February 12, 2021Simon Sheppard moved to San Francisco in 1972 and became part of the Haight Ashbury gay hippie scene. He wrote hundreds of stories that appeared in magazines, anthologies and in 17 editions of the annual "Best Gay Erotica," and in five of "Best American Erotica." There are also published collections of his stories.
In 2007, he won a Lambda Literary Award for editing "Homosex, Sixty Years of Gay Erotica." For years he and Carol Queen co-hosted and performed at the reading and performance series "Perverts Put Out." Simon was a gay activist and participated in many demonstrations, was active in ACT UP, and volunteered on the AIDS foundation hotline.