Jim Foster (activist)
| Jim Foster | |
|---|---|
| Born |
James M. Foster November 19, 1934 |
| Died | October 31, 1990 (aged 55) San Francisco, California |
| Cause of death | AIDS-related illness |
| Known for | Early LGBT rights activist |
James M. "Jim" Foster (November 19, 1934 – October 31, 1990) was an American LGBT rights and Democratic activist. Foster became active in the early gay rights movement when he moved to San Francisco following his undesirable discharge from the United States Army in 1959 for being homosexual. Foster co-founded the Society for Individual Rights (SIR), an early homophile organization, in 1964.Dianne Feinstein credits SIR and the gay vote with generating her margin of victory in her election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969.
In 1971, Foster, along with Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, transformed the SIR Political Action Committee into the Alice B. Toklas Memorial Democratic Club. The Toklas club was the first gay Democratic club in country. Also in 1971, Foster was instrumental in convincing Richard Hongisto to run for sheriff and in delivering gay votes to his winning campaign. It became a truism of San Francisco politics that, as long-time activist José Sarria had put it, "nobody ran for anything in San Francisco without knocking on the door of the gay community."
In 1972, after the Toklas club delivered one-third of the signatures needed to secure George McGovern the first position on the California Democratic primary ballot, Foster was added to the list of speakers at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. Originally, Foster had been given a prime time speaking slot, but George McGovern's campaign manager, future U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart, changed it to a 3:00 a.m. speaking slot. The campaign had decided they needed to tone down their radical image. He and fellow delegate Madeline Davis were the first openly LGBT people ever to address a national party convention. He called upon the Democratic Party to add a gay rights plank to the party platform, saying:
...
Wikipedia