Thomas Jefferson and music by Randall Thompson. The Kennedy Center Concert was sent as a live feed to SF Bay Area news media for simulcast broadcasting. This concert was given much acclaim by the respected music critic David Hume.
We then sang at the Seattle Opera House before returning by plane to San Francisco, where several buses sent us to a crowd of thousands that greeted and welcomed us home on Castro and 18th Streets. At our triumphant final performance with a sold-out audience at Davies Symphony Hall during Pride Week, we came on stage for our portion of the concert and the audience roared with more than a 20-minute standing ovation as gratitude for completing this historical tour.
Then Mayor Dianne Feinstein gave us the key to city, which was a historical first for the granting of this award to residents of San Francisco. On Pride Day that year, we marched down Market Street singing the “Testament of Freedom” with thousands of onlookers cheering and applauding us.
This national tour launched countless LGBTQ+ choruses throughout the U.S. and the world and inspired the creation of GALA (The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses).
AIDS Quilt of the NAMES Project
The AIDS Quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 1987. It was in a space larger than a football field and that included 1,920 panels of the quilt. The project was a source of healing for many who lost loved ones as a result of HIV/AIDS. Ironically, as I looked up across the Potomac River, I could see Arlington Cemetery in Virginia honoring the fallen soldiers who defended our country.
Over half a million people visited the quilt that weekend. This overwhelming response led to a four-month, 20-city national tour for the quilt in the spring and summer of 1988 with 9,000 volunteers. They helped to move and display the quilt throughout the nation. Over 6,000 panels were added during this time, tripling its size by the end of the tour. During October of 1988, 8,288 panels were displayed on The Ellipse in front of the White House. Seeing the quilt then and now is a powerful, emotional, and unforgettable experience.
Eduardo Morales, PhD, is one of the founders of AGUILAS, where he serves as Executive Director. He is also a Professor Emeritus and retired Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Alliant International University and is the current Past President of the National Latinx Psychological Association.
Published on July 14, 2022
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