Documentary Features Professor Emerita Sally Gearhart, First Out Lesbian on SF State Tenure-Track Faculty

BAY AREA REPORTER -- “Harvey Milk and I did wonderful things together. We looked like mom and pop,” says Gearhart, referring to their televised debate against the author of what was known as Proposition 6, the late state legislator John Briggs, who wanted to ban LGBT people from working in the state‘s public schools. The scene is captured in Deborah Craig and Veronica Deliz’s short documentary “A Great Ride,” which features a number of senior lesbians living in various cities in Northern California. With the camera rolling, the relatively reclusive Gearhart discusses her fears about aging. “I am scared to lose my ability to drive and my independence,” says Gearhart, 88, the first out lesbian to receive a tenure-track position at San Francisco State University in 1973.