'The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle' Book Talk, "Introduction", Corey Roskin and Angela Brinskele, 2015/10/18
[caption: Historian Lillian Faderman, The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Presented by the City of West Hollywood, West Hollywood Library & June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives]
[caption: Corey Roskin, Social Services Specialist, City of West Hollywood]
[caption: Kyla Wilkenfeld, ASL Interpreter]
Roskin: My name is Corey Roskin and I work for the City of West Hollywood and Social Services. Thank you all for being here. Angela likes to say that I am an honorary lesbian, maybe because I can sing all the lyrics to Cris Williamson’s The Changer and the Changed album, so I think that kind of qualifies. But anyway, we are thrilled to have you here, and I want to mention that one of our council members is here, John Domeco, and we are thrilled to have him here. [applause] “Yeah!” And we get to have these events because of the support of our city council in this great space. And I want to also mention that Melissa McCollum is here from the West Hollywood Library; she is our library manager and she has also helped to cosponsor a lot of the literary events that we are doing and Melissa is somewhere [points] there she is! [applause] And I just saw Elizabeth Savage come in, and Elizabeth is the director of our human services division in the City of West Hollywood. And she also helped to make this happen so, “Yeah!” [applause]
Angela’s going to be the main speaker before Lillian but I am just going to mention really quickly–in January we are going to have a couple of events here. We are going to have a screening of the movie Liz in September which is based on the play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove and we are hoping to have some special guests here and I am working with Angela on that. I can’t remember the date exactly but it’s mid–January on a Sunday, maybe the 15th? And at the end of January, I think it’s the 30th, we are going to have a special event in tribute to Jeanne Córdova who with us today. [applause] And we’ll have some very special guests doing some readings and presentations and so forth. So anyway, I am going to bring Angela up here for the main introduction. Angela Brinskele with the Mazer.
[caption: Angela Brinskele, Director of Communications, June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives]
Brinskele: Thanks, Corey. First, I want to welcome everybody, thanks for coming today. It’s a nice day but it’s not so nice to keep you all away. Please do support the June Mazer Lesbian Archives. We’ve been collecting, protecting, and preserving lesbian and feminist history for 33 years now. [applause] And we really are, we don’t just say this, we really are one of the largest archives in the world that does that. There’s only a handful and we’re the only one on the west coast too.
I really want to thank the city of West Hollywood. And if you don’t come here very often I want to encourage you to come here more, it’s a great city. The city council and the city employees are phenomenal people and you will like them. So please come more often and you can come to great events like this and then go out and have fun after, because there are lots of places to go eat and have a good time. We really appreciate them, they support us in big ways, and they have since we’ve been in the Werle building right down the street since 1989.
There was a story I wanted to tell you recently regarding Lillian Faderman. Now the way I would introduce Lillian Faderman and often due to college classes that I talk to and researchers who come to the archives is that this is the leading scholar in the world on lesbian history. [applause] And that is a phenomenal feat in itself but she’s even so much more than that as you will see after she talks about her book. She’s a historian, she’s so many other things, and you’ll see that when she comes up to speak.
I just want to tell a quick story that recently, I was asked to speak somewhere and it was on a radio show, does anybody know AirTalk with Larry Mantle? And they called me and asked me if I’d go and speak on that show and it’s in Pasadena and I live right near there so I said, “Of course!” And then they called me about a week later and they said, “You know what, Lillian got back to us, so we don’t need you on the show anymore.” [laughs] And I felt like I’d won an Oscar nomination because I was going to replace Lillian Faderman talking about this history. For me, it doesn’t get any better than that.
[laughter]
So let me read you just a few quotes about her new book, which has gotten phenomenal reviews. I don’t know if anybody has seen some of the reviews in the New York Book Review or The Economist. So let me just read a few things, since they talk about her book and her much better than I would:
“To read her is like viewing the AIDS quilt: which overwhelms the viewer with care taken in each of its numberless panels. A revolutionary would be lucky to stand in a light so steady, so searching, and so sure.”
The Economist said about her book, “The most comprehensive history to date of America Gay Rights Movement. Ms. Faderman has aptly drawn the map that future historians of the struggle will use to chart their courses.”
So without further adieu, please welcome Lillian Faderman.
[applause]
[END OF VIDEO]
Interviewee: Corey Roskin
Interviewee: Angela Brinskele
Interviewer: None
Transcriber: Rachel W.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: October 18, 2015
Release Date: October 25, 2015
Location: City Council Chambers in West Hollywood, California
Interview Length: 00:05:55