'Blackmail, My Love' shows SF's sordid homophobic past

Published: Jan. 13, 2021, 12:34 a.m.

Blackmail, My Love is a noir murder-mystery novel set in San Francisco, 1951 - "The Dark Ages of Queerdom," as author and illustrator Katie Gilmartin puts it - when cops raided gay and lesbian bars, beat up patrons and demanded "protection" money, and when lesbians and gay men were so afraid of public exposure they were easy blackmail targets. The book is illustrated with 21 of Gilmartin's original prints, including "Miss Double Strand" here. 10pm Tuesday on KALW, historian, printmaker, Queer