Pride Related Racial Equity Resources

Henry Gerber and pre-Stonewall LGBTQ activism

6/30/24

Week of:

June 30, 2024

Henry Gerber and pre-Stonewall LGBTQ activism

Pride is celebrated in June mainly because it is the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York. But there were gay activists long before that, including a short-lived organization founded in Chicago in 1924. Add the names of its founder, Henry Gerber, and first President, John Graves, as well as another Chicagoan, lesbian lawyer Pearl Hart to the list of people who helped lay the foundation for the Gay Rights movement. 

The Henry Gerber House, Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Thshriver (CC BY SA 2.0;

History

Pride

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SIP OF HISTORY: HENRY GERBER (youtube.com)

John T. Graves: 1920s Clergyman and Gay Rights Activist - YouTube

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https://www.listennotes.com/top-podcasts/henry-gerber/#episodes

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Meet Henry and Pearl… – Gerber/Hart Library and Archives (gerberhart.org)

Pearl M. Hart: Defender of the Oppressed and Vulnerable - Chicago History Museum

Pearl Hart's Life and Work · Pearl M. Hart · GH Exhibits (gerberhart.org)

LGBTQ Activism: The Henry Gerber House, Chicago, IL (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Henry Gerber - Governors Island National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

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♫ Henry Gerber and Chicago's Society for Human Rights (iheart.com)

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Why Did Gay Rights Take So Long? - The Atlantic

How Alfred Kinsey armed the early gay rights movement with research - LGBTQ Nation

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Stonewall Book Awards

6/23/24

Week of:

June 23, 2024

Stonewall Book Awards

Are you still gathering your summer reading list? The American Library Association's Stonewall Book Awards provide possibilities for all ages. Find the list in this week's resources along with information about the trailblazers for whom some of the awards are named.

Header for the second edition of the “Gay Bibliography,” 1971. RS: 49/35/10 Box 1.

History

Pride

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‍LCL "And the Award goes to... Series: The Stonewall Book Award" for June 2024 (youtube.com)‍
‍#Pride50: Barbara Gittings — Mother of the Gay Rights Movement (nbcnews.com)

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‍Out of the Closet & Onto the Shelves: Librarians and the Oldest Gay Professional Organization in the U.S. – American Library Association Archives – U of I Library (illinois.edu)‍
‍Barbara Gittings | Legacy Project Chicago‍
‍Guide to the Israel David Fishman papers (nypl.org)‍
‍GLBT book award named for longtime staff members | Vanderbilt University

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Barbara Gittings & Kay Lahusen — Part 2 | Making Gay History

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Interview · Barbara Gittings: Founding the New York Daughters of Bilitis in 1958, by Jonathan Ned Katz · OutHistory

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Upstairs Lounge Fire (Contains Disturbing Images)

6/16/24

Week of:

June 16, 2024

Upstairs Lounge Fire (Contains Disturbing Images)

The Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 has the unfortunate distinction of being the largest mass crime directed at LGBTQ+ individuals. Fifty-one years ago the largely unknown Upstairs Lounge fire, which killed 32 people in New Orleans, occurred. Learn more about this tragedy in this week's resources. Note that there are disturbing descriptions and images.

A view inside the UpStairs Lounge after the fire that killed 32 people on June 25, 1973. Many of the victims were there for a meeting of the Metropolitan Community Church, an LGBT-affirmative church founded by the Rev. Troy Perry. Jack Thornell/AP

Pride

History

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"They turned their back on him like he was subhuman" | Upstairs Lounge fire 50 years later (youtube.com)

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After UpStairs Lounge Fire At New Orleans Gay Bar, An Unwavering Resolve: 'We Never Ran Away' : NPR

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‍50 Years Ago, the Fire at the Up Stairs Lounge Gay Bar in New Orleans Killed 32 (advocate.com)‍
‍Almost 50 years later, deadly attack at New Orleans gay bar remains unsolved — Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting (mississippicir.org)‍
‍Soldier in a Tinderbox: Ferris LeBlanc, World War II, and the Up Stairs Lounge Fire | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)

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Prejudice & Pride: Revisiting the tragic fire that killed 32 in a New Orleans gay bar (youtube.com)

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Podcast 129: 50 Years of Remembering the Up Stairs Lounge Fire (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

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♫ Chapter One: The Story (iheart.com) (and additional episodes)

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Tinderbox : the untold story of the Up Stairs Lounge fire and... | Arlington Public Library (arlingtonva.us)

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Gays & Lesbians in WW2

6/9/24

Week of:

June 9, 2024

Gays & Lesbians in WW2

The image that has been cultivated of World War II soldiers rarely encompasses the thousands of gays and lesbians who served. This week learn more about the efforts to keep LGBTQ individuals out of service, to discharge those who were subsequently identified, acceptance by their peers, and Army sponsored drag shows.

Image via wwiimemorialfriends.org

Pride

History

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What It Was Like to Be Gay During WWII Smithsonian Magazine

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WW2 and the Progress of the LGBTQ Culture (youtube.com)

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Coming Out Under Fire: Trailer (youtube.com)

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WWII & NYC: Staging Soldier Shows from Burma to Broadway (youtube.com)

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The Role of Drag Performances in Boosting Morale During WWII (youtube.com)

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“Gee!! I Wish I Were A Man”: Queer Americans in World War II (wwiimemorialfriends.org)

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"Coming Out Under Fire": The Story of Gay and Lesbian Servicemembers | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)

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Lesbians, World War II and Beyond (cont) · Lesbians in the Twentieth Century, 1900-1999, by Esther Newton and Her Students · OutHistory

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When the Military Expelled LGBTQ Soldiers With 'Blue Discharges' | HISTORY

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Pat Bond Describes the Military Purge of LGBTQ+ Service Members · SHEC: Resources for Teachers (cuny.edu)

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Performing Soldiers: Drag as a Safe Space for Men in the American Military (mjhnyc.org)

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The Other War | Learning for Justice

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Two Spirit Indigenous People

6/2/24

Week of:

June 2, 2024

Two Spirit Indigenous People

You may have heard the term "two spirit" associated with Native Americans. Is it the same as LGBTQ+? This week learn about the traditional acknowledgement and acceptance in indigenous cultures of people who reflected gender nonconformity (from the European perspective), including a Zuni "princess" who was a guest at the White House in the 1880s.

