The History of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, San Francisco, California, 1971-2004, by Nathan Purkiss

This is a short history of the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club, published originally on OutHistory in 2013. This history explains how the club got started in San Francisco, California as the first registered LGBT Democratic Club in the nation. The history recounts the decades-long struggle of the LGBT community to influence public policy at the local, state and national level by making inroads within the Democratic Party in one of the nation's most important Democratic strongholds. Unless otherwise noted, all source material for this history came from the Alice Reports newsletter, interviews with longtime Alice members, and the Gay Vote Newsletters of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club. The 1971 section on Jim Foster establishing Alice is sourced from Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America by Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney.

About the Author

OutHistory Constributor Nathan Purkiss

Nathan Purkiss grew up in Southern California and got involved in politics first as an activist with ACT UP Los Angeles. Purkiss moved to San Francisco in 1993 and completed his Masters Degree in History at San Francisco State University, specializing in the history of gender and sexuality. He was hired out of college by Robert Barnes to work as a political consultant, and managed several campaigns including Dan Kelly for School Board. Purkiss worked as a Senior Legislative Aide to Mark Leno both in San Francisco at the Board of Supervisors and in Sacramento at the California State Assembly. His projects included staffing the Transgender Civil Rights Implementation Task Force, the San Francisco Transgender Health Benefit, designing the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, staffing Proposition B (the Solar Revenue Bond), Assembly Bill 196 (Employment Protections and Housing for Transgender People), and many other projects. Nathan currently serves as the Government Affairs Manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Nathan has been a longtime member of both the Alice and Harvey Milk Democratic Clubs.