In the 1970s, the queer Black community in Washington tended to gather at house parties to avoid discriminatory practices at white bars. Social group the Metropolitan Capitolites founded The ClubHouse in 1974 and it opened in 1975 in this space, a former garage and warehouse. Individuals seeking admission were required to apply for membership. The original 400 members ballooned to several thousand over the next decade and a half. In addition to its parties, The ClubHouse was involved in LGBTQ and AIDS activism and politics. After The ClubHouse's closure in 1990, the site held another club, but has been vacant for several years.
Franklin Edward Kameny, known as Frank Kameny, was born May 21st 1925 and died October 11th 2011. Known as "America's First Gay Activist," 86 year old Kameny left a legacy for not only the LGBT community, he left a legacy for the world. In the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, people fought for equality in many walks of life, including the fight for equality among Gay America.
Deacon Maccubin founded this LGBTQ bookstore in Dupont Circle. The store and its parent organization, Earthworks, operated in this space until 1977, when the bookstore moved to 2012 S St NW. Lambda Rising was the first non-bar business in the capital to specifically serve the gay community, and in 1975 held the first Gay Pride Day block party. In addition to being a bookstore, Lambda Rising served as a hub for Washington's gay, arts, and leftist communities, and this building was known as "The Community Building." The bookstore operated from 1974 to 2010 at larger locations, eventually operating several satellite bookstores in Maryland and Virginia.
This was the final location of Lammas Women's Books & More, a lesbian and feminist bookstore that operated from 1974 to 2000. Founded as a jewelry and craft store in 1974 at 321 7th Street SE near Eastern Market, Lammas later evolved into a bookstore and moved to several locations before landing on 17th Street NW. In addition to being a bookstore, Lammas was a community space where lesbians could organize actions, watch movies, and attend workshops.
In the early 1970s, the Women's Liberation and Gay Liberation Movements were gaining traction. However, the Lesbian movement faced sexism and oppression from an ingrained patriarchal force from inside the feminist movement. The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist group tried to challenge and overcome the patriarchy by creating a place for the collective of strong, lesbian women to expressive themselves. According to Brown in an interview with the MAKERS, she faced opposition from the heterosexual women of NOW and Betty Friedan, who purged the lesbians from their organization, known as the "lavender menace" for fear of becoming too radical, that it would hurt their movement. Brown states that these women were "rather privileged and very bright, [they] treated lesbians the way that men treated them." This rowhouse was one of the locations in which the Furies Collective held their meetings between the spring of 1971 and the summer of 1973, and it was also a communal living space for the women, in which they shared everything.
Leonard Matlovich made American history on March 6th 1975 when he personally delivered a letter to his commanding officer which challenged the inequality in the military for the gay population. Bringing the issue of gay segregation to public attention and when asked "What does this mean?" Matlovich said, "It means Brown versus the Board of Education." 1 Collaborating with the Gay Rights activist Frank Kameny, Matlovich put his perfect military record on the line and began a journey of Gay Rights activism of his own for the liberation of Gay Americans. Refusing to sign a document saying he would "never practice homosexuality again," he sacrificed his military service for a battle other than Vietnam; a battle for Gay Rights on American soil.2
Barbara Gittings' final resting place is located within the Historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Her grave marks more than where she lies. Her life as an activist, and now her death, represents great accomplishments in the GLBTQ American civil rights movement. Barbara Gittings contributed much to the field of psychology and views of sexuality. This was only a part of the civil rights movement attributed to her work. Her contributions were not limited to Psychology but also politics. Bringing awareness to gay employment and equality, her activism lives today.
This Tour is a Digital Story Map.
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Tour of sites related to the social and political history of the LGBTQ community in Washington, DC. The Rainbow History Project has also created a series of LGBT history tours at https://www.rainbowhistory.org/?page_id=661.
