BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall
June 21, 2019 – 2020
In June 1969, LGBTQ+ community members resisted a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a bar in lower Manhattan. This event and others from that time were pivotal to the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. The museum marks this 50th anniversary with a display featuring objects from its collections that put the history of that memorable event within a larger and longer experience of being gay.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Slide Show: Want to see the pictures as a slide show? [Slideshow]

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] STONE_190624_001.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[2] STONE_190624_004.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[3] STONE_190624_013.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[4] STONE_190624_015.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[5] STONE_190624_017.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[6] STONE_190624_020.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[7] STONE_190624_023.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[8] STONE_190624_026.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[9] STONE_190624_029.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[10] STONE_190624_030.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[11] STONE_190624_032.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[12] STONE_190624_038.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[13] STONE_190624_041.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[14] STONE_190624_043.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[15] STONE_190624_046.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[16] STONE_190624_049.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[17] STONE_190624_050.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[18] STONE_190624_051.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[19] STONE_190624_056.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[20] STONE_190624_058.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[21] STONE_190624_060.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[22] STONE_190624_062.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[23] STONE_190624_064.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[24] STONE_190624_069.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[25] STONE_190624_071.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[26] STONE_190624_074.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[27] STONE_190624_079.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[28] STONE_190624_081.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[29] STONE_190624_085.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[30] STONE_190624_087.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[31] STONE_190624_089.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[32] STONE_190624_095.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[33] STONE_190624_097.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[34] STONE_190624_099.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[35] STONE_190624_104.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[36] STONE_190624_107.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[37] STONE_190624_109.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[38] STONE_190624_113.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[39] STONE_190624_118.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[40] STONE_190624_121.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[41] STONE_190624_124.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. STONE_190624_015.JPG: Chrome harness, around 2011
2. STONE_190624_017.JPG: How far will you go to express who you are? Those who fit in the least often experience the most bullying and violence. There are small and big ways to show who you are that are specific to gay history. Wearing a button or the surprise of a dress or necktie, holding hands, and even just leaving your house can be acts of resistance as well as self-identity.
3. STONE_190624_020.JPG: "Gay is Good," a slogan attributed to Frank Kameny in the 1960s Picture of Marsha P. Johnson Johnson was a New York City gay and transgender rights advocate, drag queen, and so much more. These buttons were distributed at her memorial in 1992. "Another Friend of Ellen's" This combines a reference to Ellen DeGeneres and "friend of Dorothy," an earlier Wizard of Oz-inspired slang term for a gay person. Lambda symbol, from the Greek alphabet, introduced by the Gay Activists Alliance, New York City, early 1970s
4. STONE_190624_023.JPG: Red evening slippers, 2011, worn by tennis player Renée Richards
5. STONE_190624_026.JPG: Bullhorn, 2005–2010 Shared by LGBTQ+ activists across Indiana.
6. STONE_190624_029.JPG: Red necktie, 2016 Worn by public health activist Carmen Vazquez with styled suits.
7. STONE_190624_030.JPG: Where can you be safe and be yourself? It is okay to be "Other." By the 1950s, an organized, dispersed gay rights movement existed. Rights, let alone safety and protection, were scarce. Most cities had bars, but police regularly raided them. Gay people were frequently harassed, arrested, or beaten, so they gathered in homes, bathhouses, and bars, or met each other in mainstream social groups, churches, and classrooms. Sometimes, the best place to find community was with a book, a magazine, a TV show, or the internet.
8. STONE_190624_032.JPG: Matchbook covers from Los Angeles gay bars Blanche's, Boots, The Flame, Gold Coast, and Woody's, 1990s–2010 "1989 Conference of Gay and Lesbian Jews," Chicago, Illinois "Tell," 1994 Referring to the partial lifting of the "don't ask, don't tell," restriction on military service.
9. STONE_190624_041.JPG: The Ladder, a Lesbian Review, 1964 Published by the Daughters of Bilitis, a social club founded in 1955 in San Francisco by Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, and others as an alternative to bars and night clubs.
10. STONE_190624_043.JPG: Rolodex, 1960s–2008 A Rolodex of people in the large, nationwide network of California activists and publishers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.
11. STONE_190624_046.JPG: The Third Sex, 1959 Lesbian pulp fiction book by Artemis Smith. Unlike many LGBTQ+ stories of the 1940s and 1950s, this one does not end in tragedy.
12. STONE_190624_049.JPG: Mattachine Review, 1955 Published by the Mattachine Society, a gay rights organization founded in 1950 by Harry Hay and others in Los Angeles.
13. STONE_190624_050.JPG: 45 rpm record, around 1956 Lisa Ben (a.k.a. Edythe Eyde) created this gay parody of "Frankie and Johnnie," produced by the Daughters of Bilitis.
14. STONE_190624_051.JPG: Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall
15. STONE_190624_056.JPG: There is no unified gay history in America and no one way to be gay. The only thing that all gay people have shared across time are the risks and rewards in being themselves. Gay history is familiar, surprising, heartbreaking, empowering, and fabulous -- all at the same time. The June 1969 uprising against police harassment at The Stonewall Inn, a bar in Lower Manhattan, is probably the most famous moment in U.S. LGBTQ+ history. Fifty years later, the histories of the drag queens, students, homeless youth, and others who were there can be placed within a larger and longer experience of being different.
16. STONE_190624_058.JPG: Center for Human Tumor Virus Research sign and counter, 1983 AIDS and cancer researcher Jay Levy displayed this sign in his laboratory. Levy led one of the teams that isolated HIV.
