Oakland's gay, lesbian, and trans elders are still fighting for their rights - and partying

"When Karen Anderson landed in the Bay Area in 1985, she eagerly began looking "for anything gay." It wasn't that the queer community in her native Chicago was nonexistent. Far from it. But at the time, the scene was focused on partying, and generally segregated by both gender and race, she recalled. In Oakland, Anderson was overjoyed to find a thriving, diverse lesbian community, often concentrated at local bars like Ollie's on Telegraph."

"Anderson arrived in California during a period of tragedy, with the AIDS epidemic raging through the community, ultimately taking tens of thousands of lives and tearing apart groups of friends, families, and couples. But in the thick of the crisis, Anderson found love. Years later, she and her wife became one of the first same-sex couples to be married at Oakland City Hall, in a 2008 ceremony conducted by then-Mayor Ron Dellums."

"Anderson, who is now 81, spoke with The Oaklandside at the 30th anniversary party last month of Lavender Seniors, an organization for local LGBTQ+ elders. The group first began meeting in the 1990s at a church in San Leandro, fed up with what they saw as a lack of dedicated services in the East Bay for the "gay and gray." Last year, Lavender Seniors acquired a permanent address, becoming an official program of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center."

Karen Anderson moved to the Bay Area in 1985 seeking queer community and found a thriving, diverse lesbian scene in Oakland centered around bars like Ollie's on Telegraph. The local community provided social support even as the AIDS epidemic devastated thousands and fractured relationships. Anderson found a long-term partner and married in 2008 at Oakland City Hall in one of the early same-sex ceremonies officiated by Mayor Ron Dellums. Lavender Seniors formed in the 1990s in San Leandro to serve the "gay and gray" after noticing service gaps. The group now serves about 150 members and became an official program of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center.

Read at The Oaklandside