Los Angeles' LGBTQ history comes alive at Circa: Queer Histories Festival

Los Angeles' Circa: Queer Histories Festival will fill October, which is LGBTQ History Month, with a vivid panorama of events for its sophomore edition.

This Saturday in Los Angeles, a particularly eager queer history aficionado could join a walking tour of downtown’s LGBTQ heritage, listen in on a conversation with Radical Faeries co-founder Don Kilhefner, catch a preview screening of a docuseries about feminist trailblazers, attend a talk about Long Beach’s LGBTQ past, and cap off the day at the never dull Tom of Finland House with readings on the cultural significance of kink and voguing.

It’s all part of Circa: Queer Histories Festival, which returns for a second edition of packing LGBTQ History Month — aka October — with events that explore and celebrate L.A.’s myriad queer legacies.

“Los Angeles is not just a big city, it’s like a small country,” said Tony Valenzuela, executive director of One Institute, Circa’s organizer. “There’s just so much diversity here, folks from all over the world, and it has a really vibrant — not just queer and trans community, but queer and trans history. That history has long been overshadowed by New York and San Francisco, but I think that’s really changing.”

Tony Valenzuela, pictured here at the Out100 Celebration in Los Angeles in 2023, is the executive director of the One Institute, which organizes the Circa: Queer Histories Festival.Alberto Rodriguez / Variety via Getty Images fileAt the forefront of that change is Circa itself, which debuted last October with an ambitious monthlong slate of 70-plus events to honor One Institute’s 70th anniversary.

“We wanted to be able to have a different time of the year where we could, as a community focus, on our culture — of course with the through line of history, but also to have sober-minded conversations and allow space for whatever issues might come up that may not seem like Pride Month issues,” Valenzuela said. “We didn’t know if that would resonate, and we found that it really did.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/los-angeles-queer-history-circa-festival-rcna173480

---