#eldon murray

[ty1er-with-a-sword]

I'm delighted also that you are finding (getting in touch with) your feminine side. You got it, kid. You can move easily between the genders, IF YOU KEEP COOL and don't worry or brood. Accept yourself for where YOU are. Don't worry about trying to be someone else. You are unique and beautiful. Being true to yourself isn't easy for anyone, but if you can keep from rollercoaster heights and depths of emotions (which I think you do well) - if you can understand that life is a constant battle and that being truly human calls for some pain as well as joy to allow for growth. If you can learn patience - real growth as a human is slow - you will find all the things you are and achieve much of what you want. Those of us who love you don't doubt for a moment that you can! - that you will!

- Eldon Murray to Lou Sullivan, Written by Lou Sullivan (1978)

Some words of wisdom from the late Eldon Murray. There is no gay liberation without trans liberation. Queer people from all walks of life need to stick together and establish community, for ourselves and each other. I love this letter because it shows such support and pride from a cis man to a trans man, in the 70s no less.

[uwmarchives]

Pride Month: Lou Sullivan

Lou Sullivan was an activist, lay historian, and writer who was born in Wauwatosa in 1951 and grew up in Milwaukee. He became a member of the Gay People’s Union and a close friend of Eldon Murray, and first publicly identified publicly as transgender in an article in the August 1973 issue of GPU News titled “A Transvestite Answers a Feminist”. Sullivan, who lived his life as a gay man, was one of the first FTM transgender people in the nation to speak out about his medical transition and the many roadblocks and instances of discrimination he encountered along the way.  

In 1980 Sullivan wrote Information for the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual, one of the first publications to share recommendations on clothing choices and body language as well as advice on finding support groups, counseling, and endocrinological and surgical services for FTM transgender men. The booklet is held in the Eldon Murray Papers at UWM Archives and is available in full online. 

Sullivan moved to San Francisco in 1975, where he completed his medical transition and continued his engagement with activism and advocacy for the transgender community. He was a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society and was involved in editing and publishing their newsletter.    

After receiving an HIV diagnosis in 1986, Sullivan spent the last years of his life amplifying his activism in support of the trans community and increasing his advocacy amongst the doctors and psychiatrists who had delayed his own transition- in part through the founding of FTM International, the oldest group for trans men in the U.S, and contributing to FTM International Newsletter. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1991, at the age of 39. 

The Louis Graydon Sullivan papers, Lou Sullivan’s personal archive, was donated to the GLBT Historical Society of San Francisco in 1991. Over 350 of the records from this collection are available online courtesy of the Digital Transgender Archive. 

We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan, 1961-1991, which documents Sullivan’s social and medical transition, can be found in the Golda Meir Library’s main collection. From Female to Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland, which Sullivan wrote in 1990, is held by UWM Special Collections.   

--Ana

[uwmspeccoll]

Pride Month -- GPU News

GPU News was Milwaukee’s first LGBT periodical, published by the Gay Peoples Union from 1971-1981. The Union itself was founded originally as a student organization at UW-Milwaukee in 1970, but by 1971 it became a community organization dedicated to the needs of the gay community and to educating the community at large about gays and lesbians.

At first, the organization’s periodical GPU News was primarily Milwaukee-based and focused. However, within a few years the publication became nationally known and widely recognized as containing superior editorial and fictional content in a broad range of interests to the gay and lesbian community. In its heyday (the mid-late 1970's), the magazine received wide acclaim, every issue featuring complimentary "letters to the editor" from people around the country. 

The periodical’s publisher was the heralded Milwaukee LGBT-rights activist Eldon Murray who also worked to establish what became the Brady East STD (BESTD) Clinic still in operation today; wrote the first grants for what would become the Milwaukee AIDS Project, known later as the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW); and in his later years founded SAGE (Senior Action in a Gay Environment) Milwaukee.

