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{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Jefferson Poland
| name = Jefferson Poland
| image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] -->
| image = Helix, v.3, no.5, Apr. 11, 1968 - DPLA - 40ca53f6c2fdc9c45fabf82dd272d002 (page 13).jpg
| alt =
| alt =
| caption = Jeff Poland interviewed in the Seattle underground paper ''[[Helix (newspaper)|Helix]]'', 1968
| caption =
| birth_name = John Jefferson Poland
| birth_name = John Jefferson Poland
| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|07|12}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|07|12}}
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| death_place = [[San Francisco]]
| death_place = [[San Francisco]]
| nationality = [[Americans|American]]
| nationality = [[Americans|American]]
| other_names = John Fuck Poland<br/>Clitlick
| other_names = Jefferson Fuck Poland<br/>Jefferson Clitlick
| occupation = Writer
| occupation = Writer
| years_active =
| years_active =
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}}
}}


'''John Jefferson Poland''' (July 12, 1942 – November 17, 2017) better known{{cn|date=December 2019}} as '''John Fuck Poland''' was an activist, co-founder of the [[Sexual Freedom League]], and convicted child molester.
'''John Jefferson Poland''' (July 12, 1942 – November 17, 2017), who sometimes went by '''Jefferson Fuck Poland''' and '''Jefferson Clitlick''',<ref name=weigel>{{cite book | title=Labor of Love | last=Weigel | first=Moira | publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux | year=2016 | isbn=9780374182533 | pages=145–146}}</ref> was an activist who co-founded the [[Sexual Freedom League]].


==Early life==
==Early life==
Poland was born in [[Indiana]] in 1942.<ref>{{cite book |last= Allyn |first= David |authorlink= David Allyn |title= Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History |date= 2016-05-23 |publisher= [[Routledge]] |pages= 41–53 |isbn= 9781134934737 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eP42DAAAQBAJ&q=%22jefferson+poland%22+%22born+in%22&pg=PA42 |quote= he would tell Jeff to strip and then whipped the naked boy with a belt. Eventually Jeff told his mother about his father's beatings, and mother and son fled to Houston, Texas.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1995|pp=139–150}} "Jefferson Poland was born in Indiana in 1942"</ref> He became a student at [[Florida State University]] and majored in sociology. He was expelled from that university in 1960 for his integrationist work with the [[Congress for Racial Equality]] (CORE). He participated with the [[Freedom Riders]] in Florida and in June 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/4525 |title=Sit-in at a Miami diner. |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Tom |last=Dalzell |url=http://quirkyberkeley.com/gone-sexual-freedom-league/ |title=Gone: Sexual Freedom League (And a Look at Body Freedom) |date=November 15, 2014 |accessdate=June 29, 2016 }}</ref>
Poland was born in [[Indiana]] in 1942.<ref>{{cite book |last= Allyn |first= David |authorlink= David Allyn |title= Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History |date= 2016-05-23 |publisher= [[Routledge]] |pages= 41–53 |isbn= 9781134934737 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eP42DAAAQBAJ&q=%22jefferson+poland%22+%22born+in%22&pg=PA42 |quote= he would tell Jeff to strip and then whipped the naked boy with a belt. Eventually Jeff told his mother about his father's beatings, and mother and son fled to Houston, Texas.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1995|pp=139–150}} "Jefferson Poland was born in Indiana in 1942"</ref> He became a student at [[Florida State University]] and majored in sociology. He was expelled from that university in 1960 for his integrationist work with the [[Congress for Racial Equality]] (CORE). He participated with the [[Freedom Riders]] in Florida and in June 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/4525 |title=Sit-in at a Miami diner. |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Tom |last=Dalzell |url=http://quirkyberkeley.com/gone-sexual-freedom-league/ |title=Gone: Sexual Freedom League (And a Look at Body Freedom) |date=November 15, 2014 |accessdate=June 29, 2016 }}</ref>


Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of Dolores Huerta. He worked with CORE to register black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.{{sfn|Sides|2009|loc=Ch. 2}}
Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of [[Dolores Huerta]]. He worked with CORE to register black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.{{sfn|Sides|2009|loc=Ch. 2}}


Poland participated in one of the [[List of pre-Stonewall LGBT actions in the United States|first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States]]. Poland, along with organizer [[Randy Wicker]] and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in [[New York City]] to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's [[Selective Service System|draft]] records. Sources differ on the date of this demonstration, with some citing 1963 and others 1964.{{sfn|Fletcher|1992|p=67}}{{sfn|Hekma|2014|loc=Ch. 13}}{{sfn|Grant|1995|page=135}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Erin Faith |last=Wilson |url=http://www.advocate.com/pride/2015/06/25/beyond-stonewall-9-lesser-known-lgbt-uprisings |title=Beyond Stonewall: 9 Lesser-Known LGBT Uprisings |date=June 25, 2015 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Andrew |last=Belonsky |url=http://www.out.com/entertainment/today-gay-history/2013/09/19/today-gay-history-first-gay-protest |title=Today in Gay History: The First Gay Protest |date=September 19, 2013 }}</ref>
Poland participated in one of the [[List of pre-Stonewall LGBT actions in the United States|first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States]]. Poland, along with organizer [[Randy Wicker]] and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in [[New York City]] to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's [[Selective Service System|draft]] records. Sources differ on the date of this demonstration, with some citing 1963 and others 1964.{{sfn|Fletcher|1992|p=67}}{{sfn|Hekma|2014|loc=Ch. 13}}{{sfn|Grant|1995|page=135}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Erin Faith |last=Wilson |url=http://www.advocate.com/pride/2015/06/25/beyond-stonewall-9-lesser-known-lgbt-uprisings |title=Beyond Stonewall: 9 Lesser-Known LGBT Uprisings |date=June 25, 2015 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Andrew |last=Belonsky |url=http://www.out.com/entertainment/today-gay-history/2013/09/19/today-gay-history-first-gay-protest |title=Today in Gay History: The First Gay Protest |date=September 19, 2013 }}</ref>
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==Sexual Freedom League==
==Sexual Freedom League==


In 1963, Poland founded the Sexual Freedom League in [[New York City]] with [[Leo Koch]].{{sfn|Allyn|2000|p=43-44}} He then moved to the [[San Francisco Bay]] Area and focused his organizing efforts near the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and [[San Francisco State University]]. Poland founded various chapters, including ones in the East Bay, San Francisco, [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] and [[San Diego]]. However, he did not run these organizations himself; he would found them and then turn them over to others. Poland was a graduate student at San Francisco State University.<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Marinacci |url=http://pw2.netcom.com/~mikalm/psyven.htm |title=Sex, drugs and Hindu Godes: The story of the Psychedelic Venus Church |date=July 1, 1998 |accessdate=June 30, 2001 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030203154531/http://pw2.netcom.com/~mikalm/psyven.htm |archivedate=February 3, 2003 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Rorabaugh|2015|p=110}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Katy |last=St. Clair |url=http://www.culteducation.com/group/1256-general-assembly/8502-children-of-om-.html |title=Children of Om |date=September 24, 2003 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 |website= [[East Bay Express]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://berkeleyplaques.org/e-plaque/sexual-freedom-league/ |title=Berkeley Historical Plaque Project - Sexual Freedom League |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Schaefer|2014|loc=Ch. 1}}
In 1963, Poland founded the Sexual Freedom League in [[New York City]] with [[Leo Koch]].{{sfn|Allyn|2000|p=43-44}} He then moved to the [[San Francisco Bay]] Area and focused his organizing efforts near the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and [[San Francisco State University]]. Poland founded various chapters, including ones in the East Bay, San Francisco, [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] and [[San Diego]]. However, he did not run these organizations himself; he would found them and then turn them over to others. Poland was a graduate student at San Francisco State University.<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Marinacci |url=http://pw2.netcom.com/~mikalm/psyven.htm |title=Sex, drugs and Hindu Godes: The story of the Psychedelic Venus Church |date=July 1, 1998 |accessdate=June 30, 2001 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030203154531/http://pw2.netcom.com/~mikalm/psyven.htm |archivedate=February 3, 2003 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Rorabaugh|2015|p=110}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Katy |last=St. Clair |url=https://eastbayexpress.com/children-of-om-1/ |title=Children of Om |date=September 24, 2003 |accessdate=January 26, 2024 |website= [[East Bay Express]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://berkeleyplaques.org/e-plaque/sexual-freedom-league/ |title=Berkeley Historical Plaque Project - Sexual Freedom League |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Schaefer|2014|loc=Ch. 1}}


