Berube, Allan

I met Allan in the early 1980s in San Francisco. We sort of ran in the same big crowd of lefty gay men. He gave slide shows of his on-going research on gays and lesbians in the military and my roommates and I sponsored one of his fund and awareness-raising showings in our house. I eventually was honored to become one of his financial supporters - a group of folks that all gave a little money every month to try to keep a roof over Allan's head while he continued his research and wrote his book. He was one of the giants in the history of the LGBT community...and also was one hell of a sexy man with a smile that would make you weak in the knees! What a remarkable guy.

While doing research on San Francisco's response to the early AIDS epidemic (early-to-mid 1980s), I came across Allan's article on the history of gay bathhouses (it appeared in Coming Up! in December 1984). The article stems from a 45-page declaration outlining the history of gay bathhouses that Allan submitted in support of bathhouse patrons to the Superior Court of California on November 5, 1984, during the bathhouse closure debate and subsequent legal fight. (In the end, the bathhouses in San Francisco were regulated out of business.)

When I was first sick with AIDS in 1984, Allan, on a visit to teach in L.A., was the first gay man who would engage with me sexually since I was diagnosed with GRID in 1982. Allan taught me the joys of safe sex! I will forever remember him with such love for the way he broke through the fears of the time, and engaged sexually with this person with AIDS.

Allan made a wonderful 28-minute long home video, probably taped in 1990 so, following his friend Garrison Habsburg on a cheerful walk through the Castro. The video is in the collection of the GLBT Historical Society, and may be viewed online (right now on Youtube) called Garrison's Grand Tour. Allan and Garrison walk around the Castro on a beautiful, hot and sunny day and go to Garrison's apartment and also meet up with Chuck Frutchey (1953-2000) and Steven Speier in their apartment at 574 Castro. The video starts with Allan and Garrison walking to Garrison's apartment at 296 Church street, apparently just having returned from the beach, and doing a tour of the apartment and listening to phone messages while Garrison changes and opens up windows and blinds to let the light and breeze in, and then they walk to Castro street and look at various stores before hanging out with Chuck and Steve and having a very sweet chat. The video ends with Garrison sleeping, or pretending to sleep, naked on his bed at 296 Church, and Allan zooms in on his butt, where he has written filmed by Allan Berube. A very sweet afternoon in the sun that really shows the personalities of everyone in the video.