Professor, trucker, and union organizer Anne Balay reflects on Matt Brim’s Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University (2020) in an original OutHistory feature.

This exhibit focuses on gay HIV-positive sex worker activist Daniel Charles Cockerline (1960-1995), who was involved in the founding of numerous sex workers’ rights organizations in Toronto, Ontario, from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The exhibit highlights his largely underrecognized contributions to the sex workers’ rights movement in Canada, including his production of some of the first HIV-prevention materials by and for sex workers. Published originally on OutHistory in 2025.

In 1965 Drum magazine called it “the first sit-in of its kind in the history of the United States.” To honor the fiftieth anniversary of this major act of LGBT resistance, Marc Stein presented reports of the sit-in at Dewey’s restaurant in Center City, Philadelphia, which began on April 25, 1965. Staged by three teenagers, it protested discrimination against "homosexuals,” “masculine women,” “feminine men,” and “persons wearing non-conformist clothing.”  First Published on OutHistory on April 20, 2015.

An exhibit on the discovery of documents related to the life and times of German Jewish sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935). Published originally on OutHistory in 2020.

An excerpt of Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (T.Y. Crowell, 1976), 129-34, along with a bibliography and sample document.

In an 1893 note to a medical journal article on "erotopathia," or "morbid eroticism," Dr. Charles H. Hughes of St. Louis writes briefly but emotionally about Black males who "deport themselves as women." The doctor's excited language suggests that he finds his report stimulating. 

An exploration of the brief but significant life of African American educator Juliette Derricotte.

Ellen Eyre's attempt to entice Walt Whitman into a rendezvous has received the most attention. But here for the first time, is the fullest account yet of the extraordinary blackmailer, Ellen Eyre, based on a careful survey of many newspaper reports and the history of scholars' responses.

By Jonathan Ned Katz with the Research Assistance of Tyler Albertino. First published March 10, 2025. Last edit: April 2, 2025.

Esther Eng made a name for herself as the world's first female Chinese American filmmaker, a successful restaurateur, and—rejecting social expectations—a woman who felt little need to hide her romantic and sexual relationships with other women. First published on OutHistory in 2016.

See also:

Eve Adams: Chronology, by Jonathan Ned Katz

Eve Adams: Corrections, by Jonathan Ned Katz

Eve Adams: Pictures, by Jonathan Ned Katz

Eve Adams: Research Suggestions, by Jonathan Ned Katz

Eve Adams: Teaching Topics & Materials, by Jonathan Ned Katz

Non-commercial use permitted. All commercial use, in any commercial media, of the first and only biography of Eve Adams by Jonathan Ned Katz remain the property of the author. For inquiries contact Katz at jnk123@mac.com  Last edit: March 29, 2023.