Homosexuality In America,” -- or-- How I found out I was “gay” at age 16, 1964.

[MikeW]

Now I have a specific destination in mind to check out when I move (other than Uni and Chinatown lol).

I'd enjoy giving you a tour of Berkeley, at least the Campus area. I could show you the FSM monument:



It reads:

THIS SOIL AND THE AIRSPACE EXISTING ABOVE IT SHALL NOT BE PART OF ANY NATION AND SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY ENTITY'S JURISDICTION.

It may very well be the only "liberated" spot on Earth.

Edit to add…

Allegedly the plaque marks the spot where this happened:



This was in 1965. That's a campus police car with an arrested student, Jack Weinberg, surrounded by other students preventing the car from driving away. Long story why the student had been arrested . Basically he was arrested for an act of "civil disobedience" on campus. It's a concept people don't talk about much anymore -- but it used to be something everyone knew about. It was a technique that was used throughout the Civil Rights movement, the Free Speech Movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s. The idea is to breaks the law (disobedience) in a peaceful, non-violent way (civil) to protest (speech) and call attention to (more speech) something perceived as unjust.



Jack Weinberg.

The students held the car captive for nearly 24 hours -- until the University administration signed what was called "the Pact of October 2" with representatives from several student political groups. During the time the car was held hostage, the students used it both literally and figuratively as a platform for free speech. They put a microphone on top and *anyone* could go up there and say anything they wanted.

The guy standing on top in the first picture is Mario Savio. He is best known for this speech (this is only a short excerpt) which he gave just before the occupation of Sproul Hall (the chief administrative building on campus) on December 2, 1964. It was the largest demonstration of the FSM. Approximately 1500 students took part in the occupation and, ultimately, 773 of them were arrested.