Poland, on August 25, 1965, conducted a "Nude Wade-in" he led with Ina Saslow and Shirley Einseidel at [[San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park|Aquatic Park]], a public beach in San Francisco. This event was reported in the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' and ''[[Time Magazine|Time]]''. At least one UPI photo of this event is archived at the [[Library of Congress]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/library/sfl.html|title=Sexual Freedom League Collection at The Kinsey Institute|accessdate=July 27, 2007}}</ref>{{sfn|Hoffman|2015|p=221}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/98513570/ |title=Nude bathers Ina Saslow, Shirley Einsiedel, and Jefferson, an official of the Sexual Freedom League, wade out of water as crowd gathers around them, Aquatic Park, San Francisco |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] - Research and Reference Services / [[UPI]] |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Sides|2009|loc=Ch. 2}}<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Journal of American Studies]] |volume=46 |issue=1 |issn=1469-5154 |date=February 2012 |pages=259–260 |first=Ruth |last=Barton |title=Screening Irish-America: Representing Irish-America in Film and Television |doi=10.1017/S0021875811001630}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899098,00.html |title=Students: The Free-Sex Movement |date=March 11, 1966 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 |newspaper=TIME }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.culture.usa/ZqBcrfWBZLY |title=Time Mag (3/11/66): "Students: The Free-Sex Movement" |date=June 24, 2012 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>
Poland, on August 25, 1965, conducted a "Nude Wade-in" he led with Ina Saslow and Shirley Einseidel at [[San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park|Aquatic Park]], a public beach in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/library/sfl.html|title=Sexual Freedom League Collection at The Kinsey Institute|accessdate=July 27, 2007}}</ref>{{sfn|Hoffman|2015|p=221}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/98513570/ |title=Nude bathers Ina Saslow, Shirley Einsiedel, and Jefferson, an official of the Sexual Freedom League, wade out of water as crowd gathers around them, Aquatic Park, San Francisco |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] - Research and Reference Services / [[UPI]] |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Sides|2009|loc=Ch. 2}}<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Journal of American Studies]] |volume=46 |issue=1 |issn=1469-5154 |date=February 2012 |pages=259–260 |first=Ruth |last=Barton |title=Screening Irish-America: Representing Irish-America in Film and Television |doi=10.1017/S0021875811001630|s2cid=145459130 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899098,00.html |title=Students: The Free-Sex Movement |date=March 11, 1966 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 |newspaper=TIME }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.culture.usa/ZqBcrfWBZLY |title=Time Mag (3/11/66): "Students: The Free-Sex Movement" |date=June 24, 2012 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref> Poland, calling himself "Jefferson Fuck Poland", had, in 1966, his name legally changed thereto and identifying as [[bisexual]].{{sfn|Allyn|2000|p=53}} While at San Francisco State University, Poland with Blair Paltridge, were connected with a magazine called ''Open Process.'' They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hearings |author=United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities |year=1967 |page=2055 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1o8fAQAAMAAJ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aavw.org/protest/subversive_huac_abstract09_excerpt.html |title="Subversive Influences" - House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abebooks.fr/American-Civil-Liberties-Union-News-volume/16869254319/bd |title=American Civil Liberties Union News, volume xxxiii, number 1. January 1968. "ACLU Intervention and Concerns; Due Process at S. F. State College" |date=January 1, 1968 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref> In 1968, Poland signed the "[[Writers and Editors War Tax Protest]]" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.<ref>"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 ''New York Post''</ref> Poland was a subject and contributor to the underground newspaper the ''[[Berkeley Barb]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BFBJFGD19670623.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1 |title=Chron buckles to sex group |page=2 |date=June 23–29, 1967 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BFBJFGD19670623.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1 |title=Women passive? |page=2 |date=June 23–29, 1967 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>

