Radically Gay: The Life of Harry Hay

A wonderful new exhibit on the life and work of Harry Hay has just opened in the Jewett Gallery at the San Francisco Public Library. In celebration of the centennial of Hay’s birth, the exhibit illuminates his life, from his privileged childhood to his later years as a radical queer activist, using a wide range of photographs, letters, and personal items taken from the Harry Hay Papers. You’ve very likely heard of Harry Hay because of his work with the Mattachine Society in the 1940s and 50s, or with the Radical Faeries from the 1970s until his death in 2002, but there are less well known facts and curiosities from Hay’s life that the exhibition uncovers. The adventurous life of one of our first gay activists does not disappoint, from his camouflage skirt to the teleidoscope invented by his long-time partner, John Burnside, there’s a lot of whimsy in this exhibit to go along with the very important gay history. We’ll we don’t want to give it all away here, come see the exhibit, on view through July 29, 2012!