homophobia — Bunk History

On August 8, 2022, activists protest the lack of monkeypox vaccine and treatment access outside the San Francisco Federal Building.

What the AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About Monkeypox

Harm reduction strategies, like those pioneered by queer men of color, have the best chance of stopping this disease.

by Joshua Gutterman Tranen via Boston Review on October 3, 2022

Muscular men in underwear doing competitive sport fighting while others watch.

Dangerous as the Plague

The rhetoric that the Nazis used to denounce gay men mirrors that coming from the right in the United States today. Both view queerness as a contagion.

by Samuel Clowes Huneke via The Baffler on June 23, 2022

Gov. Ron DeSantis shows an image from the children's book "Call Me Max" by transgender author Kyle Lukoff before signing the Parental Rights in Education bill in Shady Hills, Fla. on March 28.

How Anita Bryant Helped Spawn Florida's LGBTQ Culture War

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is part of a long legacy of anti-gay rhetoric and legislation in the state.

by Jillian Eugenios via NBC News on April 13, 2022

The U.S. Capitol building at night.

A Capital History

Washington has long been a disproportionately gay city—a mecca for clever, ambitious young men who want to escape their hometowns’ prying eyes.

by Bruce Bawer via Commentary on April 12, 2022

Person wearing rainbow mask, in front of signs asking Disney to oppose "Don't Say Gay" law

It’s Nothing New for Florida to Claim Anti-LGBTQ Measures Will Protect Children

How political figures have framed anti-LGBTQ bigotry as being pro-child and pro-parent.

by Julio Capó Jr., Shevrin Jones via Made By History on March 28, 2022

Pocahontas characters overlaid onto a landscape.

Deconstructing Disney: Queer Coding and Masculinity in Pocahontas

Disney gets inventive when they need to circumvent white people’s historical responsibility for genocidal atrocities — and queerness is a useful scapegoat.

by Jeanna Kadlec via Longreads on April 1, 2021

Art of angels walking through thick forest.

When ‘Angels in America’ Came to East Texas

Twenty years ago my hometown made national headlines when the local college staged an internationally acclaimed play about gay men and the AIDS crisis.

by Wes Ferguson via Texas Monthly on October 14, 2019

The Theory That Justified Anti-Gay Crime

Fifty years after Stonewall, the gay-panic defense seems absurd. But, for decades, it had the power of law.

by Caleb Crain via The New Yorker on June 26, 2019

Hands waving US and pride flags during the National LGBT Anniversary Ceremony in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 2015.

How Eugenics Gave Rise To Modern Homophobia

The roots of anti-gay attitudes lay in white supremacy.

by Hugh Ryan via Made By History on May 28, 2019

Our Trouble with Sex: A Christian Story?

"Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century" by Geoffrey R. Stone.

by Annette Gordon-Reed via New York Review of Books on August 17, 2017

Pages from Eve Adams' Polish passport.

Deported From the U.S. for Publishing 'Lesbian Love,' She Was Later Killed by Nazis

Eve Adams was imprisoned for disorderly conduct and obscenity, then sent back to Europe, where she became a target of the Holocaust.

by Kellie B. Gormly via Smithsonian Magazine on June 26, 2025

People pose next to a National Park Service sign for the Stonewall National Monument.

Stonewall National Monument Declaration: Annotated

In June 2016, President Obama proclaimed the first LGBTQ+ national monument in the United States at the site of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City.

by Barack Obama, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on June 24, 2025

A hand holds a US flag and a pride flag in front of the Supreme Court building in a crowd celebrating the Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

How the Supreme Court Ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges Legalized Same-Sex Marriage

When Jim Obergefell and his partner John Arthur decided to marry after more than 20 years together, their home state refused to recognize same-sex marriages.

by Kit R. Roane via Retro Report on June 18, 2025

Queer Activists and the Struggle for AIDS Education

Queer resistance to state-sponsored oppression campaigns, from Reagan to Trump.

by Lucy Kelly via History Workshop on March 6, 2025

Anita Bryant speaking at microphone.

She Launched the Modern Antigay Movement in America. It Worked—Just Not as She Intended.

Anita Bryant’s legacy is not what she hoped—but her destructive message lives on.

by Josh Levin via Slate on January 11, 2025

A cartoon of a group of effeminate men walking together.

Rise and Fall of the ‘Pansy Craze’

On Jazz Age gay culture and its backlash.

by Margaret Vandenburg via Gay And Lesbian Review on January 2, 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

Ryan White in school.

The Tragedy of Ryan White

How politicians used the story of one young patient to neglect the AIDS crisis.

by Scott Wasserman Stern via The New Republic on November 29, 2024

A photograph of the massive AIDS memorial quilt with the Washington Monument in the background.

“I Am the Face of AIDS”

Ryan White helped challenge existing understandings of the AIDS epidemic. But his story also reinforced arbitrary divisions between the guilty and the innocent.

by Paul M. Renfro via Public Books on October 22, 2024

Eroticize the Hood

A new book revamps Newark's reputation as unsexy, violent, destitute, defiantly declaring it “a place of desire, love, eroticism, community, and resistance.”

by José Sanchez via n+1 on October 8, 2024

Alice Morgan Wright with unknown friend, sitting on a tree stump.

Reconstructing the Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

Rouse reveals the hidden queer histories of suffragists like Alice Morgan Wright, who balanced activism with private, erased relationships.

by Wendy L. Rouse via Gay And Lesbian Review on September 20, 2024

Drag queen reading book to children.

Censorship Through Centuries

A new book examines battles over drag story hours and book bans through the lens of LGBTQ history.

by Rebecca L. Davis via Literary Hub on September 9, 2024

Greta Garbot in Grand Hotel.

Leave the Movies

For God, politics, love, integrity, or a sense of ennui, film stars at the height of their fame have left the industry behind.

by William J. Mann via Mubi on August 23, 2024

A sign reading "Love Asheville, Y'all Means All!" with a rainbow heart in the background.

Y’all Means All: Past and Present LGBTQ+ Rights in the South

Despite an unwelcoming political climate and a dearth of LGBTQ+ protections, LGBTQ+ Southerners have persisted.

by Brittany Daniel via Nursing Clio on July 10, 2024

A man in uniform holding an honorable discharge certificate from the U.S. Air Force.

How The U.S. Military Built San Francisco's LBGTQ+ Legacy

Many LGBTQ+ veterans settled in the city as it was a common point of disembarkation and a place of gender nonconformity.

by Solcyré Burga via TIME on June 21, 2024

Make America Great Again hats in different colors of the rainbow.

Reaching the Heartland: Gay Republicans’ Message to Religious Americans

How gay Republicans tried to counter the religious right and show Christians it is ok to be gay.

by Neil J. Young via The Revealer on April 4, 2024

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

Victims of AIDS participate in the National March for Gay Rights in Washington D.C. in 1987.

The First National Coming Out Day 35 Years Ago Took on Reagan and AIDS Stigma

On Oct. 11, 1988, at the height of the AIDS crisis and a wave of homophobia, people were asked to take a daring step by declaring publicly that they were gay.

by Nora Neus via Washington Post on October 11, 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

The aftermath of the UpStairs Lounge fire on June 25, 1973.

50 Years Later, the UpStairs Lounge Fire Is More Important to Remember Than Ever

The arson attack on a New Orleans nightclub was the largest massacre of queer people in 20th-century America—and it remains relevant to our present moment.

by Andrew Sciallo via The Nation on June 22, 2023

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