17. STONE_190624_060.JPG: "It can happen here to gays" button with Nazi symbol, 1976
18. STONE_190624_062.JPG: "It can happen here to gays" button with Nazi symbol, 1976 Pink triangle button, 1970s In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis required gay men to wear pink triangles. Activists reclaimed the symbol in the late 1960s.
19. STONE_190624_064.JPG: "We Support Anita Bryant" bumper sticker, 1977 Anita Bryant led a successful campaign called "Save Our Children," to overturn an ordinance in Dade County, Florida, that protected LGBTQ+ citizens.
20. STONE_190624_069.JPG: Lobotomy knives, 1950s Lobotomy was a kind of brain surgery, once used to "cure" homosexuality.
21. STONE_190624_071.JPG: Take Yourself to Washington: Dare to Be You October 14, 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights Among the demands of the first mass march were that Congress pass a comprehensive lesbian and gay rights bill and repeal all anti-gay laws. October 11, 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights The second mass march included the AIDS quilt on the National Mall and demanded passage of a lesbian and gay rights bill, repeal of sodomy laws, and reproductive freedom. It also sought an end to discrimination against people with AIDS, to sexist oppression and racism in the United States, and to apartheid in South Africa. April 25, 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation The third mass march demanded passage of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights bill; repeal of sodomy laws; a large increase in AIDS funding; universal access to healthcare; and an end to discrimination of all kinds, including on the basis of sex, race, gender expression, disability, and HIV and AIDS status.
22. STONE_190624_079.JPG: Collection can from Christopher Street Liberation Day march, the first pride parade, 1970 Mark Segal made this DIY collection can as a teen.
23. STONE_190624_081.JPG: Pride Marches The first pride marches took place in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. In addition to celebrations, people have come in mass numbers to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with specific demands.
24. STONE_190624_085.JPG: Christopher Street March Christopher Street, the location of The Stonewall Inn, ran through the heart of New York City's gay neighborhood.
25. STONE_190624_087.JPG: Christopher Street March Christopher Street, the location of The Stonewall Inn, ran through the heart of New York City's gay neighborhood.
26. STONE_190624_089.JPG: Superman cape, early 1980s, worn by Matt Shepard as a child Shepard was targeted as gay, robbed, and brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. Gift of Judy and Dennis Shepard
27. STONE_190624_095.JPG: Wedding ring, around 1996 Purchased by Matt Shepard while in college in anticipation of a future marriage. Gift of Judy and Dennis Shepard
28. STONE_190624_097.JPG: What do you do with your feelings? How do you survive? It can be dangerous to be different. Some people immerse themselves in a profession or sport or fight back through the courts and public protest. Others escape through music, drink, sex, drugs, or the intentional communities they form. Humor and irony save many people. Some do not survive.
29. STONE_190624_107.JPG: Wedding favor with drawing of two men, 2014 After many years of legal challenges, gay marriage was gradually legalized across America, first by states starting in 2004 and then nationally in 2015.
30. STONE_190624_109.JPG: Toy school bus, late 1970s–early 1980s Young Bil Browning endured bullying on the school bus. He coped by playing with this toy bus, imagining that the bus ate bullies.
31. STONE_190624_113.JPG: Mascara pencils and sharpener, 2018 Used by irreverent artist, author, and filmmaker John Waters to highlight his mustache.
32. STONE_190624_118.JPG: Figure skating costume, 1988, worn by Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano
33. STONE_190624_124.JPG: Figure skating costume, 1988, worn by Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano
Multi Column: Number of columns of thumbnails to appear per page (normally defaults to 3): [1 col] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: ) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2023_DC_SIAH_Mirror: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Mirror, Mirror for Us All: Disney Parks and the American Narrative / Experience (146 photos from 2023)
- 2023_09_19A5_SIAH_More_Perfect: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: A More Perfect Union: American Artists and the Currents of Our Time (134 photos from 09/19/2023)
- 2023_09_17D2_SIAH_Holzer: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Jenny Holzer, THE PEOPLE (22 photos from 09/17/2023)
- 2023_07_13B1_SIAH_Weatherbreak: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Reconstructing ‘Weatherbreak’ in an Age of Extreme Weather (17 photos from 07/13/2023)
- 2023_06_30D1_SIAH_Trouble: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Treasures and Trouble: Looking Inside a Legendary Blues Archive (42 photos from 06/30/2023)
- 2022_DC_SIAH_Sense: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Discovery and Revelation: Religion, Science, and Making Sense of Things (87 photos from 2022)
- 2022_DC_SIAH_Remembrance: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: War and Remembrance (8 photos from 2022)
- 2022_DC_SIAH_Rallying: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Rallying Against Racism (8 photos from 2022)
- 2022_DC_SIAH_Music_HerStory: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change (106 photos from 2022)
- 2022_DC_SIAH_Musical: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Musical Instruments (3 photos from 2022)
- ...More (List all 130 pages)...
Sort of Related Pages: Still more pages here that have content somewhat related to this one :
- 2022_DC_SIAH_Muppets: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: The Muppets Take American History (11 photos from 2022)
- 2021_DC_SIAH_Muppets: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: The Muppets Take American History (27 photos from 2021)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(Smithsonian) American History Museum (Everything)] [(Smithsonian) American History Museum (Non-Events)] [Museums (History)]
2019 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Trips this year: a four-day jaunt to Massachusetts (Boston, Stockbridge, and Springfield) to experience rain in another state, Asheville, NC to visit Dad and his wife Dixie, four trips to New York City (including the United Nations, Flushing, and the New York Comic-Con), and my 14th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con (including sites in Utah). Number of photos taken this year: about 582,000.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Limiting Text: You can turn off all of this text by clicking this link: [Thumbnails Only]
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].