Finding aid to the Steven F. Dansky papers, 1968-2016 Coll2015-014
Kyle Morgan
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
© 2015
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007
askone@usc.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Steven F. Dansky papers
creator:
Dansky, Steven
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2015-014
Physical Description:
0.8 Linear Feet
2 boxes.
Date (inclusive): 1968-2016
Abstract: Clippings, writings, periodicals, correspondence, exhibit records, marriage records, photographs, and promotional materials
of Steven F. Dansky, 1968-2016. Dansky is a writer, photographer, videographer, and activist, and was an initial member of
the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in New York City. The collection also includes photographs and video interviews from Dansky's
project, "Outspoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers."
Biographical / Historical
For more than a half-century from the 1960s through the early 21st century, Steven F. Dansky has been a political activist,
writer, and photographer. He has been referenced as such, particularly as a figure within the modern LGBT movement, continuously
from the formative era to the present—from The Gay Militants (1971); Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation (1971); to Victory:
The Triumphant Gay Revolution (2012); Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States
since World War II (2013); and Historical Dictionary of the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movements (2013).
During the early 1960s while still a teenager, he was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) on the campus
of the City College of New York (CCNY), and he was an activist against the War in Vietnam with several organizations. During
the late 1960s on New York City's Lower Eastside, he published two mimeographed, bilingual newsletters (Peace/La Paz and Basta),
which he hawked on the street for a penny. With others, he established the I-Kon Bookstore on East 4th Street that published
I-Kon, an avant-garde, art and political magazine; sold radical books, magazines, and posters; and hosted monthly poetry readings.
He was a reporter for the New York Free Press, writing articles on such topics as the Black Panther Party and community control
of public schools.
After the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969, he joined the legendary Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and was active in various groups
affiliated with GLF including, Femmes Against Sexism and the Flaming Faggots. He worked in the collective that published Come
Out! newspaper, and he was the publisher/editor of a journal with essays and poetry titled, Faggotry. When his articles, "Hey
Man" (Gay Flames, Come Out!, and RAT) and "God, Freud, Daddy and Us Faggots" (Faggotry) appeared, he became recognized pro-feminist.
Jill Johnston wrote about his writing in The Village Voice and in her collection of essays, Admission Accomplished: The Lesbian
Nation Years, 1970-75 (1998), designating him "an early gay polemicist."
During the 1970s, he was a founder of the Effeminist movement that published Double-F: A Magazine of Effeminism, and he co-authored,
"The Effeminist Manifesto," with John Knoebel and Kenneth Pitchford, considered "one of the most enduring documents to emerge
from the modern gay liberation movement" (The Gay Rights Movement, 2003) and "unique in the history of lesbian and gay politics"
(We Are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics, 1997).
Dansky went to the University of New York, Hunter College, earning a BA in English Literature and Art History. From 1983 to
1991, he was a volunteer with Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), served as a consultant to Body Positive, and was a group therapist
for AIDS Center of Queens County (ACQC). His chronicle of caregiving, "Carry me When You Go Forth," was published in the GMHC
Training Manual. He returned to graduate school at Hunter College School of Social Work, getting a Master's degree in social
work (MSW) and received post-graduate training at the Institute for Human Identity.
From 1990 to 2001, he had a psychotherapy practice, specializing in those with HIV infection and those affected by it. He
was a community based and hospital administrator overseeing HIV/AIDS programs in the underserved communities of New York—East
New York; Harlem; Jamaica; and the South Bronx. He wrote two books: Now Dare Everything: Tales of HIV-Related Psychotherapy
(1994) and Nobody's Children: Orphans of the HIV Epidemic (1997).
From 2002-2004 in Albany, New York, he joined Choices, a psychotherapy practice in Albany, New York, that provides counseling
to an exclusively transgender population; and he was a psychotherapist in pediatric oncology at the Children's Hospital, Albany
Medical Center; Instructor of Pediatrics, Albany Medical College; Guest Lecturer, State University of New York, Albany.