Poland, calling himself "Jefferson Fuck Poland", had, in 1966, his name legally changed thereto and identifying as [[bisexual]].{{sfn|Allyn|2000|p=53}}

While at San Francisco State University, Poland with Blair Paltridge, were connected with a magazine called ''Open Process.'' They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hearings |author=United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities |year=1967 |page=2055 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1o8fAQAAMAAJ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aavw.org/protest/subversive_huac_abstract09_excerpt.html |title="Subversive Influences" - House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abebooks.fr/American-Civil-Liberties-Union-News-volume/16869254319/bd |title=American Civil Liberties Union News, volume xxxiii, number 1. January 1968. "ACLU Intervention and Concerns; Due Process at S. F. State College" |date=January 1, 1968 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>

Poland was a subject and contributor to the underground newspaper the ''[[Berkeley Barb]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BFBJFGD19670623.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1 |title=Chron buckles to sex group |page=2 |date=June 23–29, 1967 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BFBJFGD19670623.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1 |title=Women passive? |page=2 |date=June 23–29, 1967 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>

In 1968, Poland signed the "[[Writers and Editors War Tax Protest]]" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.<ref>"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 ''New York Post''</ref>

In May 1968, the [[Diggers (theater)|Diggers]] theater group held an event they called the "Free City Convention," at the [[Fillmore West]] (then known as the Carousel Ballroom) when Poland held a sex orgy.<ref>{{cite web |first=Dennis |last=McNally |url=http://www.gdreferencesite.com/fw69.html |title=Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings (Grateful Dead record liner notes) |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>


Poland, after attempting to attend the Berkeley City Council meeting of September 22, 1970, was arrested and later convicted of disturbing the peace and interfering with a police officer in the line of duty. He served 90 days at Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center near Dublin.<ref>{{cite news |first=Mother |last=Boats |url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BFBJFGD19701113.1.5&srpos=5&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-poland--------------1# |title=Fuck gets ninety days for democracy! |date=November 13–19, 1970 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 |newspaper=[[Berkeley Barb]] |page=5 }}</ref>
Poland, after attempting to attend the Berkeley City Council meeting of September 22, 1970, was arrested and later convicted of disturbing the peace and interfering with a police officer in the line of duty. He served 90 days at Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center near Dublin.<ref>{{cite news |first=Mother |last=Boats |url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BFBJFGD19701113.1.5&srpos=5&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-poland--------------1# |title=Fuck gets ninety days for democracy! |date=November 13–19, 1970 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 |newspaper=[[Berkeley Barb]] |page=5 }}</ref>
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==Psychedelic Venus Church==
==Psychedelic Venus Church==