The Gay Peoples Union Records, the Eldon Murray Papers, and the SAGE Milwaukee Records are all held by our sibling department the UWM Archives. and there is a digital collection for the Eldon Murray Papers. We hold a full run of GPU News and each issue has been fully digitized.

View our other Pride Month posts.

[uwmarchives]

Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ History

As we celebrate 2019 Pride and the 50 year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, it is important that we also celebrate local LGBTQ+ history both before and after Stonewall.  Milwaukee has an extensive and varied LGBTQ+ history, and this timeline from 1996 Milwaukee PrideFest offers insight into the long history of the LGBTQ+ community in Milwaukee, WI.

Many of the groups and individuals mentioned in this timeline have collections that can be found in the UWM Archives, some of which are mentioned below.

This timeline highlights the history of Milwaukee’s drag scene pre-Stonewall in the 1950s and 1960s.  The photo below features Eldon Murray, prominent Milwaukee LGBT activist , sometime during the 1950s.  This photo, along with several others, can be found in the Eldon Murray Papers at the UWM Archives and in the UWM Archives Digital Collections.

This timeline also details the formation of many LGBTQ+ activist groups in Milwaukee, including The Lesbian Alliance of Metro Milwaukee and ACT-UP Milwaukee,  both of which formed in 1989, and The Women’s Coalition, founded in 1972, all of which have collections at the UWM Archives.

The complete timeline poster can be found in Box 1 of the PrideFest Records, 1989-2001 as well as in Box 4 of the Jerry Johnson Collection of Wisconsin LGBT Ephemera at the UWM Archives.

-Lizzie, Archives Graduate Intern

Pop-Up Days in the Golda Meir Library start today! Please stop by the Archives on the 2nd floor and Special Collection on the 4th floor to explore materials from the UWM LGBT Collection. The Pop-Up Exhibits will be available June 26-28. And don’t miss the exhibit in the Grind display cases on the first floor commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

[uwmarchives]

Detroit’s Diplomat

The Diplomat was a premier drag show venue in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1950s and 1960s. In the pre-Stonewall days, female impersonators and drag queens would gather at the Diplomat for both entertainment and community, solidifying its reputation as a cultural hotspot. Bookie and Morre, the owners of the Diplomat, annually released a review of the drag queens in their show, one of which is featured here. Even though the Diplomat was located in Detroit, it widely influenced Midwestern lgbtq+ culture. This Diplomat Review is part of our new digital collection, the Eldon Murray Papers, which is currently available through the UWM Digital Collections website.

The Diplomat Review can also be located in the Eldon Murray Papers, UWM Manuscript Collection 256, Box 11, Folder 3. For more information, look at our finding aid here. 

[uwmarchives]

GAY POWER-The early days of Pride in Milwaukee

While the fanfare of Pridefest Milwaukee is still fresh in our memories, let’s take a look at Pride 45 years ago. The above photos look back at the Milwaukee Pride Demonstration back in 1973. These photos come from the newly digitized Eldon Murray Papers.  

[uwmarchives]

Eldon Murray: a legacy of Pride!

Eldon Murray was a nationally recognized advocate for LGBT rights who worked and lived in Milwaukee. Among his major accomplishments were the founding of the local organizations the Gay People’s Union (GPU), and SAGE Milwaukee, which was one of the first organizations in Wisconsin providing services specifically to the elderly members of the LGBT community. He was also a key figure in the establishment and development of the Milwaukee AIDS Project, and the Brady Street East STD clinic.

After working for years as a stock broker Eldon retired in 2000. The above pictures show Eldon from his retirement party, as well as him in his office and posing beside the “Pridefest Lifetime Achievement Award Winner” placard. In honor of Pride Month check out more from our newly digitized collection:  Eldon Murray Papers

-Cameron

[uwmarchives]

Pre-Stonewall drag looks fishy as ever! Gorgeous!

Eldon Murray, Milwaukee LGBT advocate, in drag circa 1950s.

To learn more about pre-Stonewall female impersonation, see our post about the Diplomat Review.