Queer Places:
5030 Golden Gate Ave, Oakland, CA 94618
Elwood Burton “Burt” Gerrits (March 15, 1923 - June 8, 2008) was born in Nunda, Lake County, South Dakota, the son of Frederick William Gerrits
(1893–1976) and Bessie L. Patterson (1895–1975). He served in the Navy during World War II. After graduating from college, he taught school briefly in Sinai before moving to California, where he taught at Peidmont High School for 33 years.
He was a long-time docent for the Mountain View Cemetery and a member of the California Genealogical Society. Burt practiced Transcendental Meditation for many years. He hosted an East Bay Gay & Lesbian sangha group.
His recollections of Navy life as a gay man were included in historian Allan Bérubé’s book Coming Out Under Fire. Gerrits taught in public schools for 35 years, and was active in many LGBT organizations and events.
Burt Gerrits was active in various organizations. The Gay Coalition on the Media came together in 1975 to press for fair treatment of gay issues in the various media. The Bay Area March on Washington Committee was formed in 1987 to provide local outreach, fundraising, transportation and publicity in response to the call for a Gay and Lesbian March on Washington. The Mobilization Against AIDS was organized in 1985 to press for increased government funding in the fight against AIDS, to oppose civil rights attacks and to educate the public. Gerrits was involved with the Gay Academic Union, the 1984 March on Washington, the University of California Gay & Lesbian Alumni, BANGLE, the Gay Freedom Day Committee and the Pacific Center.
References:
 Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II Paperback – Special Edition, September 7, 2010 by Allan Bérubé |
Other references:
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