Aug 22, 2024 - Sale 2677

Sale 2677 - Lot 240

Price Realized: $ 688
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
HIS PLATFORM: "EQUAL...JUSTICE TO ALL, OF WHATEVER STATE OR PERSUASION"
JOSÉ SARRIA (1922-2013)


Postcard announcing his candicacy for San Francisco Supervisor Signed, in purple ink,
near his portrait. Correspondence side blank. 3¼x5½ inches; 82x141 mm; faint scattered soiling to verso.

[San Francisco, 1961]; inscription: Np, nd

Sarria was the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the United States. And although he didnt a the seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he garned enough attention and enough votes to show that the gay community was a voting bloc to be reckoned with.

Additional Details



José Julio Sarria was an American political activist and drag queen who, in 1961, became the first openly gay candiate for public office in the United States. Although he did not win the election, the support for his run demonstrated to the world the political power of the gay voting bloc. Sarria supported gay-owned businesses by founding the first gay business association in the U.S.--the Tavern Guild-- and helped build support for the LGBTQ+ community by establishing the Imperial Court System--a non-profit charitable organization which has become the largest of its kind in the world.