We'wha, the Zuni lhamana image via Wikipedia

Pride

Indigenous

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‍What Does "Two-Spirit" Mean? | InQueery | them. (youtube.com)‍
‍Two Spirits: Gender as a Spectrum, Not a Divide | PBS‍
‍We'wha | PBS LearningMedia

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Icons: Osh-Tisch | Womanica (youtube.com)

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‍Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ Identities: Today and Centuries Ago - Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org)‍
‍We'wha Visits the Capital | Boundary Stones (weta.org)

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‍What Is Two Spirit? - YouTube‍
‍ What is Two Spirit? LGBT in the Native American Community | Garrett Clayton & Blake Knight - YouTube

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‍Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders - ICT News‍
‍What Is Two-Spirit? Part One: Origins | CMHR (humanrights.ca)

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Gay DC in the 1920s

6/25/23

Week of:

June 25, 2023

Gay DC in the 1920s

Unbeknownst to many people there was a significant LGBTQ culture in the District of Columbia and other cities long before the Gay Pride movement. This week's resources offer information about the nightlife here and elsewhere, mostly during the 1920s and 1930s.

Mr. Throckmorton at the easel, 1920s hipsters smoking and posing in the yard. via timalderman.com

Arlington + DMV

Pride

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LGBT+ History by the Decades: The Roaring Twenties | Episode 1

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‍Krazy Kat Klub | timalderman ‍

DC's Early Drag Queen Scene (otmdc.com)‍

A Brief History Of Drag In The District - The Kojo Nnamdi Show ‍

African-American-walking-tour.pdf (rainbowhistory.org)‍

Richard Bruce Nugent (1906-1987) • (blackpast.org)

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‍this-used-to-be-a-very-gay-city.pdf (wordpress.com)‍

In the Early 20th Century, America Was Awash in Incredible Queer Nightlife

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The Lavender Scare

6/11/23

Week of:

June 11, 2023

The Lavender Scare

An era in American history that many people have not heard of became known as the "Lavender Scare." During this decades-long period, thousands of Government workers were fired for being gay because of the supposed security risk. Learn more about this and how ultimately it led to the movement for LGBTQ+ civil rights.

May 21, 1965. Demonstrators protest "the issuance of less-than-fully honorable discharges to homosexuals in the Armed Forces;" "total exclusion of homosexuals in the Armed Forces;" "offensively-worded military regulations on homosexuals;" and, "continuing refusal by the Departments of Defense, Army, Navy, and Air Force to meet with spokesmen for the homosexual community to engage constructive discussion of the policies and procedures at issue.". Bettmann / Getty Images

Pride

History

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The Lavender Scare | The History You Didn't Learn | TIME - YouTube

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Lavender Scare: The Government’s Gay Witch Hunt (thoughtco.com)

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‍The Lavender Scare: Gay and Lesbian Life in Post-WWII America | Facing History & Ourselves‍
‍LGBTQ Persecution in the United States - Lavender Scare DOCUMENTARY - YouTube‍
‍America’s War on the Gays (and Communists) - YouTube‍
‍Josh Howard talks about 'The Lavender Scare' to queerguru - YouTube

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‍The Lavender Scare — Civics 101: A Podcast (civics101podcast.org)‍
‍Lavender Scare | Criminal (thisiscriminal.com)‍
‍The Lavender Scare | Learning for Justice

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‍“These People Are Frightened to Death” | National Archives‍
‍Cold War, Lavender Scare, and LGBTQ+ Activism (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

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The Lavender Scare A Conversation with David Johnson and Josh Howard - YouTube

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The lavender scare : the Cold War persecution of gays and... | Arlington Public Library (arlingtonva.us)

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The Lavender Menace

6/18/23

Week of:

June 18, 2023

The Lavender Menace

Last week we learned about the Lavender Scare which purged gay people from employment. This week's topic is the Lavender Menace, originally a derisive term to exclude lesbians from the women's rights movement.

"Ida," a member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Lavender Menace, 1970. Photograph by Diana Davies. NYPL, Manuscripts and Archives Division, Diana Davies Papers. Copyright Diana Davies.

Women

Pride

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‍SIP OF HISTORY: THE LAVENDER MENACE‍
‍Queer History, Episode #6: The Lavender Menace - YouTube

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‍Lavender Menace: the Phrase, the Group, the Controversy (thoughtco.com)‍
How the Lavender Menace Fought for Lesbian Liberation in the 1970s | Them

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‍The Second Wave of Feminism: The Lavender Menace on Vimeo ‍
Episode Ten: The Lavender Menace - YouTube ‍
Karla Jay and the Lavender Menace - YouTube

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Ep. 3: The Lavender Menace by Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project (spotify.com)

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Lesbian Rebellion and the Lavender Menace – Dressing Dykes

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Lilli Vincenz

6/4/23

Week of:

June 4, 2023

Lilli Vincenz

For the first week of Pride Month we introduce Arlington resident Lilli Vincenz, lesbian activist beginning in the 1960s. She has been a filmmaker, writer, and ultimately plaintiff in a civil rights case whose issues are still being debated today.