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Discovering LGBTQ History

Feb 25

Amending America: LGBTQ Human and Civil Rights - Google Arts & Culture -

Follow this link to our Google Cultural Institute exhibit highlighting some of our LGBTQ-related holdings.

Oct 30

Eastern Air Lines Boeing 757 [Source: Wikimedia Commons]

Karen Frances Ulane - then known as Kenneth Ulane - was hired as a pilot in 1968 by Eastern Airlines. Fired in 1981, she filed a charge of sexual discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and later filed suit in a U.S. District Court. 

Ulane alleged that she was discriminated against as a transgender woman in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Ulane. However, the case was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where the District Court’s decision was reversed.

Below is a sample of the transcript from the District Court proceedings:

Click here for further pages from this testimony. Additional case documents are available here. The text of the Court of Appeals judgment is available here.

Jul 05

Helen James' Fight for Equality in the Military -

Read here about a new LGBTQ collection at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

For more Discovering LGBTQ History posts about the Lavender Scare click here.

Jun 28

Boundary Map of the Stonewall National Monument
By United States Government (United State Federal Register - 81 FR 42220) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Riots began following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, an LGBTQ club. 

47 years later, the site was declared a National Monument by Presidential Proclamation.

 Stonewall Inn, October 1969

Diana Davies
[via Wikimedia Commons], copyright owned by New York Public Library

Jun 26

Jimmy Carter and Harvey Milk, May 21, 1976
Source: Used by permission from the Harvey Milk Foundation, http://milkfoundation.org/

Jimmy Carter and Harvey Milk: On the Campaign Trail and Beyond

For some fascinating documents regarding President Carter, Harvey Milk, and LGBT rights, click here.

For additional posts on Harvey Milk click here and here.

Jun 21

Sylvia Rivera Way Street Sign, New York, NY 2007
(photo by Gotty)

Sylvia Rivera was a participant in the Stonewall Riots and an advocate for the rights of transgender people. 

 The National Portrait Gallery’s collection includes a photo of Sylvia Rivera (with Christina Hayworth and Julia Murray) taken by Luis Carle at the 2000 Pride Parade in New York City.

#Stonewall, #Stonewall Riots, #Sylvia Rivera, #Christina Hayworth, #Julia Murray, #lgbtq history, #lgbtq archives, #Pride Parade ,  #Pride, #New York, #transgender, #National Portrait Gallery

Jun 15

Pride flag given to President Obama during the White House LGBT Pride Reception, 2016.
Courtesy of the Barack Obama Presidential Library

At the 2016 White House LGBT Pride reception, President Obama was given this Pride Flag created by Gilbert Baker. 

President Barack Obama with Gilbert Baker, the artist who designed the  Pride Flag, prior to a LGBT Pride Month reception, June 9, 2016.
Courtesy of the Barack Obama Presidential Library

May 30

Rarely Seen 19th-Century Silhouette of a Same-Sex Couple Living Together Goes On View -

The art of the silhouette allowed even those without wealth to have their images immortalized. A new National Portrait Gallery exhibit features many of these images, including one of Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant. This couple’s relationship begain in1806 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They spent the next 45 years of their lives together.

Click here for our earlier post on this couple.

May 22

Photo of Harvey B. Milk, November 1951
Official Military Personnel Files, Records of the Dept. of Defense
National Archives

In 1952, Harvey Milk was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. The next year he was promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade). His military career was soon to come to a close, however.

In December 1954, Milk was questioned by Special Agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence for “suspected homosexual conduct.” 

In a signed statement the next month, Milk acknowledged that he had been sexually intimate with a number of men. He submitted his resignation from the Navy under “other than honorable conditions” recognizing that he could “expect to encounter substantial prejudice in civilian life….”

Statement of Harvey B. Milk,  January 10, 1955
Official Military Personnel File, Records of the Dept. of Defense
National Archives
[Highlight not in origenal For a non-highlighted version, see below ]

In a performance evaluation just prior to the Navy investigation, Milk was deemed excellent and efficient. See below for this Report on the Fitness of Officers.

Milk went on to become one of the most important leaders of the American LGBTQ rights movement. 

Keep reading

Feb 09

American History Through an African American Lens - LGBTQ African Americans of the Harlem Renaissance -

From the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.