Simon Sheppard

Simon Sheppard

San Francisco artist and activist Simon Sheppard, who celebrated human sexuality and queer rights passed away on February 12, 2021 from kidney cancer at the age of 72.
 
Sheppard moved to San Francisco in 1972 and became part of the Haight/Ashbury gay hippie scene that included the Cockettes. In 1974 he met his life partner and eventual husband William Atkins. Together they would support human rights here and travel the world for pleasure.
 
Sheppard is best known for his contributions to San Francisco's erotic literary scene. He started as a poet in the 1970s and read at local open mike poetry venues and was published in "Mouth of the Dragon." He began writing erotica and wrote hundreds of stories that appeared in local S/M magazines; erotic anthologies; in 16 editions of the annual "Best Gay Erotica," and in 5 of "Best American Erotica." There are also published collections of his stories: "Hotter Than Hell," which won a 2002 Erotic Authors Association award; "Kinkorama, Dispatches from the Front Lines of Perversion," autobiographical stories; "Sex Parties 101," a how-to book; "Sodomy!" and others. In 2007 he won a Lambda Literary Award for compiling and editing "Homosex, Sixty Years of Gay Erotica." For a while he wrote the syndicated column "Notes from a Cranky Old Fag." Over a period of several years, he and Carol Queen co-hosted and performed at the reading and performance series "Perverts Put Out." 
 
Born in New York City in 1948, Sheppard was one of two children of Len and Alva Sheppard.  He was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1971. His love of travel started early - after graduation he bummed around for six months in Europe and Morocco carrying his belongings in a duffle bag, surviving on odd jobs and sometimes sleeping in parks. 
 
Always an activist, as a teenager Sheppard participated in anti-war demonstrations with Quakers. As an adult he was a gay activist and participated in many demonstrations; was active in Act Up; was on the Gay Freedom Day Parade Committee and worked for years on the AIDS Foundation hotline. In addition, he volunteered at the SF Opera, the International Film Festival, Frameline, rock music venues and the Audubon Society. He was for years a staff usher at The Warfield Theater.
 
Sheppard and Atkins were lovers of natural beauty and traveling was a shared passion.  The couple made many trips to National Parks to camp, hike and cross-country ski. They climbed Mount Whitney together. They became scuba certified in Honduras. They took overland trips through India and other Asian countries, the Middle East, Europe and South America. Their love of roller coasters took them around the country to ride them.  Later in life they became cruising enthusiasts and went on 26 cruises together. When gay marriage was legalized, a previously booked transatlantic cruise became their official honeymoon in 2013.
 
Sheppard had a sharp intelligence and wit, a wide and diverse appetite for culture, a great sense of adventure, and a strength of character that allowed him to have a big alternative life.  He is survived by his sister, Kate Sheppard, and his loving husband and life partner of 46 years, William Atkins.