LGBTQ rights — Bunk History

A sign reading "Love Asheville, Y'all Means All!" with a rainbow heart in the background.

Y’all Means All: Past and Present LGBTQ+ Rights in the South

Despite an unwelcoming political climate and a dearth of LGBTQ+ protections, LGBTQ+ Southerners have persisted.

by Brittany Daniel via Nursing Clio on July 10, 2024

A banner that reads "HTG: High Tech Gays," surrounded by a crowd of people and balloons.

How Work Has Shaped the LGBTQ Community

And the ways capital took advantage of the state's policing of sexuality.

by Ryan Reft via The Metropole on September 26, 2023

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz during a signing ceremony to ban conversion therapy.

Conversion Therapy Is Harmful and Ineffective. So Why Is It Still Here?

Conversion therapies have never been about providing medical or mental care. Instead, they have been a tool to eradicate LGBTQ activism, culture and people.

by Andrea Ens via Made By History on May 15, 2023

The old New York Times building in 2006.

The New York Times is Repeating One of Its Most Notorious Mistakes

The paper’s anti-trans coverage parallels its failings over gay rights and AIDS. But the Times appears determined not to learn from its own history.

by Jack Mirkinson via The Nation on February 20, 2023

Stewart Butler at his desk, speaking and gesturing.

The Fiery Life of Stewart Butler, New Orleans’ Great Gay “Political Animal”

How the city’s pioneering, pot-smoking queer activist rose from the ashes of anti-gay violence.

by Robert W. Fieseler via Slate on June 25, 2022

Participants celebrate during the L.A. Pride Parade in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles on June 12, 2022.

The History Missing From the LGBTQ Story Told During Pride Month

Why reinserting race and class into our understanding of Pride is so important.

by Beau Lancaster via Made By History on June 20, 2022

Harvey Milk (left) at Gay Pride, San Jose, California 1978.

Harvey Milk’s Gay Freedom Day Speech

Five months before his assassination in 1978, Harvey Milk called on the president of the United States to defend the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.

by Liz Tracey, Harvey Milk via JSTOR Daily on June 13, 2022

The Hawaii Supreme Court

The Surprising Honolulu Origins of the National Fight Over Same-Sex Marriage

A local gay rights activist launched a publicity stunt that became so much more. Congress couldn’t help but notice.

by Sasha Issenberg via Politico Magazine on May 31, 2021

David Mullins and Charlie Craig in front of the Supreme Court.

We're Looking at the Masterpiece Cakeshop Case All Wrong. And So Did The Supreme Court.

Why the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision was a major loss for gay rights.

by Jim Downs via Made By History on June 6, 2018

How the Nazi Regime's Pink Triangle Symbol Was Repurposed for LGBTQ Pride

The symbol was born from a dark time in history.

by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on May 31, 2018

From “Sip-in” to the Hairpin Drop Heard Round the World, Protests Can Work

A small act of protest that resulted in significant change.

by Nancy Unger via Nursing Clio on March 23, 2017

A History of Transgender Health Care

As the stigma of being transgender begins to ease, medicine is starting to catch up

by Farah Naz Khan via Scientific American on November 16, 2016

The Sissies, Hustlers, and Hair Fairies Whose Defiant Lives Paved the Way for Stonewall

In 1966, the queens had finally had enough with years of discriminatory treatment by the San Francisco police.

by Hunter Oatman-Stanford via Collectors Weekly on August 15, 2016

NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

The first initiative to document historic and cultural sites associated with the LGBT community in the five boroughs.

by Andrew S. Dolkart, Ken Lustbader, Jay Shockley via NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project on January 1, 2016

Group of men including clergy.