In 1970, Poland founded the ''Psychedelic Venus Church'' (PsyVen or PVC), an offshoot of the Sexual Freedom League, with Mother Boats becoming President. He felt that the leadership of the Sexual Freedom League was becoming too "bourgeois". The ([[entheogenic]]) [[Sacrament#Entheogenic Sacraments|sacrament]] of the Psychedelic Venus Church was [[marijuana]] and, after lighting up, at each meeting a woman was chosen to be ''[[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]''. At the beginning of services, she was placed on an [[altar]], candles were lit on each side of her, and her [[vulva]] was smeared with [[honey]]. Each of the males (and some women if so inclined) at the meeting licked the woman's vulva in order to honor the [[goddess]] Venus. Then the orgy began in earnest. Meetings continued in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] until 1972.<ref>''The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League'' by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison with preface by [[Herbert Gold]], [[Olympia Press]], 1971</ref>{{sfn|Clifton|2006|page=148}}{{sfn|Holzer|2015|loc=Ch. 3}}
In 1970, Poland founded the ''Psychedelic Venus Church'' (PsyVen or PVC), an offshoot of the Sexual Freedom League, with Mother Boats becoming president. He felt that the leadership of the Sexual Freedom League was becoming too "bourgeois". Each meeting began with smoking marijuana. The meetings continued in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] until 1972.<ref>''The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League'' by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison with preface by [[Herbert Gold]], [[Olympia Press]], 1971</ref>{{sfn|Clifton|2006|page=148}}{{sfn|Holzer|2015|loc=Ch. 3}} The Church had 700 members by 1971 but disbanded in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |first=Aidan |last=Kelly |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/aidankelly/2013/01/a-history-of-the-craft-in-america-california-and-councils-1967-1973-part-ii/ |title=A History of the Craft in America: California and Councils, 1967-1973, Part II |date=January 30, 2013 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>

The Church had 700 members by 1971 but disbanded in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |first=Aidan |last=Kelly |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/aidankelly/2013/01/a-history-of-the-craft-in-america-california-and-councils-1967-1973-part-ii/ |title=A History of the Craft in America: California and Councils, 1967-1973, Part II |date=January 30, 2013 |accessdate=June 30, 2016 }}</ref>


==Jefferson Poland Archive==
==Jefferson Poland Archive==


Poland turned over his archives to the [[Bancroft Library]] of the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where they are now available for public viewing by academic researchers.
Poland turned over his archives to the [[Bancroft Library]] of the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where they are now available for public viewing by academic researchers.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

==Sex offense, flight, and name change==
By 1980, Poland had moved to San Diego.

⚫
In 1983, Poland was charged with molesting the 8 or 9 year daughter of an acquaintance whom he babysat. Poland fled the country and he lived for five years as a [[fugitive]] in India, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1988, he was arrested in Hawaii. By that time he had changed his last name legally to "Clitlick".{{sfn|Grant|1995}} He [[nolo_contendere|pled no-contest]] to California Penal Code 288(a), "lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 years of age," a [[felony]], and was sentenced to a year in prison and to register as a sex offender.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=custom%3ACustBucket1%21California%20titles&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Jefferson%20Poland%22&docref=news/117909BFEDEDF2B1|work = [[San Diego Union-Tribune]]|date = October 6, 1988| first = Tom | last = Blair| title = Title: Tom Blair}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=custom%3ACustBucket1%21California%20titles&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Jefferson%20Poland%22&docref=news/117908B21FE083C8| title = Child molester gets one year in jail| date = September 9, 1988|first = Bill| last = Callahan|work = San Diego Union-Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=custom%3ACustBucket1%21California%20titles&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Jefferson%20Poland%22&docref=news/117907D253B7D475|title = Child molestation|work = San Diego Union-Tribune|date = August 12, 1988}}</ref>


