Filmmaker and documentary artist Joan E Biren, also known as JEB, was among the first to educate the public on LGBT history in the US. She devised a touring “Dyke Show”, a presentation of photographic portraits of lesbian, gay, trans and bisexual people. Her slideshow presentation was part of a grassroots political agenda but also a personal celebration of a revolutionary group that was being sidelined as it happened. The pictures were taken at secret LGBT gatherings in the 1970s all over the US, emphasising how important solidarity and self-documentation continue to be. Only someone inside the community, living that life firsthand, could capture it with such authenticity, sensitivity and power. “I always try to present the entire diversity of our community. That’s always very much in my mind in all of my work,” JEB, seventy-five, said. As part of the Pride month celebrations, the facade of the Leslie Lohman Museum will be wrapped with nineteen of JEB’s photographs—including this iconic picture taken on Christopher St—a demand for a safe expression of queerness in public spaces.
