Local
Kameny house wins D.C. landmark status
Designation is a first for gay-related site in city
The D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board voted unanimously Thursday to designate the home of veteran gay rights leader Franklin Kameny as an historic landmark — the first time a gay-related site has been approved for landmark status in the nation’s capital.
The Rainbow History Project, a local gay organization, nominated Kameny’s home at 5020 Cathedral Ave., N.W., for the status. The group submitted a detailed application to the board describing Kameny’s use of his house as an office and center for carrying out his widely recognized role as local founder and national pioneer of the modern gay rights movement beginning in the early 1960s.
“Historians consider him a landmark figure in articulating and achieving gay civil rights in federal employment, criminal law, security clearances cases, and in reversing the medical community’s views on homosexuality,” said the Rainbow History Project in its application to the board.
Kameny, 83, still lives in the house. He said he has lived there since 1962, initially as a tenant. He purchased the home in 1984.
“I coined the slogan ‘Gay is Good’ in this house in 1968,” Kameny told the Blade after learning Thursday about the board’s decision. “Today’s action represents official endorsement of that. Gay is good, and that has now become official truth.”
The Rainbow History Project said Kameny’s home “served as a meeting place [and] de facto headquarters of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., and the planning center for much local and national gay civil rights activism, primarily from 1961 to 1971.”
The Mattachine Society, one of the nation’s first gay organizations, had been in existence in other cities since the early 1950s. Nearly all of the group’s members concealed their names and worked quietly behind the scenes to make gays more socially accepted.
Kameny, who founded the group’s local chapter in 1961, is credited with pushing to transform the organization into a far more aggressive and activist civil rights organization. He coordinated the first gay protest demonstrations at the White House and Pentagon.
Tersh Boasberg, chair of the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board, said shortly before the board voted on the application that Kameny’s case was “highly unusual” because historic landmark status is rarely, if ever, given to a site associated with a living person.
But he said the Rainbow History Project’s detailed and “scholarly” application, along with endorsements from respected historians and preservationist organizations, provided a convincing case for approving the application.
The D.C. Preservation League signed on as a co-sponsor to the application.
The selection of Kameny’s house also is unusual because its modest, 1950s colonial style was not considered distinctive architecturally. Most homes and buildings selected for historic landmark status in D.C. are chosen, in part, because of their architectural distinction as well as their historic significance.
The designation of the Kameny house as a historic landmark in D.C. qualifies the house to be considered for placement on the federal government’s National Register of Historic Places.
If approved by the National Park Service, the Kameny site would be only the second gay-related site recognized on the national register, according to the Rainbow History Project.
New York City’s Stonewall Inn, the gay bar where a police raid sparked the 1969 Stonewall riots, so far has been the only gay-related site recognized in the National Register of Historic Places, Meinke said.
He said only a “handful” of other gay related sites have been recognized by cities or states as historic landmarks. Among them are Harvey Milk’s camera shop and home in San Francisco, the home of early gay rights leader Henry Gerber in Chicago and the Stonewall Inn.
Virginia
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Upwards of 30,000 people attended PrideFest in Norfolk on June 22
Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.
Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June.
Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk.
PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.
Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.
“You know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,” Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.
“It was a great year,” he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.”
State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond.
Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.
The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state.
Baltimore
Baltimore street named in honor of trans activist
Iya Dammons is founder of support groups Safe Haven in Baltimore, D.C.
Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.
A section of Baltimore’s 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.
The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.
A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women “navigating survival mode” living.
“Through compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,” the statement says. “Our programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,” it says.
Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.
“This is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,” a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. “Iya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,” it says. “This honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.”
Baltimore
Despite record crowds, Baltimore Pride’s LGBTQ critics say organizers dropped the ball
People on social media expressed concern about block party stampede
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | This year’s Baltimore Pride Week attracted 150,000 people — record attendance that far exceeded initial projections of 100,000.
But some see room for improvement and want organizers to address safety issues and make changes so the annual event that celebrates the LGBTQ population is better run.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
HRC slams White House over position opposing gender affirming surgeries for minors
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Concern over marriage equality in US grows two decades after first Mass. same-sex weddings
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Toronto Pride parade cancelled after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt it
Toronto Pride parade cancelled after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt it
LGBTQ issues absent from Trump-Biden debate
Stephen Mark Lukas makes sublime turn in ‘Funny Girl’
Despite record crowds, Baltimore Pride’s LGBTQ critics say organizers dropped the ball
Haters troll official Olympics Instagram for celebrating gay athlete and boyfriend
-
Canada1 day agoToronto Pride parade cancelled after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt it
-
Politics5 days agoLGBTQ issues absent from Trump-Biden debate
-
Theater4 days agoStephen Mark Lukas makes sublime turn in ‘Funny Girl’
-
Baltimore3 days agoDespite record crowds, Baltimore Pride’s LGBTQ critics say organizers dropped the ball