From 2009 to the present, he pursued a life-long interest in photography, and his work has been exhibited at juried exhibitions
and galleries in Massachusetts, New York, and Las Vegas. His work is in the permanent collection of The Smith Center for Performing
Arts, Las Vegas. A curatorial project, "Gay Liberation Front (1969-1971): A 40th Anniversary Retrospective," was shown at
the LGBT Center, New York (2009). A monograph, "18b: The Aerosol Paintings of Las Vegas" was published in LensWork (2013),
it and was a touring exhibition at three branches of the Clark County Library District (2013-2014). His graphic plate, "Effeminate,"
was published in Art & Queer Culture (2013).
He started Christopher Street Press, an independent publishing company in 2010 with a list that includes The Come Out! Reader
(2013); Hot August Night/1970: The Forgotten LGBT Riot (2012); On Bearing Witness: Images & Reflections of the LGBT Movement
(1969-1971) (2010).
From 2009 to 2015, he has been a frequent contributor to the Gay and Lesbian Review, writing essays on everything from Oscar
Wilde to Robert Mapplethorpe, from Mahatma Gandhi to Malcolm X, from the persistence of camp and beefcake to art and queer
culture. His anthologized essays include "The Effeminist Moment," in Smash the Church, Smash the State!: The Early Years of
Gay Liberation (2009) and "On Anger: The Months After the Stonewall Rebellion," in After Homosexual: The Legacies of Gay Liberation
(2013). "Broken Gender," a short story was published in Gertrude: A Journal of Voice and Vision (2007).
In 2013, he started OUTSpoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers (initially co-founded with John Knoebel), a nonprofit venture
to preserve the narratives of our forbearers. The project resides on a dedicated website http://www.outspoken-lgbtq.org that
provides access to the entire collection of videotaped interviews from coast-to-coast from rural communities to urban epicenters,
from a hospice bed to a senior retirement community, and globally via Skype to Bangkok, Buenos Aires, and Melbourne.
Dansky has spoken across the country on the LGBT movement, a partial list includes, "Telling Our Stories," Diversionary Theater,
San Diego (2015); "Revisiting 'The Effeminist Manifesto,'" Maryland Institute of Art (2013); "Hot August Night: The Forgotten
LGBT Riot," The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, New York (2012), and the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community
Center, Kingston, NY, (2012); "On Bearing Witness," Sahara Library, Las Vegas (2009); "The Gay Liberation Front Alive!," New
York Public Library (2009); "Smash the Church, Smash the State," San Francisco Main Public Library (2009).
In 2004 as a marriage equality activist, he and Barry Safran were married in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on the first day,
in the first state, of marriage equality in the United States.
Source: [Box 1, Folder 19] Steven F. Dansky Papers, Coll2015-014.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to researchers. The digital video interviews from Dansky's Outspoken project are available for viewing
in the Archives' reading room.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Transferred from the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Albany Libraries.
Deed of gift by Steven F. Dansky, 2015. The Tom Ashe New York gay pride photographs were donated by Allen Young, 2016.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder #, or item name] Steven F. Dansky Papers, Coll2015-014, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Kyle Morgan, 2015.
Content Description
Clippings, writings, periodicals, correspondence, exhibit records, marriage records, photographs, and promotional materials
of Steven F. Dansky, 1968-2015. The materials primarily document Dansky's writings, exhibits, and publications. The collection
also includes photographs and video interviews from Dansky's project, "Outspoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers."
Arrangement
The collection is divided into two series: (Series 1) Personal papers and (Series 2) Outspoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers.
Both series are arranged alphabetically.
Separated Materials
DVDs separated to the ONE audiovisual collection
"18b: Aerosol Paintings of Las Vegas," KNPR interview with Steven Dansky. 2013.
Branson, M.L. interview by Steven Dansky regarding the Gay Liberation Front. February 13, 2008.
"Christopher Street Press Catalog 2013," reading and video by Steven F. Dansky, 2013.
"Faces – Portraits by Steven F. Dansky." Dansky curator and photographer of this Gay Liberation Front photograph exhibit.
"Gay Liberation Front Alive!" at the New York Public Library, video by Steven F. Dansky, 2013.
"Gay Liberation Front (1969-1971): 40th Anniversary Retrospective" at the Campbell Soudy Gallery, LGBT Community Center, New
York. Video by Steven F. Dansky, 2012.
