Collection Guide
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Finding Aid to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission's Lesbian/Gay Activities Office Records,
1969-1993
(bulk 1973-1977),
SFH 718
SFH 718
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Title: San Francisco Human Rights Commission' Lesbian/Gay Activities Office records
Date (inclusive): 1969-1993
Date (bulk): 1973-1977
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 718
Creator:
Human Rights Commission of San Francisco
Physical Description:
3 cartons, 1 manuscripts box
(3.26 cubic feet)
Abstract: Includes subject files of staff members of the Human Rights Commission, particuarly of Jo Daly, the HRC's gay community liaison.
Materials include correspondence, press releases, notes, and some minutes of the Gay Advisory Committee, 1975-1980.
Physical Location: The collection is stored off site.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in
English.
The collection is open for research and stored offsite. A minimum of two working days' notice is required for use. Please
call the San Francisco History Center for hours and information at 415-557-4567.
Personal identifying information of complainants has been redacted.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], San Francisco Human Rights Commmission Records (SFH 718), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco
Public Library.
Transferred from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society in November 1996.
Historical and Biographical Notes
The San Francisco Human Rights Commission advocates for human and civil rights, and works in service of the city's anti-discrimination
laws to further racial solidarity, equity, and healing. The HRC was established in 1964 by Mayor John F. Shelley as the Interim
Committee on Human Relations, to handle discrimination matters involving race, religion, and national origin. By 1977, areas
covered included age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, and property agreements. By then, HRC was handling hundreds of
complaints each year in employment within both the public and private sector, and was meeting growing problems involving inter-group
tensions in education, youth, police, gays, and housing. The commission has since grown in response to San Francisco's mandate
to address the causes of, and problems resulting from, prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, and discrimination. Currently, the
department's divisions include Civil Rights, Community Engagement, Dream Keeper Initiative, Office of Racial Equity, and Office
of Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention.
Jo Daly joined the Human Rights Commission in 1975, where she was believed to be the first government official in the nation
to serve the gay community in a salaried position.
In 1991, the commission's Family Policy Task Force work led to successful domestic partners health benefits legislation, the
second city in the country to do so (after Berkeley, CA, in 1984). In 2021, the city launched the Dream Keeper Initiative,
a citywide effort to address structural inequities by reinvesting funds into San Francisco's diverse Black communities.
Includes subject files of staff members of the Human Rights Commission, including correspondence, press releases, and notes.
Has some minutes of the Gay Advisory Committee, 1975-1980; as well as of the subsequently named Lesbian/Gay Advisory Committee,
1987-1989; and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Committee, 1993. Topics include access, affirmative action, contract compliance, disabilities,
gay rights, mental health employment discrimination, age and sex discrimination in employment, and state legislation. Documents
a few discrimination and employment complaints.
A significant portion of the collection is comprised of the work files of Jo Daly, the HRC's gay community liaison. Includes
a 1975 Daly manuscript celebrating "six hard years" of work towards equal rights for homosexuals. Internal correspondence
discusses the need and creation of a position of liaison to gay communities, and the job request form, in early 1975 (in Series
2, Gay Alliance: Pacific Telephone file). Also includes an academic paper analyzing the validity of the HRC's enabling ordinances,
Chapter 12A, 12B, and 12C, of the San Francisco Administrtive Code; and Articles 33 and 38 of the San Francisco Police Code;
in view of California preemption law (in Series 2).
Organized into two series: Series 1: Jo Daly's Files; and Series 2: Staff Files. Within series, organization is alphabetical.
See also the Jerry Davis papers, SFH 52; and Jo Daly realia, GLC 219. Minutes of both the SF HRC and HRC Gay Advisory Committee
(beginning in 1982), as well as an early HRC periodical,
Notes,
and other HRC documents can be found in the library's online catalog. See also the Jo Daly papers and Lesbian/Gay Advisory
Committee to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission records at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.
Processed by Tami J. Suzuk in 2022.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Human Rights Commission of San Francisco -- (San Francisco, Calif.). -- Archives.
Human Rights Commission of San Francisco -- (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Gay Advisory Committee. -- Archives.
Discrimination in employment -- California -- San Francisco.
Gay rights -- California -- San Francisco.
Human rights -- California -- San Francisco.