In June 1981, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus took its music across the United States. Conducted by Dick Kramer and joined by the Bay Area Women’s Brass Quartet, the singers brought an openly gay chorus to audiences far beyond San Francisco.
SFGMC performs during the June 1981 national tour. Photograph: Larry Merkle. Courtesy GLBT Historical Society.
A national journey
The itinerary included Dallas, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Detroit, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, followed by a final performance at home in San Francisco. The tour came less than three years after the chorus’s first public performance at the November 1978 vigil for Harvey Milk and George Moscone.
Performing openly was part of the tour’s significance. At a time when many gay people could not safely be public about their lives, these concerts offered visibility, connection, and a model for other LGBTQ+ choruses.
From the archives
Explore the Come Out for the Chorus poster, Dallas concert ticket and Lincoln concert program in the GLBT Historical Society collection. Together, these original materials offer a closer look at the journey.
Remembering the tour, 40 years later
The reunion video brings the 1981 journey back into view. Watch it above. The preview photograph shows the chorus at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Continue exploring the chorus’s history.