"In Public – Studies from the Street." Video by Steven F. Dansky (with video footage by Kenneth Kit Lamug), 2013.
"LensWork Extended 101." Extended portfolios with audio interviews of Bret Culp, Steven Dansky, Rafael Goldchain, Robert Hecht,
Michael Jackson, Brian Killigrew, Chris Rauschenberg, and George Tice. LensWork Publishing, 2012.
"On Bearing Witness: Images & Reflections of the LGBT Movement (1969-1971)" lecture at Sahara West Branch, Clark County Library
District, Las Vegas, Nevada on June 7, 2010. Video by Steven F. Dansky (with video footage by Kenneth Kit Lamug), 2012.
Separated to the ONE periodical collection
Come Out!, 1969-1972 (photocopies of original).
Community, the monthly news journal of the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council, Inc., September 2004.
Faggotry, 1972.
The Flaming Faggots, 1972.
Gay, v.2, no.40, December 21, 1970.
The Gay & Lesbian Review, 9 issues, 2009-2013.
Gertrude, 2006.
Notes on Gay Males in Consciousness Raising, Summer 1971.
Out Week, no.1, June 26, 1989.
Q Vegas, June 2010.
Separated to the ONE pamphlets collection
On our Own: Gay Men in Consciousness-Raising Groups, 1970.
Separated to the ONE library
Pitchford, Kenneth. The Contraband Poems. New York: Templar Press, 1976.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Gay liberation movement
Gay men's writings
Gay photographers
Box 1, Folder 1
Articles written by, about, or with images of Dansky
1970-2010
Scope and Contents
Articles written by Dansky include "The Look of Liberation," "Come Out!'s Historic 3-Year Run," "Chronicles of an Activist
Photographer," "The Visible Vidal," "Mapplethorpe's Muse," "The Politics of Focus," "Love Songs of Gandhi and Malcolm X,"
"Of Beefcake and Beauty Queens," and "On the Persistence of Camp,"
The Gay & Lesbian Review (2009-2013). Other articles written by Dansky include "Alice Crimmins vs. The Brotherhood," "Strange Bedfellows: The Right
and Left Against Jane Alpert," and "Motherhood, Monogamy and Love,"
The Soho Weekly News (1975); as well as "Hey Man,"
Gay Flames and
Come Out! (1970); "Our Critical Direction,"
Community (2004); and "Broken Gender,"
Gertrude (2006). Includes the articles "40 years after Stonewall" interview of Dansky (2009); "Vegas resident Steven F. Dansky presents
photo exhibit and lecture,"
Q Vegas (2010); and images of Dansky in
Out Week, no.1 (1989) and
Gay, v.2, no.40 (1970).
Box 1, Folder 2
Basta Enough, no.10, editor Dansky
May 1969
Box 1, Folder 19
Biographical information
2015
Box 1, Folder 3-4
Correspondence
1970-2008
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with Robin Morgan, Blake Morgan, and Kenneth Pitchford (2004-2008). Also includes correspondence with
Jane Alpert (1975-1976), Adrienne Rich (1974), and Erica Zimetbaum (1982), and an invitation to attend Christopher Street
Liberation Day (1970).
Box 1, Folder 5
Double F: A Magazine of Effeminism
1972-1976
Scope and Contents
A periodical of Steven Dansky, John Knoebel, and Kenneth Pitchford.
Box 1, Folder 6
DVDs, second copies
2010-2013
Existence and Location of Originals
See the ONE audiovisual collection for a listing of the orginals.
Box 1, Folder 7
"The Effeminist Moment: Thirty-Eight Years Later"
2008
Box 1, Folder 8
"The Effeminist Papers: The Making of a Male Profeminist"
2006
Box 1, Folder 18
Faggotry periodical, creator Dansky
1972
Box 1, Folder 9
Gay liberation flyer and press release
1971, 1994
Box 1, Folder 10
"In Public: Studies from the Street" exhibit records
2010
Box 1, Folder 11
Marriage records, including media clippings
2004-2006
Box 1, Folder 12
"On Anger: The Months After the Stonewall Rebellion"
2013
Box 1, Folder 13
"On Bearing Witness: Images & Reflections on the LGBT Movement" exhibit records
2010
Box 1, Folder 14
On the occasion of "From the Shadows to the Sunlight: The First Year of Gay Liberation"
2008
Box 1, Folder 15
Peace/La Paz periodical, editor Dansky
1968-1969
Box 1, Folder 16
Photographs
1970-2014
Physical Description: [12 photographic prints]
Scope and Contents
Includes images of Dansky, Suzanne Levine, Robin Morgan, Blake Morgan, Ned Rorem, and Gloria Steinem.
