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David Bowie singing into a microphone wearing a feather boa and tights.

How Pop Came Out of the Closet

Jon Savage’s “The Secret Public” traces the influence of queer artists on a hostile culture.
by Samuel Clowes Huneke via The New Republic on February 14, 2025
"Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right" book cover.

The History of Gay Conservatism

LGBTQ voters overwhelmingly went for Harris, but the idea that gay voters are always going to be solidly blue is a myth.
by Roger Lancaster via Damage on December 11, 2024
Still from "Rustin" film, on steps of Lincoln Memorial.

The Real History Behind Netflix's 'Rustin' Movie

A new film finally spotlights Bayard Rustin, the gay civil rights activist who organized the 1963 March on Washington.
by Zachary Clary via Smithsonian on November 2, 2023
Fire at the Everard Baths in New York City, May 25, 1977.

Before It Burned Down, This Bathhouse Served as a Haven for New York City's Gay Community

For decades, gay men gathered anonymously at the Everard Baths, seeking sexual liaisons and camaraderie alike.
by Robert Klara via Smithsonian on June 26, 2023
Production of Oklahoma! where actors in brightly colored clothing dance a square dance in front of a set of rural architecture and farmland.

Behind 'Oklahoma!' Lies the Remarkable Story of a Gay Cherokee Playwright

Lynn Riggs wrote the play that served as the basis of the hit 1943 musical.
by Jennie Rothenburg Gritz via Smithsonian on March 30, 2023
Evelyn Hooker

The Pioneering Psychologist Who Proved that Being Gay isn’t a Mental Illness

How a friendship between a straight psychology professor and her gay student busted the myth of homosexuality as an illness.
by Robyn Schelenz via Fig. 1 (University Of California) on June 26, 2020

Before Stonewall, There Was a Bookstore

Networks of activists transformed Stonewall from an isolated event into a turning point in the struggle for gay power.
by Jim Downs via The Atlantic on June 27, 2019

Why Pete Buttigieg's Theory About Secretly Gay Presidents Is Complicated

Buttigieg believes he probably won’t be the first gay president if he’s elected in 2020.
by Jasmine Aguilera via TIME on June 18, 2019

The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay

“Baron Von Steuben” was responsible for whipping the U.S. military into shape when things were looking bleakest.
by Josh Trujillo, Levi Hastings via The Nib on June 1, 2018
Two bullets in a bullet case.

Why We Can (Partially) Thank the Military for American Gay Identity

How anti-homosexual policies throughout military history helped shape gay culture today.
by Carson Leigh Brown, Ross Benes via Pacific Standard on April 24, 2017
Leonard Matlovich’s grave at Congressional Cemetery

The Only LGBT Cemetery Section in the World Was Inspired by J. Edgar Hoover

A section of D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery has become a gathering place for honoring LGBT activists.
by Ella Morton via Atlas Obscura on March 30, 2016

What Was Gay?

In a more accepting world, homosexual men can leave their campy, cruising past, but the price of equality shouldn't be conformity.
by J. Bryan Lowder via Slate on May 12, 2015
Leyendecker’s distinct cross-hatch style is seen in this 1911 painting for Cluett Dress shirts, featuring a particularly intimate gaze between two gentlemen.

Before Rockwell, a Gay Artist Defined the Perfect American Male

Alfredo Villanueva-Collado on his J.C. Leyendecker collection and the fascinating story behind this oft-neglected male image maker.
by Hunter Oatman-Stanford, Alfredo Villanueva-Collado via Collectors Weekly on August 28, 2012
Still from “The Rejected,” a 1961 documentary about homosexuals. Hal Call (at right), president of the Mattachine Society and Don Lucas, Mattachine’s executive secretary. Credit: San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive
partner

The Homosexual in Our Society

This 1958 interview is the earliest known radio recording to overtly discuss homosexuality.
by Blanche M. Baker, KPFA, Elsa Knight Thompson, Harold Leland Call, Leah Gailey via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on November 24, 1958
Frank Hallam, "En Masse Sunners Seen from Pier 45, 4/25/1982" (1982/2012) (collection of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Gift of the artist)

When NYC’s Piers Were a Sanctuary for Gay Gathering 

In the 1960s, amid the shipping industry's decline, the empty piers became a site for cruising and creativity for gay men in particular.
by Rhea Nayyar via Hyperallergic on June 22, 2025
A group of demonstrators at the Stonewall National Monument carrying transgender flags and signs.

