A People’s History of the Inland Empire Digital Archive

Items

• 

  Talene Salmaszadeh Oral History

  Talene Beuche Salmaszadeh lived and worked in Riverside for over twenty years and is an avid supporter of the local LGBTQ+ community. Through her role as a longtime host of Back to the Grind’s open mic poetry nights, her work at Back to the Grind, and as an organizer of the Saturation Fest art show, she was incredibly involved in Riverside’s LGBTQ+ art community for the past 20 years. She begins by discussing how she came to Riverside in 2001 and became involved with the local LGBTQ+ community through her regular visits to the Menagerie and activity with Riverside’s Underground Poetry Organization (RUPO). Salmaszadeh details the establishment of Back to the Grind coffee shop as a queer-friendly arts and community space which early on hosted RUPO’s community open mic poetry nights. She then describes how the Saturation Fest art show came to be, a process in which she was closely involved with as an organizer over the years. Salmaszadeh then touches on the murder of Jeffrey Owens, and the impact his death had on the local LGBTQ+ community. She closes out by discussing several key players in the local LGBTQ+ community and reflecting on the great ability of the Saturation Fest and Back to the Grind to be safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and as well as for the broader community.
• 

  Darren Conkerite Oral History

  In 1994 Darren Conkerite and his partner Scott opened Back to the Grind Coffeehouse which they created as a safe space for youth, the LGBTQ+ community, the arts, and political organizing. This interview begins with Conkerite discussing his family’s history in Lake Elsinore and his background in cheesemaking. He then details his meeting of his partner Scott and their decision to open Back the Grind in Riverside. Conkerite elaborates on how from the beginning he and Scott fostered community at Back to the Grind, supporting all types of people, the arts, and political organizing. He also discusses his history with Madeline Lee and David St. Pierre, two owners of the Menagerie gay bar, located next door to Back to the Grind. Conkerite provides details on the development of Riverside’s downtown area, which back in 1996 was not the vibrant space it is today. The interview concludes with him reflecting on several individuals active in LGBTQ+ organizing in the area and the role of Back to the Grind as a community space.
• 

  Connie Confer Oral History

  Connie Confer moved to Riverside in 1969 and since then has been an active organizer for LGBTQ+ and women’s issues in Riverside, holding leadership positions in organizations such as the Inland AIDS Project and the Political Action Coalition for Elections (PACE). The oral history begins with Confer discussing how she came to Riverside in 1969. She reflects on homophobia she experienced early on in the area. She then describes how after the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and California Proposition 6 in 1978, she became involved in political organizing for LGBTQ+ rights. Confer details her belief in the political and social power of the act of coming out, and her coming out in Riverside’s conservative climate. She then recounts her career working as Assistant City Attorney for Riverside for over 20 years and the work of the Inland AIDS Project and the Political Action Coalition for Elections, both of which she was president of. Confer then discusses the local battle over the AIDS Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, the backlash from the conservative Riverside Citizens for Responsible Behavior, and the work of her partner Kay Berryhill-Smith on the Human Relations Commission at the time. She also describes the work of the Inland AIDS Project in supporting and providing care for individuals with HIV/AIDS during the AIDS epidemic. Confer then details the AIDS Name Project Quilt and its community impact, which was brought to the Riverside Convention Center in 1987. She discusses the political fundraising work of PACE and its connection with the Menagerie. Confer recalls gay pride celebrations in the Riverside area which took place in the 80s and 90s and the Inland AIDS Project AIDS walks in downtown Riverside. She then describes PAC, a social group for LGBTQ+ men and women, women’s music, and lesbian cruises in the 1980s and 1990s. Confer discusses her work in women’s rights issues, including with the Spouse Abuse Coalition and Riverside County Coalition for Alternatives to Domestic Violence. The oral history closes with Conner reflecting on the state of LGBTQ+ rights today, including the fight for transgender rights and the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
• 