Box 1, Folder 20
Tom Ashe photographs of first New York gay pride march
1970
Physical Description: 8 photographs : b&w.Includes a CD of digitized images.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Allen Young, 2016.
Box 1, Folder 17
"The Work of Steven F. Dansky" pamphlet
circa 2005
Outspoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers Series 2
Scope and Contents
This series primarily includes digital video interviews produced by Dansky for project Outspoken: Oral History from LGBTQ
Pioneers, begun in 2013. This series also includes photographs and release forms for the project.
Conditions Governing Access
The digital video interviews from Dansky's Outspoken project are available for viewing in the Archives' reading room.
Box 2, Folder 1
Interviewee release forms
ca. 2013-2016
Box 2, Folder 2
Portraits A-B
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Trey E. Allen, Dennis Altman, Taura Anderson, Ron Auerbacher, Steve Ault, Paola Bacchetta, Bill Baird
& John Kennedy, Ian Baldwin, Dennis Baum, Nick Benton, Renee L. Birder & Karen Schmidt, Mark Blumberg, Richard Bolingbroke,
Richard Bradbury & Dick Weismann, Christopher Bram, Perry Brass & Hugh Young, Ellen Broidy, William Bryan.
Box 2, Folder 3
Portraits C-D
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Roberto Camp, Glenorchy Campbell, David Carter, Jacob Carter & Don Johnson, Brenda Catania & Deb Perkins,
Sam Chong, Elizabeth Clifford, Judy Corbisiero, Kristine Cottom & Trina Porte, Steven F. Dansky & Barry Safran, Nikos Diaman.
Box 2, Folder 4
Portraits E-H
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Murray Edelman, Tim Elliott, Angel Adrian Plancarte Entrada & Fina Plancarte Entrada, Jim Fouratt,
Miriam Frank, Jack Fritscher & Mark Hemry, Marcia Gallo, Danny Garvin, Donna Gottschalk, Michela Griffo, Walter Herron, Ingrid
Holmgaribay, Katie Anne Holton, Jerry Hoose, Andy Humm.
Box 2, Folder 5
Portraits J-K
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Karla Jay, Karen Kerner & Woody, Ted Johnson, Miguel Juarez, Dajenya Kafele, Charles Kameyski, Jeffrey
Karaban, Sue Katz, Jonathan Ned Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, John Kennedy, Don Kilhefner, John Knoebel, Giles Kotcher, Larry Kovacs,
Martin Kreloff & Tim Olsen.
Box 2, Folder 6
Portraits L-O
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Richard Landman, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Michael Lavery, Sally H. Levy, Fernando Zweifach, Barbara
Love, Connor Maddocks, Elaine Magalis, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Debra Moldavan, Jason Baumann Montilla, Tracy Moore, Kyle Morgan,
Thomas Negron Jr., Robert Patrick O'Connor, Tim Olsen.
Box 2, Folder 7
Portraits P-S
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Trina Porte, Flavia Rando, Linda Rhodes, Ned Rorem, Matile Rothschild, Claire Russell, Barry Safran,
Rob Schlegel, Sarah Schulman, Jason Serinus, Martha Shelley & Sylvia Allen, Ellen Shumsky, Dennis Siple, Hilary Sloin, Dan
Smith, Susan Stryker.
Box 2, Folder 8
Portraits T-Y
ca. 2013-2016
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Steve Tortell, Meredith Vezina & Ellen B. Holzman, William Bond Walker & John Balkema, Rich Wandel,
Dick Weismann, Liat Wexler, Fran Winant, Merle Woo, Gary Wotherspoon, Allen Young.
