Happy Birthday, Armistead Maupin! Picture: Armistead Maupin (b. May 13, 1944), left, and unknown, Sa
Happy Birthday, Armistead Maupin! Picture: Armistead Maupin (b. May 13, 1944), left, and unknown, San Jose Pride, San Jose, California, c. 1970s. Photo by Ted Sahl. Armistead Maupin, who turns seventy-two today, started his career at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, working for future United States Senator (and anti-LGBT demagogue) Jesse Helms. Maupin, a U.S. Navy veteran, considered himself a typical conservative (and, in fact, a segregationist) at the time. After taking a position with the San Francisco bureau of the Associated Press in 1971, however, Maupin’s politics began to change dramatically. In 1974, Maupin came out, and saw the first portions of what became his “Tales of the City” published in The Pacific Sun, a Marin county newspaper. The “Tales of the City” series, later picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle and then reworked into the successful Harper & Row novels, helped define San Francisco in the 1970s, and introduced the literary world to some of its most endearing gay characters. In addition to his writing, Maupin is an outspoken activist for equality. In 2007, Maupin married Christopher Turner, who Maupin “chased…down Castro Street, saying, ‘Didn’t I see you on daddyhunt.com?’” #lgbthistory #lgbtherstory #lgbttheirstory #lgbtpride #queerhistorymatters #haveprideinhistory (at San Jose, California) -- source link
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