CASDLA_000029_T1_B_PRSV

Interview with Robert "Jess" Jessop, part 2, 1990

 

1990-02-02

 

Interviewer: Nobiletti, Frank

(Sound begins at about 10 seconds.) This is the second part of an oral-history interview with Jessop done on January 26, February 2, and February 9, 1990. From The California Audiovisual Preservation Project summary: "Jessop was an early activist in the San Diego LGBT community. He cofounded the San Diego LGBT Center and the Lesbian and Gay Historical Society of San Diego, fought to obtain city permits for the first Pride parade in 1974, organized the first openly LGBT political support in the city, and was a names historian for the Names Project Tour when the AIDS Quilt came to San Diego in 1988. This is his last interview before his death of AIDS in 1990."

Jess Jessop; Robert Hall Jessop; Oral histories; Frank Nobiletti; Gay Liberation Movement; Gay bars; Gay bathhouses; Denny's (restaurant chain); Coming out; Black's Beach (San Diego); Gay Beach; San Diego Police Department; Vice squads (police); Police brutality; San Diego LGBT Community Center; Gay Alliance for Equal Rights; Maureen O'Connor; San Diego City Council; HIV/AIDS

 

 

Rights are owned by Lambda Archives of San Diego (LASD)

 

 

English

 

Audiotape

00:46:22 minutes

Yes

CASDLA_000029_T1_A_PRSV; CASDLA_000029_T2_PRSV

This is a summary, not a transcript:
0:11 Jess talks about how they should not be an oppressed minority
1:20 People are intimidated by him for having such strong ideas
3:05 Long term relationships never developed for Jess
6:00 In the 1970s there was an emerging gay visibility and was easier to find a partner for sexual activity
7:50 Gay liberation was not "hetero imitation"
9:20 In society, women are seen as the brakes on sexual activity and men are supposed to go out and "sow their sexual seeds."
11:40 Interviewer asks Jess if he saw in San Diego in the 1970s a sexual liberation for the gay community because San Diego was "conservative" back then.
13:10 There was no homosexual contact for Jess until he was 30 when he realized his identity
14:30 He began to value sexual activity less after a period of time and instead crave stability with a single partner
15:30 Promiscuity in the gay community does not spread viral diseases like AIDS, according to Jess
17:20 Promiscuity in the gay community is viewed far worse than in the heterosexual community
18:10 It doesn't matter how many partners you have as long as you're responsible and practicing safe sex
19:00 AIDS is not a gay disease, and as long as heterosexual people do nothing about it because it does not pertain to them, they are at risk for the disease as well.
20:40 The interviewer asks where people in the gay community met.
21:10 Jess responds that the gay community is similar to the heterosexual community in that they are sexual beings too but it is harder to determine a potential partner because of ambiguity. That is why gay bars emerged
22:30 Individuals who were gay met each other at gay bathhouses as well.
24:00 Some bathhouses had an atmosphere of sleazy sex, and you could have sex with someone and not ever know who it was.
25:15 Other gay bathhouses had a better atmosphere with televisions, pools and snack bars.
26:23 Interviewer asks for an example specifically of a nicer bathhouse vs. a sleazy bathhouse.
26:40 Jess responds that Vulcan Steam and Sauna was always clean and presentable
29:00 Some men were still in the closet and would not be caught dead reading up about gay literature, so they were unaware of safe sexual practices within the gay community
31:15 The Northern end of Black's Beach was known as the Gay Beach
32:00 Sunday afternoons were quite social on the Gay Beach
33:45 A few restaurants like Denny's always had gay folk there.
36:30 There is a distinction between where you go to meet gay folk vs. where you ran into gay people
37:20 Interviewer switches subject to the vice Squad and asks about them
37:45 Jess has had little contact with the vice squad
38:35 The vice squad simply "responds to the complaints"
39:30 The police went out of their way to arrest patrons of the gay bars for even touching another man
40:30 A marked police car shined its spotlight on the gay bar's door for hours, just to harass and intimidate them
41:30 There are well-documented incidents of police shoving patrons of gay bars and using words like "queer" and "faggot".
42:30 The harassment was so bad that the Gay Center formed an organization called The Gay Alliance for Equal Rights
44:22 They made a presentation to the city council and Maureen O'Connor, who was on the council, chaired that meeting
45:30 They just wanted to normalize homosexuality and educate the public that they didn't need to be afraid
46:12 Audio abruptly ends

 

Audio

WAV

1.55 GB