Patricia Hemphill was very young when it dawned on her that she had a big dream for her future, but it wasn’t very well-received by her teacher at the time, Ms. Hart. Hemphill shares the story in this interview with her mother, Anniece Hemphill at the San Francisco StoryCorps booth in the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
When Emily McGranachan was a child, her mothers decided to end their long-term relationship. McGranachan sat down with San Francisco StoryCorps to explain what it is like for a child when two parents of the same-sex split up, and how having a legally married status comes with the additional privilege of the ability for a legal divorce.
In 1967 the landmark Supreme Court case Loving vs. Virginia made the United States a better place for many people in love. The ruling declared the 1924 Racial Integrity Act, which prohibited marriage across racial boundaries, unconstitutional. If not for Loving vs. Virginia, Robyn Raber Luna would not have been able to marry her Filipino husband and then have their daughter, Rachel Luna Hemmer.
Phyllis Lyon was the founder of the first lesbian rights organization in the United States, Daughters of Bilitis, in 1955. You may recall her name, as she and her wife Dell Martin were the first same sex couple to be married under the authority of Gavin Newsom when he became mayor in 2004. Phyllis recounts her life experiences such as connecting with Dell Martin, navigating anti-gay laws in San Francisco in the 1950's, her book Lesbian/woman, and shifting her perspective on marriage at the StoryCorps booth in San Francisco, where she spoke with Margee Adams.
About 16 years ago, San Francisco native Allan Manalo visited Manila, the capital of the Philippines, in an effort to reconnect with his heritage. There he met his wife, Joyce D. Juan-Manalo and recognized that even though they grew up with an ocean between them, they were strikingly similar in many ways. Here they recall the sparks that connected them in the beginning.
