National Park Service releases report on queer landmarks

On Tuesday, National Coming Out Day, the National Park Service released its first-ever report on LGBT representation in landmarks and historic sites.

It’s apparent LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History comes after the wake of the National Park Service’s commitment to increase diversity and give more representation to marginalized communities.

Having a book dedicated to queer sites is something to celebrate, but the NPR went above and beyond by digging deep into our roots and providing a 12,000 page report filled with stories that branch outside of the gay, white man’s history, dedicating chapters to the queer two-spirit, transgender, people of color, and those living in rural areas.

Much of the existing scholarship on LGBTQ history in America focuses on white, middle-class, largely male, urban communities. These are important histories, but for structural and cultural reasons, they have become the main story (dominant narrative) that people think about when they think about LGBTQ history. Authors of the theme study were asked specifically to broaden their narrative to include other communities that fall under the LGBTQ umbrella.

These chapters, read in concert with the chapter on Intersectionality, serve as examples of how limiting an exclusive master narrative is and how rich a multi-faceted narrative is when considering the full history of the United States. – National Park Service

In this section of the report we see stories and histories from those that are intersex, bisexual, Asian Pacific Americans, Black, and Latinos. In the latter half of the report we get chapters about the civil rights movement, love, sex, relationships, community, religion, military, arts, etc..

In June, the Stonewall Inn became the first national monument to LGBT history. The Obama Administration also recognized the Henry Gerber House in Chicago and placed eight other sites on the National Register of Historic Places.

Historians, journalists, activists earmarked some 1,300 additional locations for recognition, including bars, private homes, and even courthouses.

The study spotlights sites outside of New York, San Francisco and other gay meccas—like Ma Rainey’s home in Columbus, Georgia, and the lesbian-run Iowa City Women’s Press. They also highlighted bathhouses, and popular cruising spots.

Oh yeah, the report also focuses on the word queer, which could mark the first time an official government document used that term in its title, writes editor Megan Springate.

“Recognizing that the word queer is charged, and uncomfortable to some, the scholars wanted to acknowledge the importance of groups like Queer Nation, who influenced the trajectory of both LGBTQ and national histories,” she wrote.