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Legendary Boston drag performer Sylvia Sidney in a white dress
Sylvia Sidney was a legendary drag performer in Boston.
Members of ACT UP shouting while a police officer looks on
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS (PWAs). ACT UP/Boston was founded in 1987 as a way to focus local efforts in support of the development of AIDS…
Line of women at AIDS Action Committee 1992 AIDS Walk
Founded in 1983, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. (AAC), is New England’s first and largest AIDS service organization. AAC’s mission is to stop the epidemic and related health inequities by eliminating new infections, maximizing healthier…
Two members of Black and White Men Together marching
Men of All Colors Together Boston is the Boston chapter of the National Association of Black and White Men Together. Men of All Colors Together Boston was founded in 1980, and is the oldest interracial gay group on the East Coast. As both a social…
Boston Bisexual Women's Network members march in a parade
The Boston Bisexual Women’s Network is a feminist, not-for-profit collective organization whose purpose is to bring women together for support and validation. This photograph shows women in a parade carrying a banner which reads: "Bisexual Pride, Gay…
Group portrait of Boston Gay Men's Chorus
The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus is one of New England’s largest and most successful community-based choruses. This photograph is an outdoor group shot of the chorus with four members holding up director Robert Barney in the front.
Cambridge Lavender Alliance co-chair Sue Hyde introduces Alice Wolf
In this photograph, Cambridge Lavender Alliance co-chair Sue Hyde introduces Alice Wolf to the participants at the Alliance sponsored brunch at City Hall. The large group of participants is standing in the lobby of City Hall with Hyde and Wolfe at…
Chiltern Mountain Club Hike for Life- To Fight AIDS
The Chiltern Mountain Club, New England's oldest LGBT outing club, was founded in 1978 by Sturgis Haskins. This photograph shows group a of men walking in the Blue Hills, during the Chiltern Mountain Club's first annual Hike for Life- To Fight Aids.…
Club Antorcha in the 1991 Pride Parade
Club Antorcha (initially Latinos Unidos) was founded in 1989 from a focus group and survey conducted by Orlando Del Valle on Latino gay men's health sponsored by Latino Health Institute. It provided a social network to develop the extended family…
Members of Combahee River Collective at the March and Rally for Bellana Borde against Police Brutality (Boston, January 15, 1980)
Members of the Combahee River Collective take part in a March and Rally for Bellana Borde (15 January 1980) to protest police brutality directed at communities of color in Boston, Massachusetts.
In December 1979, Borde was arrested for…
In December 1979, Borde was arrested for…
Four LESLA members march with banners in 1990 Pride march
LESLA (Lesbianas Latina) formed in 1986. Their statement of purpose reads: "We are a group of Latina lesbians who are committed to supporting each other through our biweekly meetings. We come with a variety of experience, needs, and expectations. Our…
Four women of the Mood Swings posing with various attitudes
The Mood Swings was an improvisational theater groups dealing with the issues of lesbians recovering from alcoholism. Karen, Liz, Cheryl Qamar, and Alice of the Mood Swings sitting in chairs and posing with difference expressions.