Unearthing The Surprising Religious History Of American Gay Rights Activism

Years before Stonewall, many clergy members were standing on the front lines for gay rights.

by Jaweed Kaleem via HuffPost on June 28, 2014

The Perfect Wife

How Edith Windsor fell in love, got married, and won a landmark case for gay marriage.

by Ariel Levy via The New Yorker on September 30, 2013

Activism in the US

The Civil Rights movement led the way, soon followed by anti-war protests and activism for women’s issues and gay rights.

via Digital Public Library of America on April 1, 2013

Norma Gabler gives a press conference on July 20, 1977 holding up books in her hand.

The Woman Who Gave Today's Book-Banning Moms a Blueprint

Norma Gabler's work in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s foreshadowed today's campaigns.

by Katie Gaddini via Made By History on November 13, 2024

A photograph of the massive AIDS memorial quilt with the Washington Monument in the background.

“I Am the Face of AIDS”

Ryan White helped challenge existing understandings of the AIDS epidemic. But his story also reinforced arbitrary divisions between the guilty and the innocent.

by Paul M. Renfro via Public Books on October 22, 2024

Drag queen reading book to children.

Censorship Through Centuries

A new book examines battles over drag story hours and book bans through the lens of LGBTQ history.

by Rebecca L. Davis via Literary Hub on September 9, 2024

A gay couple and their children at a rally in California in 2004.

“Protecting Kids” from Gay Marriage

Leading up to a 2004 debate about same-sex marriage, conservatives shifted their focus away from moral issues and toward arguments about children’s welfare.

by Frederick Delius, Livia Gershon, Stephen Macedo via JSTOR Daily on September 6, 2024

Dr. Ruth Westheimer holding a telephone and pointing a finger, as if giving advice.

The Massive Cultural Changes That Made Dr. Ruth Possible

Dr. Ruth left a legacy of sexual candor and the need to defend pleasure as a universal right—a conversation that is more relevant today than ever.

by Rebecca L. Davis via Made By History on July 19, 2024

Illustration of gay bar patrons and a park ranger at Stonewall National Monument.

What Is Stonewall in 2024?

A touristy dive bar, an unfinished liberation movement, and now a visitor center for the National Park Service.

by Brock Colyar via Curbed on June 20, 2024

Man waving a rainbow flag.

The Complicated, Disputed History of the Rainbow Flag

Who created it? What was it meant for? And how did it come to be what it is today?

by Christina Cauterucci via Slate on June 19, 2024

Zdeněk Koubek running.

Human Velocity

“The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports” upends long-held assumptions about trans people’s participation in sports.

by Michael Waters, Frankie de la Cretaz via The Baffler on June 7, 2024

Make America Great Again hats in different colors of the rainbow.

Reaching the Heartland: Gay Republicans’ Message to Religious Americans

How gay Republicans tried to counter the religious right and show Christians it is ok to be gay.

by Neil J. Young via The Revealer on April 4, 2024

USA. Mardi Gras. New Orleans. 1990.

How Mardi Gras Traditions Helped LGBTQ New Orleans Thrive

The celebrations created space for people to subvert gender norms, as New Orleans' LGBTQ communities built new traditions of their own.

by Lily Lucas Hodges via Made By History on February 13, 2024

Christine Jorgensen at a news conference in Copenhagen in 1952 after news of her surgery had reverberated stateside.

A Gender-Affirming Surgery Gripped America in 1952: ‘I Am Your Daughter’

Long before “transgender” entered the lexicon, Christine Jorgensen became the year’s biggest story.

by Francine Uenuma via Retropolis on June 12, 2023

Harvey Milk, sitting at his desk, December 4, 1977.

Why Is Harvey Milk Still Dangerous, 46 Years After He Was Assassinated?

The Temecula Valley school board in Southern California wants to erase gay rights leader Harvey Milk from history, defaming him as a “pedophile” in the process.

by Peter Dreier via Jacobin on June 11, 2023

Transgender woman marching in a pride parade.

Transgender Rights, Won Over Decades, Face New Restrictions

More than 50 years after the Stonewall uprising marked the birth of a movement for LGBTQ+ rights, transgender activists continue to push for inclusion.

via Retro Report on May 30, 2023

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