==Sex offense conviction==
==Personal life==
⚫
By 1980, Poland had moved to San Diego. In 1983, Poland was charged with molesting the 8- or 9-year-old daughter of an acquaintance whom he babysat. Poland fled the country and he lived for five years as a [[fugitive]] in India, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1988, he was arrested in Hawaii. By that time he had changed his last name legally to "Clitlick".{{sfn|Grant|1995}} He [[nolo contendere|pled no-contest]] to California Penal Code 288(a), "lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 years of age," a [[felony]], and was sentenced to a year in prison and to register as a sex offender.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=custom%3ACustBucket1%21California%20titles&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Jefferson%20Poland%22&docref=news/117909BFEDEDF2B1|work = [[San Diego Union-Tribune]]|date = October 6, 1988| first = Tom | last = Blair| title = Title: Tom Blair}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=custom%3ACustBucket1%21California%20titles&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Jefferson%20Poland%22&docref=news/117908B21FE083C8| title = Child molester gets one year in jail| date = September 9, 1988|first = Bill| last = Callahan|work = San Diego Union-Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=custom%3ACustBucket1%21California%20titles&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Jefferson%20Poland%22&docref=news/117907D253B7D475|title = Child molestation|work = San Diego Union-Tribune|date = August 12, 1988}}</ref>
Poland moved back to San Francisco in the 1990s and lived near the [[Civic Center, San Francisco]].


==Death==
==Death==
His death certificate shows he died as "Jay Poland" on November 17, 2017, at [[Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital]] located at 1001 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco CA 94118. It says he was widowed but no wife of his is known. His cause of death was sepsis.
Poland died on November 17, 2017, at [[Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital]].{{cn|date=November 2024}}


==Books==
==Books==
* Sex Marchers by Jefferson F. Poland and [[Sam Sloan]] (1968) {{ISBN|1881373053}} published by [[Elysium Growth Press]], 2nd Edition (2006) {{ISBN|0-923891-13-7}} by [[Ishi Press]]
* Sex Marchers by Jefferson F. Poland and Sam Sloan (1968) {{ISBN|1881373053}} published by Elysium Growth Press, 2nd Edition (2006) {{ISBN|0-923891-13-7}} by [[Ishi Press]]
* ''Second Bite of the Apple'', The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, Collection number: BANC MSS 70/143 c
* ''Second Bite of the Apple'', The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, Collection number: BANC MSS 70/143 c
* ''The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League'' by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison with preface by [[Herbert Gold]], [[Olympia Press]], 1971, {{ISBN|0700413200}}
* ''The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League'' by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison, [[Olympia Press]], 1971, {{ISBN|0700413200}}


==Notes==
==Notes==
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*{{IMDb name | 3728064}}
*{{IMDb name | 3728064}}
*[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;titlesAZ=j;idT=UCb162785616 Jefferson F. Poland papers, approximately 1965-1973]
*[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;titlesAZ=j;idT=UCb162785616 Jefferson F. Poland papers, approximately 1965-1973]
** [http://www.worldcat.org/title/photographs-from-the-jefferson-f-poland-papers/oclc/43076123 Photographs from the Jefferson F. Poland papers]
** [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43076123 Photographs from the Jefferson F. Poland papers]
*[http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-jefferson-poland-mlk# Undated letter from Jefferson Poland to Martin Luther King, Jr.]
*[http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-jefferson-poland-mlk# Undated letter from Jefferson Poland to Martin Luther King, Jr.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822014810/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-jefferson-poland-mlk |date=August 22, 2016 }}
** [http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-mlk-jefferson-poland# MLK's response date November 16, 1962]
** [http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-mlk-jefferson-poland# MLK's response date November 16, 1962] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822020011/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-mlk-jefferson-poland |date=August 22, 2016 }}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Poland, Jefferson}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poland, Jefferson}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:American sexuality activists]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:American tax resisters]]
[[Category:American tax resisters]]
[[Category:Free love advocates]]
[[Category:Free love advocates]]
[[Category:American people convicted of child sexual abuse]]
[[Category:American people convicted of child sexual abuse]]
[[Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:LGBT people from Indiana]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Indiana]]
[[Category:People extradited from Australia]]
[[Category:People extradited from Australia]]
[[Category:People extradited to the United States]]
[[Category:People extradited to the United States]]