Ribbon cutting at the opening of the new Fenway Community Health Center
The mission of Fenway Health is to enhance the well being of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and all people in our neighborhoods and beyond through access to the highest quality health care, education, research and advocacy. In…
ACT UP protest of potential drug interaction trials at Harvard
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS (PWAs). ACT UP/Boston was founded in 1987 as a way to focus local efforts in support of the development of AIDS…
Line of ACT UP members march arm-in-arm
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS (PWAs). ACT UP/Boston was founded in 1987 as a way to focus local efforts in support of the development of AIDS…
Group of AIDS Action Committee members
Founded in 1983, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. (AAC), is New England’s first and largest AIDS service organization. AAC’s mission is to stop the epidemic and related health inequities by eliminating new infections, maximizing healthier…
Three Batucada Bells triangle players in a Pride march, 1986
The Batucada Belles, founded in 1982, are an all-women percussion troupe that has performed the Brazilian-inspired batucada samba in the Boston Pride march, the Walk for Hunger, the AIDS Walk, and other social justice rallies in the Greater Boston…
Members of Black and White Men Together march in a protest
Men of All Colors Together Boston is the Boston chapter of the National Association of Black and White Men Together. Men of All Colors Together Boston was founded in 1980 and is the second-oldest national chapter and the oldest interracial gay group…
Formal portrait of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus
The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus is one of New England’s largest and most successful community-based choruses. From 1985 to 1997, the BGMC was under the direction of Robert Barney, who now holds the title of Conductor Laureate. This photograph is a full…
Boston Gay Men's Chorus in concert
The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus is one of New England’s largest and most successful community-based choruses. From 1985 to 1997, the BGMC was under the direction of Robert Barney, who now holds the title of Conductor Laureate. In this photograph, the…
Henry J. Ferris, Jr. presents AIDS Action Committee Director, Larry Kessler, with a pledge check
Cablevision of Boston General Manager, Henry J. Ferris, Jr., presents checks totaling $1,665 to AIDS Action Committee Director, Larry Kessler (on left). The proceeds came from Bravo’s “Unfinished Stories” telethon and from the “Clash of the Legends”…
Am Tikva Passover Seder celebration
Am Tikva members seated at tables for Passover Seder at the Brookline Jewish Community Center. The congregation Am Tikva – People of Hope – has been serving the Greater Boston community since 1976, creating an open and welcoming environment where…
Man poses with Men of All Colors Together memorial
George Nolley, co-chair of Men of All Colors Together, with a panel for the Names Project AIDS quilt commemorating the life of Michael O'Leary (1949-1986), one of the group's members, signed by Men of all Colors Together Boston. Men of All Colors…
Boston Area Gay Schoolworkers demonstration
Demonstrators from the Boston Area Gay Schoolworkers standing under a balcony on which a cameraman can be seen filming.
Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance auction
In this photograph, a man stands at a podium on a little stage during an auction for the Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance at the Lenox Hotel. Founded as the Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance of Greater Boston (LGPAGB) in 1982, the Lesbian,…
The Women's Video Collective at work at the Seneca Women's Peace Encampment
The Women's Video Collective (WVC) was formed by a small group of women from the Boston area in May 1983. Their purpose was to document the Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in upstate New York. From this experience, the…
Three actresses from Split Britches
This is a promotional photograph for the lesbian performance group Split Britches in their original play "Upwardly Mobile Home." From left to right are founding members Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Deborah Margolin. Split Britches performed at the…
Portrait of five women of The Wallflower Order
The Wallflower Order was co-founded in 1975 by Krissy Keefer with the mission to provide an expanded artistic landscape as it related to women in the 20th century. Working with feminist production companies, political groups and women's sevice…
Nine cast members from a Triangle Theater Company production of "The Boy's in the Band"
The cast of a Triangle Theater production of "Boys in the Band" standing in two rows by height, staring at the camera without smiling. The Triangle Theater Company was founded in 1979 by David M. Hough. Named for the pink triangles used to mark gay…
Three Theater Offensive actors dressed for a performance
Abe Rybeck and two other actors from the Theater Offensive posing in costume.
Actors from United Fruit Company in costume
In 1989, founding Artistic Director Abe Rybeck and a group of artist/activists formed The Theater Offensive to expand on the success of the gay men's guerrilla theater troupe, United Fruit Company. The Theater Offensive mounts and produces festivals…
Promotional photograph for a production by the musical "Ten Percent Revue" called "Walk on Washington"
Jenifer Firestone, Paul Hardit, Helena Snow, and James Humphrey pose for a production of the "Ten Percent Revue" called "Walk on Washington." The four actors hold signs reading: "Celebrate Sodomy," "Take Apartheid Apart," Foster Equality," and "$$$…
Gay Community News Staff Christmas 1973
Gay Community News staff posed on a staircase, including: Joe Martin, Loretta Lottman, Sasha, Jon Kyper, Ellen B. Davis, Jan Johnson, and David Peterson (in a nun's habit). This is the first photograph taken of the staff of Gay Community News.
