A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History
October 14, 2016 6:28 PM   Subscribe

The National Park Service has published LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History in 32 chapters. Each page includes a .pdf link to a much longer exposition on the subject of the chapter.

Crappy presentation but amazing content.
posted by hippybear (29 comments total) 72 users marked this as a favorite
 
Thanks for posting! A couple of friends of mine contributed chapters to this. Really ground-breaking work.
posted by gingerbeer at 6:31 PM on October 14, 2016


The entire study is also available as consolidated PDF files via this NPS page.
posted by hippybear at 6:34 PM on October 14, 2016


While this may be worthwhile and even well done, why is the National Park Service doing it?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:44 PM on October 14, 2016 [4 favorites]


Follow the link. It's about queer history in the context of preserving and educating people about historic sites.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:48 PM on October 14, 2016 [7 favorites]


While this may be worthwhile and even well done, why is the National Park Service doing it?

LGBTQ Theme Study Fact Sheet [PDF]

It's part of the Heritage Initiative, apparently.
posted by hippybear at 6:49 PM on October 14, 2016


> While this may be worthwhile and even well done, why is the National Park Service doing it?

Because
The National Park Service (NPS) is committed to telling the stories and histories of all Americans. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Heritage Initiative is part of this commitment. This theme study, a core component of the initiative, is a starting point for telling LGBTQ histories in the NPS, not the end of the process.
click the links before hitting post this is basic
posted by rtha at 7:46 PM on October 14, 2016 [12 favorites]


I'm so happy about this. This is like, wow. Maybe my expectations are low, but it's incredible to see a government agency go into this much depth with queer theory and history. I'm amazed (and quite glad) they got away with it.
posted by idiopath at 8:07 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Please nobody tell Congress about this...
posted by dilaudid at 8:10 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


While this may be worthwhile and even well done, why is the National Park Service doing it?

For example...

Prologue: Why LGBTQ Historic Sites Matter

[...]

Franklin Edward Kameny v. Wilber M. Brucker, Secretary of the Army et al., Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, no. 676, US Supreme Court, 1960, 36. Kameny’s writ was intended to win him a Supreme Court review of his appeal against dismissal from the Army Mapping Service on grounds of homosexuality in 1957. It did not. However, in articulating his arguments against US government repression of homosexuals and its ban on employment of homosexuals, Kameny set forth clearly many of the arguments and goals that would characterize his activism over the next fifty-one years. The Dr. Franklin E. Kameny Residence is located in the northwestern quadrant of Washington, DC. It was listed on the NRHP on November 2, 2011.


So, it falls within the remit of the National Parks Service.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:17 PM on October 14, 2016 [5 favorites]


It still sounds to me more like a job for the Smithsonian.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:22 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Who cares? It's awesome! Read the chapter on Reno. THAT is in-depth research right there.
posted by hippybear at 9:25 PM on October 14, 2016 [5 favorites]


Do they have plans to offer this in print or is this a web only deal? I feel like this is the kind of material I'd want to have a dog-eared copy of for many years.
posted by Lykosidae at 10:10 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


> It still sounds to me more like a job for the Smithsonian.

Why? You seem to not be familiar with a lot of things the NPS does. They are not, and have not for a long time, been only about birds-trees-nature. This is a pretty regular thing for them to do. Sorry if you didn't already know that and you just thought they were all parks/nature stuff.
posted by rtha at 10:38 PM on October 14, 2016 [14 favorites]


Do they have plans to offer this in print or is this a web only deal?

I've been contemplating having a copy printed, but if they were to do a physical version I'd pay for that.
posted by hippybear at 10:41 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


I appreciate that not everyone thinks that LGBTQ history is for all of us, but I assure you that it is. We are indeed a part of this country, and its history, and our stories matter. Not just in museums but in places, and we are worth remembering.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:47 PM on October 14, 2016 [17 favorites]


Why? You seem to not be familiar with a lot of things the NPS does. They are not, and have not for a long time, been only about birds-trees-nature. This is a pretty regular thing for them to do.

Indeed. Smithsonian is a museum. NPS is about preserving natural places and cultural history, and they are the agency with authority to support the National Historic Preservation Act, which includes preparing guidance for evaluating historic sites, and providing historic contexts for such sites nationwide.

You can't understand a historic battlefield or building if you don't have an understand of the context in which it is located: why is it significant, who built it, what happened there and why was that important? So NPS (and other agencies) has to conduct historic research and documentation. It's most efficient to do these nationwide generalized studies, for instance there's a historic context providing the background for Cold War Military Sites. When someone looks at a Nike missile silo to see if it's historic, they can grab the historic context to get the background before looking at the specifics of this individual property.