Latest revision as of 18:00, 23 November 2024

Jefferson Poland
Jeff Poland interviewed in the Seattle underground paper Helix, 1968
Born
John Jefferson Poland

(1942-07-12)July 12, 1942
Indiana
DiedNovember 17, 2017(2017-11-17) (aged 75)
San Francisco
NationalityAmerican
Other namesJefferson Fuck Poland
Jefferson Clitlick
OccupationWriter
Known forSexual Freedom League

John Jefferson Poland (July 12, 1942 – November 17, 2017), who sometimes went by Jefferson Fuck Poland and Jefferson Clitlick,[1] was an activist who co-founded the Sexual Freedom League.

Early life

[edit]

Poland was born in Indiana in 1942.[2][3] He became a student at Florida State University and majored in sociology. He was expelled from that university in 1960 for his integrationist work with the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). He participated with the Freedom Riders in Florida and in June 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.[4][5]

Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of Dolores Huerta. He worked with CORE to register black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.[6]

Poland participated in one of the first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States. Poland, along with organizer Randy Wicker and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's draft records. Sources differ on the date of this demonstration, with some citing 1963 and others 1964.[7][8][9][10][11]

Sexual Freedom League

[edit]

In 1963, Poland founded the Sexual Freedom League in New York City with Leo Koch.[12] He then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and focused his organizing efforts near the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. Poland founded various chapters, including ones in the East Bay, San Francisco, Berkeley and San Diego. However, he did not run these organizations himself; he would found them and then turn them over to others. Poland was a graduate student at San Francisco State University.[13][14][15][16][17]

Poland, on August 25, 1965, conducted a "Nude Wade-in" he led with Ina Saslow and Shirley Einseidel at Aquatic Park, a public beach in San Francisco.[18][19][20][6][21][22][23] Poland, calling himself "Jefferson Fuck Poland", had, in 1966, his name legally changed thereto and identifying as bisexual.[24] While at San Francisco State University, Poland with Blair Paltridge, were connected with a magazine called Open Process. They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine.[25][26][27] In 1968, Poland signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[28] Poland was a subject and contributor to the underground newspaper the Berkeley Barb.[29][30]

Poland, after attempting to attend the Berkeley City Council meeting of September 22, 1970, was arrested and later convicted of disturbing the peace and interfering with a police officer in the line of duty. He served 90 days at Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center near Dublin.[31]

Psychedelic Venus Church

[edit]

In 1970, Poland founded the Psychedelic Venus Church (PsyVen or PVC), an offshoot of the Sexual Freedom League, with Mother Boats becoming president. He felt that the leadership of the Sexual Freedom League was becoming too "bourgeois". Each meeting began with smoking marijuana. The meetings continued in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1972.[32][33][34] The Church had 700 members by 1971 but disbanded in 1973.[35]

Jefferson Poland Archive

[edit]

Poland turned over his archives to the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, where they are now available for public viewing by academic researchers.[citation needed]

Sex offense conviction

[edit]

By 1980, Poland had moved to San Diego. In 1983, Poland was charged with molesting the 8- or 9-year-old daughter of an acquaintance whom he babysat. Poland fled the country and he lived for five years as a fugitive in India, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1988, he was arrested in Hawaii. By that time he had changed his last name legally to "Clitlick".[36] He pled no-contest to California Penal Code 288(a), "lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 years of age," a felony, and was sentenced to a year in prison and to register as a sex offender.[37][38][39]

Death

[edit]

Poland died on November 17, 2017, at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.[citation needed]

Books

[edit]
  • Sex Marchers by Jefferson F. Poland and Sam Sloan (1968) ISBN 1881373053 published by Elysium Growth Press, 2nd Edition (2006) ISBN 0-923891-13-7 by Ishi Press
  • Second Bite of the Apple, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, Collection number: BANC MSS 70/143 c
  • The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison, Olympia Press, 1971, ISBN 0700413200

