This exhibit was originally published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the demonstrations for gay and lesbian rights that began at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on July 4, 1965, and continued as Annual Reminders on July 4 in 1966, 1967,…
This exhibit introduces Archibald Butt, a journalist and U.S. presidential aide who died on the Titanic. The exhibit includes an interpretation of his life as queer by James Gifford. Published originally on OutHistory in 2012. Updated in 2024.
This exhibit addresses the homosexuality of Arthur Kingsley Porter, who chaired Harvard University's Art History Department. An earlier profile of Porter, authored by Jonathan Ned Katz, was published by OutHistory in 2021 and revised in 2024.…
Containing unique items from the personal collection of Rich Wilson, this exhibit focuses on 19th-century queer experience in the United States.
Atlanta Since Stonewall, 1969-2009: A Local History brings to life a segment of the city’s LGBTQ past, highlighting nationally recognized and little-known personalities, places, and events. Through photographs, printed materials, ephemera, and links…
Barbara Gittings interviewed by Jonathan Ned Katz in 1974 about her development as a Lesbian, and about the founding and early history of the New York Daughters of Bilitis.
Writing about queer bars and drag culture in the 1972 classic Mother Camp, Esther Newton observed that queer communities had “an economics but no economy.” In this exhibit, Jeffrey Escoffier and Christopher Mitchell address the economics of gay bars…
The author of this feature on LGBTQ life at Penn State asked to remain anonymous. Published October 23, 2013.
Anne Balay tells OutHistory about her book Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers, which is based on interviews with LGBT steelworkers in northwestern Indiana about their experiences of class, gender, and sexual identity…
This was originally published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1967 ruling in Boutilier v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which upheld the deportation of Clive Michael Boutilier, a Canadian citizen and U.S.…
The proselytizing of one of the earliest U.S. homosexual emancipation activists, the Rev. Carl Schlegel, was documented for the first time and published June 1, 2019, on OutHistory to honor the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Last edit:…
An interview with the author of a groundbreaking 1975 essay on lesbian history.
A collection of biographies written by the students in Catherine Jacquet's Fall 2012 class at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The class was titled "Gender Non-Conformity in Historical Perspective."
A series of articles by John D'Emilio written for the Windy City Times about Chicago's gay history and his own career as an historian of sexuality. Published on OutHistory February 5, 2013.
The years from 1607 to 1783 constitute the founding era of what became the United States. In the early years of this era, in these American colonies, the penalty for sodomy was death, and a number of executions are documented. Sodomy was usually…
This exhibit presents digital copies of Come Out!, the newspaper of New York City's Gay Liberation Front.
Gay activist Perry Brass tells of his work with the Gay Liberation Front in New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including his story of coming out of the closet publicly through the GLF's newspaper Come Out!.
A collection of items about a gay liberation play, including 2013 reflections by the author (OutHistory's founder), reviews, and excerpts.
A theater piece, first performed in 1989-1992 and authored by OutHistory's founder, about love between men in the life of Walt Whitman, adapted from the words of Whitman, John Addington Symonds, and others, condensed from their letters, diaries,…
This feature explores the human production of the terms and concepts "heterosexual," "homosexual," and "bisexual," which are presented here as evidence of the construction of a historically specific social order or…