Hey Slate Plus listeners, I hope you've been enjoying Slow Burn Season 9, Gaze

against Briggs. The Slow Burn team and I wanted to give you a little something

extra this week. It's an interview with two

special guests, Sylvana Nova and Larry Hermson. Sylvana is the person you see

raising a fist on this season's cover art and Larry is the one who made the photo in 1978.

We had a beautiful conversation about how they turned it

into a poster to raise money to fight the Briggs initiative.

And we talked about how gender non-conforming gays like

Silvana and Larry, street queens they called themselves, had their own

flourishing culture in San Francisco outside the mainstream gay scene.

They also had a lot to say about the threats

queer people are facing today. I'm so excited for you to hear it. Enjoy.

Why don't you start by telling me your names and what you do?

Um, Sylvana, let's start with you.

I'm Sylvana Nova, I'm retired, although I'm pretty much fully employed in volunteer efforts leading up to the election this year.

I've been involved in politics since the early 70s, and I lived in San Francisco from 75 to 91.

And I'm Larry Hermsen and from 76 to 2007.

I lived in San Francisco and Oakland and I also was politically involved since the early 70s

starting with the Vietnam War and then coming out and working mainly around gay and

lesbian issues.

And what brought you to San Francisco?

I was living in Boston because I knew I needed to go to a big city to come out. I'm from a small town in Iowa.

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