2nd Anniversary
ca. 2013-2017
Altman, Dennis
ca. 2013-2017
Anderson, Jim
ca. 2013-2017
Anderson, Taura
ca. 2013-2017
Athens, Ohio portraits
ca. 2013-2017
Auerbacher, Ron
ca. 2013-2017
Bacchetta, Paola
ca. 2013-2017
Baird, Bill
ca. 2013-2017
Bookish: The Art of William Bond Walker
ca. 2013-2017
Bookish trailer
ca. 2013-2017
Bradbury, Richard
ca. 2013-2017
Bram, Christopher
ca. 2013-2017
Brass, Perry
ca. 2013-2017
Brass, Perry, teaser
ca. 2013-2017
Bryan, William Joseph
ca. 2013-2017
Campbell, Glenorchy
ca. 2013-2017
Carter, David
ca. 2013-2017
Carter, Jacob
ca. 2013-2017
Clifford, Elizabeth
ca. 2013-2017
Clifford, Jim
ca. 2013-2017
Corbisiero, Judy
ca. 2013-2017
Cottom, Kristine
ca. 2013-2017
Cruse, Howard
ca. 2013-2017
Dansky, Steven F.
ca. 2013-2017
Del Mar and San Diego, California portraits
ca. 2013-2017
Diaman, Nikos
ca. 2013-2017
Edelman, Murray
ca. 2013-2017
Elliot, Tim
ca. 2013-2017
Elliot, Tim, teaser
ca. 2013-2017
Fall Catalog
ca. 2013-2017
Frank, Miriam
ca. 2013-2017
Fritscher, Jack
ca. 2013-2017
From Trauma to Activism
ca. 2013-2017
Garner, Darlene
ca. 2013-2017
Garvin, Danny
ca. 2013-2017
Griffo, Michela
ca. 2013-2017
Herron, Walter
ca. 2013-2017
Holmgaribay, Ingrid
ca. 2013-2017
Hoose, Jerry
ca. 2013-2017
Hot August Night
ca. 2013-2017
In Public: Studies from the Street
ca. 2013-2017
Javors, Irene
ca. 2013-2017
Johnson, Ted
ca. 2013-2017
Kafele, Dajenya
ca. 2013-2017
Karaban, Jeffrey
ca. 2013-2017
Kennedy, John
ca. 2013-2017
Knoebel, John
ca. 2013-2017
Knoebel, John; Memories of My Uncle Roy
ca. 2013-2017
Knoebel, John; Gay Men's Chorus
ca. 2013-2017
Koob, Richard
ca. 2013-2017
Kreloff, Martin
ca. 2013-2017
Landman, Rick
ca. 2013-2017
Langer, Cassandra
ca. 2013-2017
Lanigan-Schmidt, Thomas
ca. 2013-2017
Latronico, Nestor
ca. 2013-2017
Lavery, Michael
ca. 2013-2017
Love, Barbara
ca. 2013-2017
McNaught, Brian
ca. 2013-2017
Mecca, Tommi Avicolli
ca. 2013-2017
Miller, Carl
ca. 2013-2017
On Performing Identity
ca. 2013-2017
Outspoken Film
ca. 2013-2017
Outspoken Trailer
ca. 2013-2017
Perez, Frankie
ca. 2013-2017
Porte, Trina
ca. 2013-2017
Rothschild, Matile
ca. 2013-2017
Schlegel, Rob
ca. 2013-2017
Schnapp, Marc
ca. 2013-2017
Schulman, Sarah
ca. 2013-2017
Sederbaum, Ed
ca. 2013-2017
Serinus, Jason Victor
ca. 2013-2017
Shelley, Martha
ca. 2013-2017
Shelley, Martha, teaser
ca. 2013-2017
Shumsky, Ellen
ca. 2013-2017
Sloin, Hillary
ca. 2013-2017
Stockman, Thor
ca. 2013-2017
Stonewall Teaser
ca. 2013-2017
Stryker, Susan
ca. 2013-2017
Turtell, Steve
ca. 2013-2017
Vider, Stephen
ca. 2013-2017
Wandel, Rich
ca. 2013-2017
Weismann, Richard
ca. 2013-2017
Witeck, Bob
ca. 2013-2017
Young, Allen
ca. 2013-2017
Young, Allen, teaser
ca. 2013-2017
Young, Paulette
ca. 2013-2017
