Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama (2nd R) stands with Congressman Jerrold Nadler at a dedication ceremony officially designating the Stonewall Inn as a national monument to gay rights on June 27, 2016 in New York City.

Stonewall National Monument Declaration: Annotated

In June 2016, President Obama proclaimed the first LGBTQ+ national monument in the United States at the site of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City.
Woman in Leopard Outfit With Woman in Blue Outfit

Lesbians and the Lavender Scare

Lesbian relationships among government workers were seen as a threat to national security in the 1950s. But what constituted a lesbian relationship was an open question.
Burlesque dancer Mary Mack reclining on a chaise longue, circa 1950.

Burlesque Beginnings

From its nineteenth-century origins, burlesque developed into a self-aware performance art that celebrates the female form and challenges social norms.
From the cover of the newspaper El Grito del Norte, July 1973

Chicanx Studies: A Foundational Reading List

The field of Chicanx studies continues to expand, embracing analyses of racialization, gender, sexuality, Indigineity, and trans-ethnic identity.
Dublin Castle, 1830

Weaponizing Homophobia in Ireland

One of the arguments of Irish nationalism was that English rule was morally corrupting. There was no better example of this than same-sex desire.
Fundraising card used by Anita Bryant to support Save Our Children

Parents’ Rights, Sex, and Race in 1970s Florida

Save Our Children is remembered as an effort to keep gay people out of public life. But it was also rooted in the movement against school integration.
Crystal Eastman

“Now We Can Begin”: Annotated

To mark the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, activist Crystal Eastman described the path to full freedom for American women.
A cover of Frauen Liebe, 1928

Publishing Queer Berlin

Weimar Germany was an improbably safe space for newspapers and magazines by and for lesbians.
An illustration of Morning Glory flowers

Aphrodisiacs of the Aztec and Inca

Aztec and Inca societies used a huge number of aphrodisiacs, from peanuts to hallucinogenic mushrooms to insect larvae.
A detail of an illustration depicting a husband and wife chained together and fighting in a courtroom

The Lost History of No-Fault Divorces

The regulation of divorce has changed a lot in the twentieth century. The National Association of Women Lawyers was instrumental in making that change happen.