Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Additional collection guides
Descriptive Summary
Title: Raymond Broshears papers
Dates: 1965-1984
Collection Number: 1996-03
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 13 boxes (5.2 linear feet)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: This collection documents the religious life and community activism of one of San Francisco’s most controversial figures,
Ray Broshears. The collection contains correspondence, ephemera, financial records, newsletters, photographs and subject files.
Language of Material: English
Access
Collection is open for research. Funding for processing this collection was provided by the Council on Library and Information
Resources (CLIR).
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Raymond Broshears papers. Collection Number: 1996-03. GLBT Historical Society
Acquisition Information
Gift of Hank Wilson in February 1996.
Biography/Administrative History
Raymond Broshears, one of San Francisco’s most controversial gay citizens, was a community activist and ordained minister
in the Orthodox Episcopal Catholic Church. Broshears was born Earl Raymond Allen in Centreville Station, Illinois in 1935.
When his mother later remarried, she gave him her new husband’s name, though he was raised primarily by his grandmother and
his three aunts. He served in the United States Navy and received a medical discharge in 1955. Broshears, who preferred to
be called “Reverend Ray,” formed the Gay Activists Alliance in 1971, the Lavender Panthers in 1973, and was one of the founders
of San Francisco’s first gay pride parade in 1972. In addition to his work for gay and lesbian rights, he was also a strong
advocate for the poor and elderly communities in the Tenderloin. He founded the Old Folks Defense League and the Helping Hands
Community Center to serve this population and also helped produce an annual Christmas Show at Fort Miley Hospital. Broshears
was a polarizing figure in San Francisco’s LGBT community as evidenced by the many lawsuits and charges brought against him
in his lifetime. He regularly used his newspaper the Gay Crusader to attack and criticize individuals and organizations that
disagreed with him. Broshears died at home of a cerebral hemorrhage on January 10, 1982.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection documents the religious life and community activism of one of San Francisco’s most controversial figures,
Ray Broshears. The collection contains correspondence, ephemera, financial records, newsletters, photographs and subject files.
There are materials related to the Orthodox Episcopal Catholic Church, the Lavender Panthers and files he collected on other
ministries and religious figures. The collection includes scrapbooks documenting the Gay Activists Alliance, which Broshears
founded in 1972, and materials related to Helping Hands Center, the gay community center he operated in the Tenderloin, as
well as his newspaper the Gay Crusader (also known as the S.F. Crusader). Subject files include correspondence from, and flyers
and articles about, the gay rights movement, political campaigns and prominent San Franciscans. The papers also include legal
documents relating to lawsuits and complaints filed by or against Broshears. There is very little documentation of his life
before moving to San Francisco in 1967.
GSSO Linked Terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000374; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_007702; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_008497;
http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_002861
Indexing Terms
Gay men
Christians
Journalism
Homophobia
Additional collection guides