AB101 Veto Riot: GLBT History Museum Program

At the height of the AIDS crisis and in the midst of a wave of queer militancy in the early 1990s, California Governor Pete Wilson vetoed AB101, a statewide gay and lesbian employment rights bill, on September 29, 1991. In response, angry demonstrators took to the streets around the state.

In San Francisco, nearly 10,000 people rallied on Castro Street on September 30, 1991, the day after the veto. Thousands then marched to the California State Building on Van Ness Avenue—and with emotions running high, continued to the Old State Building in Civic Center. Outnumbered, San Francisco and California State police retreated as a full-scale riot broke out, with protesters smashing windows, spray-painting walls and setting the building aflame.

Known as the AB101 Veto Riot, the clash was the most recent of the three queer riots that have taken place in the history of the city, following the Compton's Cafeteria Riot of 1966 and the White Night Riot of 1979. It may qualify as the last time that GLBT people rioted anywhere in the world. (Protests in Los Angeles continued for a week after the veto, but research remains to be done to determine if any of the demonstrations ranked as a riot.)

To mark the 20th anniversary of the 1991 riot in San Francisco, the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco's Castro District featured a special program on the evening of Thursday, September 29, 2011. Moderated by veteran activist Laura Thomas, the program included a living-history panel with Lito Sandoval and Ingrid Nelson offering inside stories about organizing the veto protest and eyewitness accounts of the uprising in the streets.

Also taking part was contemporary composer Bob Ostertag, whose piece "All the Rage" for the Kronos Quartet includes sound recorded at the riot, and filmmaker Steve Elkins, director of "All the Rage: Organizing the AB101 Veto Riot," a short about the riot shown at the program. (Their copyrighted work is included with their permission in the video of the program posted here; all rights reserved.)

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The GLBT History Museum
www.glbthistory.org/museum

Steve Elkins & Candela Films
http://candelafilms.wordpress.com/video/

Bob Ostertag & "All the Rage"
www.bobostertag.org

Category:

Education

Tags:

• All the Rage
• composition
• AB101
• veto
• riot
• protest
• demonstration
• Steve Elkins
• Bob Ostertag
• Laura Thomas
• history
• museum
• glbt
• lgbt
• queer
• gay
• lesbian
• bisexual
• transgender
• panel
• discussion
• Pete Wilson
• San Francisco
• Kronos Quartet
• string quartet
• September
• 1991

[eddy909100]

The first guy in the leather coat being interviewed is smoking HOT!!