  Jane Carney Oral History

  Jane Carney moved to Riverside in 1977 as a business lawyer and was highly active in political organizing in the area. She ran for California State assembly in 1992, helped bring the Federal District and Appellate Courts to downtown Riverside and had a large role in the legal history of Riverside’s AIDS Anti-Discrimination Ordinance battle in the early 1990s. The oral history begins with Carney discussing how she came to Riverside and her early legal career in the area. She details meeting Connie Confer and their work to help confirm California Supreme Court Justice Rose Bird, afterwhich Carney became closely involved in election campaigns and political fundraisers. Carney then provides details on the work of the Riverside Coalition Against Discrimination and the homophobic climate in context of the ballot battle of the AIDS Anti-Discrimination Ordinance in Riverside. She details the overruling of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and the important role of Riverside’s Virginia Philips in writing the case opinion. Carney also discusses her close involvement with the formation of the Riverside Justice Center through the Riverside County Bar Association. The oral history closes out with Carney reflecting on the role of drag in the acceptance of lesbian and gay people as well as the climate of coming out in the 1980s in Riverside.
• 

  Philip Bailey Oral History

  Phillip Bailey has been a long time drag organizer and celebrity in Riverside since moving to the city in 1996. He discusses his long involvement in Riverside’s drag community and its beginnings in Riverside’s Menagerie and V.I.P. gay bars during the late 1980s and 1990s. Bailey details the activism role of the Riverside drag community during the AIDS epidemic, during which drag performers held fundraiser events for the Inland AIDS Project. He discusses how the LGBTQ+ community’s organized after the murder of Jeffrey Owens in which a “We Will Not Be Silent” march took place in the city and the Jeffrey Owens Community Center was founded. He talks about Riverside drag events that he has organized, including the annual Throwdown Drag Down Drag Race, his Fant-A-Shes productions beginning in 1997, and various drag shows at the V.I.P. and Menagerie bars over the years. Bailey also discusses key factors to drag history in the Inland Empire, including the famous Halston drag family, the impact of Ru Paul’s Drag Race locally, and the triangulation between Riverside, Palm Springs, and L.A. 's drag communities. He also notes the historic and contemporary relationship between the drag community and trans people and comments on the current attacks on drag performance and trans rights in the United States today.
• 

  Benita Ramsey Oral History

  Benita Ramsey has served the Inland Empire as an activist for over 30 years, working with organizations including the Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance, Divine Truth Unity Fellowship Church, and TruEvolution. She begins by discussing the Unity Fellowship Church movement, a faith based movement dedicated to supporting individuals with HIV/AIDS from the 1980s to today, and her involvement in its Riverside chapter. Ramsey then details the role of HIV/AIDS activism today in the Inland Empire, in which supporting an aging population as well as youth is central. She outlines the beginnings of TruEvolution, which she was an original board member of, that grew out of the Inland and Desert AIDS Projects. Ramsey also remembers the AIDS Quilt Project as well as several key figures in LGBTQ+ Riverside history including Kay Smith and Jeffrey Owens. She discusses the need for and formation of Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance, an organization that was the first of its kind in focusing on the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in the I.E.. Ramsey ends the interview by reflecting on the current state of I.E. LGBTQ+ organizing during a time of rampant anti-LGBTQ+ hate and anti-trans legislation, noting that organizations such as Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance, TruEvolution, and Divine Truth Unity Fellowship Church will continue to support and uplift the I.E.’s LGBTQ+ community, preach love, and overcome hate.
• 

  Chani Beeman Oral History

  Chani Beeman discusses the overlaps between and intersectionality of the LGBTQ community, women’s rights, and the empowerment of people of color. She discusses her family life, and that by the time she started college, she had two young children and had gotten remarried. She describes her exposure to the LGBTQ community during the 1980s AIDS crisis, and coming out when she was 28 years old. She mentions pressure from her family to conform to a more heteronormative lifestyle. While Chani Beeman was at Cal State San Bernardino, she became politically active and was openly gay. She describes her involvement in the socialist organization Solidarity, which emphasized the intersectionality of women’s rights, socialism, and anti-war movements. Chani Beeman also discusses her involvement in the Inland AIDS Project and Women Enraged! She shares details about her many collaborations and community organizing with other regional groups, commonly around social justice. She describes her involvement after the brutal murder of Nancy Willem in actions led by Women Enraged, including the Clothesline Project which brought attention to violence against women. Beeman also describes Women Enraged’s guerrilla theater, which included street demonstrations; other examples she offers include how WE wrote statistics about violence against women on dollar bills and distributed them in public. One of the slogans on the bills was “Stop sucking, start biting”. She is an active community organizer and member.