Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Sisneros, Judy, 1954-
- Abstract:
- ACT UP/Los Angeles administrative records, promotional materials, ephemera, and subject files, 1985-1995, of ACT UP/Los Angeles member Judy Sisneros. Includes documentation of Sisneros' committee work and activities in the ACT UP network. Sisneros is an activist, photographer, and curator based in Los Angeles.
- Extent:
- 3.7 Linear Feet 3 boxes.
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Judy Sisneros ACT UP/Los Angeles Records, Coll2016-008, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
ACT UP/Los Angeles administrative records, promotional materials, ephemera, and subject files, 1985-1995, of Judy Sisneros. The records documents Sisneros' involvement with the Women's Committee, Prisoners with AIDS Committee, Agitating/Legal Committee, and ACT UP Network, as well as with ACT UP/Los Angeles fundraisers, campaigns, meetings, communications, direct actions, and "zaps," among other activities.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Judy Sisneros is an activist, photographer, and curator based in Los Angeles. She was a member of ACT UP/Los Angeles and was active on the Women's Committee, Prisoners with AIDS Committee, and Agitating/Legal Committee, among other work. Active from 1987 to 1995, ACT UP/Los Angeles defined itself as "a grass-roots, democratic, militant, direct-action organization dedicated to creating positive changes around AIDS in federal and local government, the media, and medical industries through non-violent public protests." ACT UP worked to broaden the Center for Disease Control definition of AIDS to include opportunistic infections specfic to HIV-positive women, to bring women into clinical drug trials, and to draw visibility to the increasing numbers of women with HIV/AIDS.
Sisneros later became a member of Queer Nation in Los Angeles and was involved in AB101 protests and the Hollywood Homophobia Committee. Sisneros was even arrested at a Queer Nation protest at the 1992 Academy Awards, protesting the negative representation and invisibility of LGBT people in films.
Sisneros was part of a national network of ACT UP women's caucus members that organized the National Dyke March at the 1993 March on Washington. In 1994, she co-founded the Los Angeles Dyke March and continued participating in the organizing committee until 1997. In 2005, she became a member of Tongues, the latina lesbian arts organization, and participated with the group in the 2006 Marcha Lesbica in Mexico City.
Sources:
"Memes." Les Figues Press. http://lesfigues.com/memes/ (accessed May 10, 2016).
Signorile, Michelangeo. Queer in America. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. pg311-12.
- Acquisition information:
- Deed of gift, Judy Sisneros, March 2016.
- Processing information:
-
Collection processed by Claire Forsyth, 2016.
- Arrangement:
-
This collection is arranged alphabetically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Judy Sisneros ACT UP/Los Angeles Records, Coll2016-008, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
- Location of this collection:
-
909 West Adams BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90007, US
- Contact:
- (213) 821-2771