As the activities of various groups within the gay rights movement gathered momentum during the years following the Stonewall riots of 1969, individuals and organizations in a number of American cities began to develop strategies focused on documenting and sharing the history of the LGBTQ community. From the earliest days of the pre-Colonial era, the activities of LGBTQ individuals had been systematically excluded from the nation’s historical record.
Relationships that took place beyond the strictures of heterosexual social conventions were completely marginalized. Individuals who engaged in those unconventional relationships did so at tremendous risk to their family relations, professional lives, social status, and personal safety. Because they were discouraged at every turn from recording the chronicle of how they lived and loved, LGBTQ individuals were consigned to the shadows and utterly invisible within the broad historical landscape.
As a result of events and uprisings like Stonewall and the chain of events that occurred in its aftermath, the lives of LGBTQ individuals began to be more prominently documented in the news media and through records generated by individuals and organizations – from flyers and photographs to articles, letters, and organizational bylaws. Organizations focused on LGBTQ history, including The History Project, were established in a number of cities in the United States and around the world. These groups played a key role in ensuring that the lives and accomplishments of LGBTQ individuals could assume their rightful place within the nation’s historical narrative.
Given the long history of discrimination and exclusion associated with LGBTQ communities, the work of The History Project is essential – both in reclaiming the rapidly disappearing history of life in our community during the years before Stonewall, and in enriching the Boston area’s exceptionally rich historical record in years to come.