No History Without the T

When the National Park Service removed trans people from the webpages of the Stonewall National Monument, it echoed one of the darkest chapters of the queer past.
by Hugh Ryan via Slate on February 16, 2025
1860 political cartoon depicting Lincoln as a "Wide-Awake"
partner

A Posthumous Romance of White Male Reunion

The history of deriving political meaning from Abraham Lincoln’s sexuality.
by Andrew Donnelly via HNN on February 11, 2025
James Baldwin at work on his novel “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone," and smoking.

Refinding James Baldwin

A fascinating new exhibit focuses on Baldwin’s years in Turkey, the country that, in his words, saved his life.
by Doreen St. Félix via The New Yorker on December 28, 2024
Still from "The Apprentice."

The Power Broker: Roy Cohn on Screen

The closeted right-wing operative has become a tragic character in the American repertory.
by Mark Asch via Mubi on December 5, 2024
Don Baker, holding sign that says "March On Washington October 14, 1979" with Texas silhouette.

The Dallas Teacher, Navy Vet, and Devout Christian Who Fought to Overturn Texas’s Sodomy Law

Unlikely activist Don Baker scored a landmark win for gay rights in Texas 42 years ago this week.
by Bruce Selcraig via Texas Monthly on August 14, 2024
Gratz Cohen and the manuscript of one of his poems.

A Savannah Poet

The Civil War cut short many lives, and a new a book that blends the genres of history and memoir sets out the resurrect the memory of one of those lives.
by Jason K. Friedman via University Of South Carolina Press on July 15, 2024
A poster for "The Gay Deceivers" of a naked man holding a pillow, with the tagline "Is he? Or isn't he? Only his draftboard and his girlfriend know for sure."

The Gay Deceivers Was an Early Landmark for Queer Cinema

This 1969 film offers a compelling context for queer cinema and culture prior to the 1970s.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on June 11, 2024
Motown Records advertisement for the Dynamic Superiors.

Trapped in Motown’s Closet

The intersection of Black music and queer identity.
by Mark Anthony Neal via Medium on June 2, 2024
Keith Haring standing shirtless in front of one of his paintings.

Angels with Dirty Faces

How Keith Haring got his halo.
by Zack Hatfield via Bookforum on April 12, 2024
A pile of hand-written zines in colorful designs.

Queer Teenage Feminists on the Printed Page, 1973 to 2023

How lesbian teenagers forged community bonds and found connection through magazines.
by Kera Lovell via Nursing Clio on April 10, 2024
Black and white photo of two African American men standing in front of March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom sign.

The Obamas’ “Rustin”: Fun Tricks You Can Do on the Past

The project of “reclamation and celebration” proceeds from an impulse to rediscover black Greats who by force of their own will make “change.”
by Adolph Reed, Jr. via Nonsite on December 16, 2023
Bayard Rustin speaking at an event.

Eclipsed in His Era, Bayard Rustin Gets to Shine in Ours

The civil-rights mastermind was sidelined by his own movement. Now he’s back in the spotlight. What can we learn from his strategies of resistance?
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on November 6, 2023
George C. Wolfe.

George C. Wolfe Would Not Be Dismissed

A conversation with the longtime director about “Rustin,” growing up in Kentucky, and putting on a show.
by Vinson Cunningham, George C. Wolfe via The New Yorker on November 5, 2023
Little Richard holding his arms out at a performance.

What Little Richard Deserved

The new documentary “I Am Everything” explores the gulf between what Richard accomplished and what he got for it.
by Hanif Abdurraqib via The New Yorker on April 26, 2023
A cut out from the magazine New Masses with the headline "For College Student H.H.C," pasted over a photo montage of an archive.

“H.H.C.”: The Story of a Queer Life—Glimpsed, Lost, and Finally Found

My hunt for one man across the lonely expanse of the queer past ended in a place I never expected.
by Aaron Lecklider via Slate on April 24, 2023
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