Overview
In 2011, Baltimore Heritage started an initiative to highlight the historic places significant to Baltimore’s LGBTQ community through tour and education programs. Past project partners have included Baltimore Black Pride, the GLCCB and Baltimore Queerstories.
Project Team
Active volunteers for this project include:
- Kate Drabinski
- Louis Hughes
- Richard Oloizia
- Shirley Parry
- Gary Sachau
Special thanks to Phillip James Hayes-Lovett for establishing our LGBTQ Heritage Initiative during his 2011-2012 internship with Baltimore Heritage.
Partners
- Baltimore Heritage
- Baltimore City Historical Society
- GLCCB (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland)
- University of Baltimore, Langsdale Library
- Baltimore Black Pride
- Baltimore Queerstories
Background
Related News
- Recording the Rainbow Revolution: As gay bars in Baltimore shut their doors, activists work to document LGBTQ history, July 21, 2015. Kate Drabinksi, Baltimore City Paper.
- The Evolution of Baltimore’s Pride Festival: As Pride prepares to celebrate its 40th year, we look back at the local LGBT celebration, June 30, 2015. Lauren Cohen, Baltimore Magazine.
- New partnership houses gay center’s archives at University of Baltimore, March 17, 2014. Kevin Rector, Baltimore Sun.
- Effort to preserve Baltimore’s gay history is underway, September 20, 2013. Kevin Rector, Baltimore Sun.
- Baltimore LGBT history recalled, June 26, 2013. Steven Charing, Washington Blade.
Related Resources
- Rainbow Heritage Network – Facebook Group
- National Park Service LGBT History Initiative
- What can you do to get involved with the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative? – National Park Service
- LGBT Visitor Guide – Visit Baltimore
- ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries
- Baltimore LGBT Media Study – Oral histories on YouTube
More LGBTQ Heritage Projects
- LGBT Historic Context Statement, San Francisco, California
- Curating the City: LGBTQ Historic Places in L.A., Los Angeles Conservancy
- Greenwich Village LGBT History, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Timeline
- October 2011: Panel Discussion at Baltimore Black Pride
- 2012: LGBT Heritage Walk in Charles Village
- June 2013: Charles Village Pride Walking Tour
- 2014: LGBT Heritage Tour in Mount Vernon
- May 2015: Mount Vernon Pride Walking Tour
- May 2015: GLCCB Archives Photo Exhibit at the Creative Alliance
- October 2015: LGBT Baltimore Arcadia Book published
Past Programs
Mount Vernon Pride! Free LGBT History Walking Tour
Many know Mount Vernon as Baltimore’s “gayborhood,” the home of the Pride Parade and Block Party and some of the city’s most popular gay and lesbian bars and businesses. But bars and parades are only a part of the importantLGBT history that can be found in the neighborhood!Join Baltimore Heritage for a free two-hour walking tour through Mt. Vernon’s LGBT history and landmarks from Gertrude Stein’s Eager Street home to the locations where John Waters shot and screened some of his earliest films. As far back as the 1890s, LGBT Baltimoreans in Mt. Vernon have been leaders in their community, like the ardent feminists (with intertwined lives) who fought for women’s admission to the Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1893. From the more recent past, we’ll hear about the medical professionals and volunteers who led the city’s first responses to the AIDS epidemic and residents who founded Baltimore’s only African American LGBT-identified church. This tour is a unique opportunity to explore the places and events that have shaped the growth of Baltimore’s LGBT community and civil rights movement.Take a walk with volunteer sleuths and historians Louis Hughes, Richard Oloizia, Shirley Parry and Gary Sachau and learn about Mt. Vernon’s unique history as the city’s foremost LGBT-identified neighborhood.
Charles Village Pride! LGBT Heritage Walking Tour
Saturday, June 22, 2013, 10:00 AM through 12:00 PM
Meet at Normal’s Books & Records, 425 East 31st Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Sign up online today! Tickets are $10 for Baltimore Heritage members, $15 for non-members
Gay Pride in Wyman Park, June 1988
Although Charles Village is better known for its colorful “painted ladies,” the neighborhood was home to many of the activists and institutions at the heart of the city’s LGBT community in the 1970s and 1980s. Historian Richard Oloizia and activists Shirley Parry and Louis Hughes will take us on a walk past local landmarks from the original home of the Gay Community Center of Baltimore, now the GLCCB, to the St. Paul Street church that supported the growth of the Metropolitan Community Church, Baltimore’s oldest LGBT religious organization, and the radical feminist publishers, writers and activists that gave a voice to lesbian authors who might not otherwise have been read. Whether you lived this history or are learning it for the first time, this tour is a unique opportunity to explore the places that shaped the growth of Baltimore’s LGBT community and civil rights movement.
30 years of GLBT African-American History with Baltimore Black Pride
Baltimore Heritage is celebrating the history of African-American Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people in Baltimore in partnership with Baltimore Black Pride. Together we have organized a panel discussion on 30 years of African-American history in the city as experienced through pioneers and leaders in the GLBT community. Join us this Saturday afternoon, October 8 for a engaging panel discussion. This event is part of the annual Baltimore Black Pride celebration that also include an array of community vendors providing resource services. Light refreshments will be served.
Saturday, October 8, 2011, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Metropolitan Community Church of Baltimore
401 West Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21201