Brad Keistler was a 75-year-old man at the time of the interview, which took place at J. Murrey Atkins Library in Charlotte, NC. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was educated at Charlotte College and UNC Chapel Hill and was employed as the owner of a retail business called Asterisk in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a laboratory technician for Celanese Fibre Industries, Papermate, and American Cyanamid, and as a coin repair technician for Pacific Bell/ Southwestern Bell. He was a co-founder of the Charlotte chapter of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
In this first of two interviews, Brad Keistler, the co-founder of the Charlotte chapter of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in the early 70s, describes his childhood in Mecklenburg County, his college experience at UNC Charlotte and UNC Chapel Hill, and his experience being a gay man in Charlotte in the late 60s and early 70s. Topics discussed include Mr. Keistler's head shop business called Asterisk, Crazy Horse Books, coming out to his friends and family, living at the Red Worms Commune [then at 1218 Myrtle Ave. in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte], the effects of the Vietnam War on his generation, racial relations and prejudice, vandalism of Crazy Horse Books, starting the Charlotte chapter of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) with his friends Greg and Charles, activities that GLF participated in, and why Mr. Kiestler decided to leave Charlotte and move to Los Angeles. Mr. Kiestler ends the interview by describing his life and the gay community in LA.