I hadn't heard about this project in the FPP, though: that's really awesome.
posted by suelac at 11:03 PM on October 14, 2016 [10 favorites]




one of the reasons this is so vital, is that people keep thinking queer history in america is basically the coasts--ny, sf, and la at most--maybe chicago, as someone who works on queer midwestern places this is genius.
posted by PinkMoose at 2:20 AM on October 15, 2016 [4 favorites]


The National Parks Service has control over the National Register of Historic Places (the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966) and the National Historic Landmarks Program. The NPS was specifically authorized by congress to research civil rights landmarks in 1999. As a practical matter, the NPS is involved in the following:

1. The NPS is a legal stakeholder in the conservation/preservation of historic buildings/landmarks in place. While most of those sites are not owned by the federal government, NPS involvement is an important consideration when those sites are considered for demolition.

2. The NPS does research on candidate buildings to determine historic value.

As an example my office building just got on the register (with a fancy plaque and everything) as a site of one of the lunch counter segregation protests in 1960.

Why does a historic survey of sites relevant to LGBTQ history fall to the NPS? First, because it was told to do historic studies of sites by congress in 1966, and told to survey civil rights landmarks in 1999. The current LGBTQ initiative is at least partially funded by non-profit grant money.

Second because the NPS has the necessary resources and expertise to deal with conservation and preservation across hundreds of state and local jurisdictions. The theme study, as clearly stated in the introduction chapter, is part of a process of putting LGBTQ sites on the NRHP and NHL lists.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 8:53 AM on October 15, 2016


Some of the things that I'm happy about:

1. While I doubt that Reagan will literally spin in his grave, to have his homes share the same list as the mass graves for AIDS victims gives me a certain amount of spiteful joy.

2. There's separate chapters addressing bi and trans recognition, and while I've not had time to read the whole thing, its nice that Queer Nation and LGBTQ radicalism got recognition in the introduction.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 9:01 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


Holy shit, this is massive. For those of us involved in teaching about queer histories (in my case, queer nightlife history), this is invaluable.
posted by LMGM at 10:55 AM on October 15, 2016 [3 favorites]


Wow, this is extraordinary. I kept scrolling down and down thinking the list of topics would come to an end any second. I haven't read any of the essays yet and I'm already almost in tears. I never thought I would be included in America in this way.
posted by treepour at 12:28 PM on October 15, 2016 [5 favorites]


I never thought I would be included in America in this way.

Exactly this. There were so many things I didn't even know I was missing until I was given them.

Less seriously, "this sounds like a job for the Smithsonian" sounds like the rallying cry for an awesome superhero.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:43 PM on October 15, 2016 [13 favorites]


While this may be worthwhile and even well done, why is the National Park Service doing it?

It was associated with the 2016 declaration making Stonewall a National Monument. The 'Heritage Initiative' of the National Park Foundation (the NPS charity) was funded by the Gill Foundation (see page 2-04 in the first PDF.)
posted by Twang at 10:32 PM on October 15, 2016


Oh man, thank you. I am so looking forward to reading through all this and it looks to be an excellent source to link to a few people I know.
posted by Stunt at 12:44 AM on October 16, 2016


It's awesome that Sally Jewell is doing this. She was the CEO of REI while I worked there (doing big network engineering projects) I've spoken with her one on one on several occasions and she's one of the certified badasses in this country. She was chosen to lead the Dept. of Interior while I worked there and that was a pretty proud moment for us all.

This is super amazing, and yet, unsurprising when considering that Sally headed this up.

(Personally, REI was the first place I ever worked where I felt remotely safe coming out as a trans woman so this is all very personal to me in many ways. Thank you for posting this.)
posted by Annika Cicada at 11:00 AM on October 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


Less seriously, "this sounds like a job for the Smithsonian" sounds like the rallying cry for an awesome superhero.

The Smithsonian had been busy for the last while doing this monumental superhero task, so thank goodness NPS stepped up to do their own superhero task with this release!
posted by hippybear at 11:22 AM on October 16, 2016


The bi chapter is authored by activist and author Loraine Hutchins BTW.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:05 PM on October 16, 2016


This is great. Also a big change from the George W Bush administration, when conservatives pressured the NPS to update a video to drop footage of queer protesters
The NPS was under fire on several fronts around that time - rangers at the Grand Canyon werebarred from publishing a book rebutting a creationist book about the canyon that was being sold there.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:23 PM on October 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


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