Gay Community News staff with banner at Pride 1990
Men and women of Gay Community News holding a large banner in the 1990 Pride march in Boston.
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons in conversation
The founders of the group Daughters of Bilitis, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons, at a gathering in Boston.
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons sitting on a couch
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons, founders of the national lesbian group Daughters of Bilitis, sitting on a couch chatting with some other women in Boston.
A Daughters of Bilitis softball game
View from behind the pitcher toward home plate at a Daughters of Bilitis softball game.
Daughters of Bilitis information table
Three women from the Daughters of Bilitis sit a table with copies of their journal Focus, originally titled Maiden Voyage, in front of them.
Dignity/Boston at Pride 1978
Dignity/Boston was formed in the first waves of the Gay Liberation movement that followed the Stonewall Riots, and has been providing a home for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Catholics, their friends and supporters since 1972.…
Banner parade at Dignity/Boston Convention
Dignity/Boston was formed in the first waves of the Gay Liberation movement that followed the Stonewall Riots, and has been providing a home for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Catholics, their friends and supporters since 1972.…
Community members in Boston's annual Pride march holding a sign that reads "Women Hold Up Half the Sky"
Image from the 1979 Pride showing marchers coming down Charles Street.
GO-GO MATTACHINE
Founded in Los Angeles in 1950 by activist Harry Hay, his lover Rudy Gernreich, and others, the Mattachine Society was one of the earliest homophile organizations in the U.S.; it took its name from the medieval French masked wandering entertainers…
HOMOSEXUALS FOR PEACE
In the late 1960s, activists seeking to change society participated in all sorts of progressive groups and movements - anti-war, Civil Rights, women’s rights, and gay rights; organizations shared members, leaders, and tactics. In Boston, the first…
BOSTON/LAMBDA
The lower case Greek letter lambda was chosen as a symbol by the Gay Activists Alliance of N.Y. after the group split from the Gay Liberation Front in 1970. The lambda could be mistaken as a college fraternity symbol, but was recognized by those in…
NATIONAL GAY TASK FORCE
Bruce Voeller, Dr. Harold Brown, Ron Gold, and Nath Rockhill founded the National Gay Task Force in New York City in October, 1973. It was the first professionally led organization to lobby politically for lesbian and gay rights on the national…
GLAD TO BE GAY
An anthem of the gay rights movement, the song was written by out gay punk rocker Tom Robinson for a London gay pride parade in 1976. Released in the U.K. and U.S. in 1978, the song condemns homophobia and societal hypocrisy, and rallies for gay…
ANITA SUCKS [ORANGES]
The popular singer, a former Miss Oklahoma and spokesperson for the Florida citrus industry, Anita Bryant became the face of homophobia in 1977 when she campaigned to repeal a Dade County ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of…
NATIONAL GAY RIGHTS MARCH, WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 14, 1979 – “RIGHTS ARE NOT WON ON PAPER…,” HARVEY MILK
The first such march on the nation’s capital, the National Gay Rights March was galvanized by the assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, an organizer, months before. Between 75,000 and 125,000 participants in the march demanded…
U.S. HANDS OFF CENTRAL AMERICA – GAYS AND LESBIANS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF CENTRAL AMERICA
Following the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, reaction against popular revolutions in Nicaragua and El Salvador was supported by the U.S. government. Gay anti-war activists joined in the protest of U.S. policy.
MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS, OCT. 11, 1987
Known by some as “The Great March,” the second national march was attended by close to 500,000 participants demanding legal recognition of lesbian and gay relationships, the repeal of sodomy laws, for federal laws banning discrimination, for the…