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Weigel, Moira (2016). Labor of Love. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. pp. 145–146. ISBN 9780374182533.
  2. ^ Allyn, David (May 23, 2016). Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History. Routledge. pp. 41–53. ISBN 9781134934737. he would tell Jeff to strip and then whipped the naked boy with a belt. Eventually Jeff told his mother about his father's beatings, and mother and son fled to Houston, Texas.
  3. ^ Grant 1995, pp. 139–150 "Jefferson Poland was born in Indiana in 1942"
  4. ^ "Sit-in at a Miami diner". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  5. ^ Dalzell, Tom (November 15, 2014). "Gone: Sexual Freedom League (And a Look at Body Freedom)". Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  6. ^ a b Sides 2009, Ch. 2.
  7. ^ Fletcher 1992, p. 67.
  8. ^ Hekma 2014, Ch. 13.
  9. ^ Grant 1995, p. 135.
  10. ^ Wilson, Erin Faith (June 25, 2015). "Beyond Stonewall: 9 Lesser-Known LGBT Uprisings". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  11. ^ Belonsky, Andrew (September 19, 2013). "Today in Gay History: The First Gay Protest".
  12. ^ Allyn 2000, p. 43-44.
  13. ^ Marinacci, Michael (July 1, 1998). "Sex, drugs and Hindu Godes: The story of the Psychedelic Venus Church". Archived from the original on February 3, 2003. Retrieved June 30, 2001.
  14. ^ Rorabaugh 2015, p. 110.
  15. ^ St. Clair, Katy (September 24, 2003). "Children of Om". East Bay Express. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  16. ^ "Berkeley Historical Plaque Project - Sexual Freedom League". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  17. ^ Schaefer 2014, Ch. 1.
  18. ^ "Sexual Freedom League Collection at The Kinsey Institute". Retrieved July 27, 2007.
  19. ^ Hoffman 2015, p. 221.
  20. ^ "Nude bathers Ina Saslow, Shirley Einsiedel, and Jefferson, an official of the Sexual Freedom League, wade out of water as crowd gathers around them, Aquatic Park, San Francisco". Library of Congress - Research and Reference Services / UPI. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  21. ^ Barton, Ruth (February 2012). "Screening Irish-America: Representing Irish-America in Film and Television". Journal of American Studies. 46 (1): 259–260. doi:10.1017/S0021875811001630. ISSN 1469-5154. S2CID 145459130.
  22. ^ "Students: The Free-Sex Movement". TIME. March 11, 1966. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  23. ^ "Time Mag (3/11/66): "Students: The Free-Sex Movement"". June 24, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  24. ^ Allyn 2000, p. 53.
  25. ^ United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities (1967). Hearings. p. 2055.
  26. ^ ""Subversive Influences" - House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  27. ^ "American Civil Liberties Union News, volume xxxiii, number 1. January 1968. "ACLU Intervention and Concerns; Due Process at S. F. State College"". January 1, 1968. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  28. ^ "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 New York Post
  29. ^ "Chron buckles to sex group". June 23–29, 1967. p. 2. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  30. ^ "Women passive?". June 23–29, 1967. p. 2. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  31. ^ Boats, Mother (November 13–19, 1970). "Fuck gets ninety days for democracy!". Berkeley Barb. p. 5. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  32. ^ The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison with preface by Herbert Gold, Olympia Press, 1971
  33. ^ Clifton 2006, p. 148.
  34. ^ Holzer 2015, Ch. 3.
  35. ^ Kelly, Aidan (January 30, 2013). "A History of the Craft in America: California and Councils, 1967-1973, Part II". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  36. ^ Grant 1995.
  37. ^ Blair, Tom (October 6, 1988). "Title: Tom Blair". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  38. ^ Callahan, Bill (September 9, 1988). "Child molester gets one year in jail". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  39. ^ "Child molestation". San Diego Union-Tribune. August 12, 1988.

Cited texts

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