Ithaca LGBTQ Local History Tour Project

11/18/2022

Today we celebrate the birthday of Wendy Carlos, the musical genius who brought the Moog modular into the mainstream, and collaborated closely with Bob to refine his earliest synth designs.

She said of Bob that "He was a creative engineer who spoke music. I was a musician who spoke science. It felt like a meeting of simpatico minds."

Her work is a permanent part of our Moogseum, where all our visitors can hear a sample of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" from her certified platinum debut, "Switched-On Bach." Check out her cats and her studio, ca. 1989, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3cab5IcCy8

View her discography here: https://www.wendycarlos.com/discs.html

Photo: vice.com

09/30/2022

The Firebrand Books Building is headed to Common Council!
Ithaca Common Council Meeting
October 5, 2022, 6:00 PM

Firebrand Books, whose office was located on the second story of 143 East State St., was a nationally renowned le***an, feminist, and anti-racist press founded in Ithaca, NY, by Nancy K. Bereano. The site is also included among the 32 local historic places featured on the Ithaca LGBTQ History Tour created by IC's LGBT Center.

See the Common Council website for the meeting agenda and how to participate in public comment virtually. Attend the meeting to show your support for conserving local women's and LGBTQ history by establishing local landmark designation for the Firebrand Books Building (also known as the Andrus/Home Dairy Building).

08/01/2022

Attend the Aug 16 public hearing on Zoom for the Firebrand Books Building Local Landmark Nomination to show your support for conserving local women's and LGBTQ history!

06/29/2021

The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGBTQ+ civil rights and provided momentum for a movement. As America’s storytellers, the National Park Service is committed to telling the history of all Americans. Today, Stonewall National Monument and Christopher Park, located in New York City's Historic Greenwich Village, helps tell the story of the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.

Learn more at https://www.nps.gov/ston

Image: National park sign for Stonewall National Monument in front of colorful display of plants and flowers.

06/20/2021

06/03/2021

The National Park Service preserves a variety of places commemorating America's multi-faceted history and is devoted to preserving, protecting, and telling the stories of ALL Americans. Discover stories that tell the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community to the nation's history at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/lgbtqheritage.htm

Image: A rainbow settling over mountains at Lake Mead National Recreation Area - National Park Service, Arizona/Nevada. NPS/Andrew Cattoir

06/02/2021

Pride 2021 🌈 has officially begun, and the Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project is excited to unveil a very special project— the first ever LGBTQ-themed historic plaque in WNY! On August 7, we will place an official NYS marker commemorating the historic case People v. Uplinger (1983) which struck down loitering laws that New York police used to criminalize, entrap, and harass gay men and s*x workers. Please consider being a part of this notable moment by helping us fund the design and placement of the plaque by visiting this link: http://bit.ly/uplingerplaque 🖤🌈🖤

On August 7, 1981, at the corner of North Street and Irving Place, Bob Uplinger (1951-1988) was charged by Buffalo Police with loitering for the purpose of soliciting deviate s*x. He was entrapped by an undercover police officer, Stephen Nicosia, posing as a young gay man, who arrested Uplinger for proposing a consensual s*xual encounter back at his apartment. Aided by attorney William H. Gardner, Uplinger took the case to the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany. On February 23rd, 1982, the court ruled in Uplinger’s favor and struck down the predatory loitering law in a 6 to 1 vote. The ruling in Uplinger’s case officially invalidated the practice of entrapping gay men and arresting them for seeking consensual s*x. In 1983, Uplinger became one of the founders of Gay and Le***an Youth of Buffalo. Today, the organization continues as GLYS Western New York, Inc. - Growing LGBTQ+ Youth Sevices. Join us on the 40th anniversary of Uplinger's arrest, when the Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project will make a new kind of history!

***rhistory

05/27/2021

In response to recent legislative efforts and existing anti-LGBTQ+ laws in several states, the AHA has released a statement opposing “efforts to restrict the teaching of le***an, gay, bis*xual, transgender, and q***r history in elementary, middle, and high schools.” “The failure to teach LGBTQ+ history,” the statement argues, “distorts the historical record, harms LGBTQ+ students specifically, and prevents all students from receiving a complete education.” The AHA supports “expanding access to LGBTQ+-inclusive history curricula and greater protections for history teachers who include LGBTQ+ history in their classrooms.”

AHA News & Advocacy AHA Advocacy AHA Statement on LGBTQ+ History Curriculum (May 2021) In This Section AHA Advocacy AHA Announcements AHA in the News Members Making News Everything Has a History Coalitions Calendar News and Advocacy Archives Press Resou...

12/31/2020

"This year, in June, VICE curated an online gallery of ephemera representing q***r DIY history as part of our ‘Queers Built This’ project,” says Sarah Burke, special-projects editor at VICE.

“The GLBT Historical Society was crucially helpful with both research and sourcing for a huge range of topics from José Sarria’s life to the history of San Francisco Pride,” Burke continues. “My favorite image is this one of Sarria performing at the Black Cat Cafe in San Francisco in the 1950s.”

José Sarria (1922–2013) was a drag performer, politician, and community leader. He became a cocktail waiter at the Black Cat, a bohemian bar with a largely gay clientele in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. There, he became locally famous for his opera parodies and his outspoken gay pride. In 1961, Sarria ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — the first openly gay person to run for office in the United States — and in 1965, he founded the Imperial Court System, a q***r charitable organization known for the elaborate courtly titles and pageantry adopted by its members.

Vice’s “Queers Built This” is one of countless projects created this year with research in our archives. Experience the show here: https://q***rsbuilt.vice.com/q***rsbuilt/p/1.

Help researchers continue to uncover and share these stories by making your year-end donation to the GLBT Historical Society at glbthistory.org/donate. And read more about the people who used our archives this year, and their projects, at glbthistory.org/making-history-together.

Image: José Sarria performs at the Black Cat Café in San Francisco, ca. 1958; José Sarria Papers (1996-01), GLBT Historical Society.

12/24/2020

Season's Greetings from an LGBT historic site, the Corduroy Club! Located at 240 West 38th Street from March 1967 to 1971, the Corduroy Club was a significant effort by the pre-Stonewall LGBT community in New York to have a social space that was outside of the control of the Mafia, New York State Liquor Authority regulations, and police arrests and entrapment. The club also hosted a number of early LGBT organizations.

READ MORE: https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/corduroy-club/

Photo: Corduroy Club holiday invitation, 1967. Courtesy of the Foster Gunnison, Jr. Papers. Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.

12/07/2020

2020 Preservation Awards go virtual!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MooiFxjVSuc&t=8s

We are thrilled and honored to still be able to present the awards this year, though different from years past.
We will be releasing a video, in no particular order, for each of our nine award winners this year.
So go check it out and while you're there subscribe and click the notification bell. That way you won't miss the next winner. We value your support!

09/02/2020

Ithaca College and PocketSights get shout outs in GO Magazine recommendations of self-guided walking tours through . Yes, ours is one of them!

You might stop and smell the roses, but have you considered stopping at q***r historical sites?