"I'm sure there's a heterosexual explanation for this"
An analysis of the queering and unqueering of representations, memorializations, and commemorations of LGBTQ history in public history spaces.
Nina Isabelle Schuts 6037372
University of Amsterdam MA History: American Studies Supervisor: mw. dr. M.S. Parry 30-06-2017
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction 3
Chapter 2. (Un)queering historic house museums in the United States 12
- Heteronormativity in historic house museums 13
- Labeling lesbians and life partners 18
- The future of queer historic houses 23
Chapter 3. Sites of negative history: memorializing Pulse nightclub 26
- Private and public memorialization 31
- Who is this for? 36
Chapter 4. Sites of positive history: commemorating the Stonewall riots 41
- Contested history 43
- Rainbow pilgrimage 45
- Stonewall in cinematic culture 49
Chapter 5. Conclusion 53
Works Cited 55
- Primary Sources 55
1. Introduction
"historical figure: *is gay*
historian: I'm sure there is a heterosexual explanation for this."1
Although this tweet, posted on September 12, 2016 by user katie @jycdivision, is a joke about historians who bend over backwards to fit potentially queer history into a
heteronormative mold, it is possible to extrapolate a serious point about the 'straight-washing' of queer history in the United States.2 Many historical figures who expressed the fact that they were queer openly, as well as figures whose queerness is theorized by historians but not proven, are not represented as such by historians and museum professionals when their histories are displayed in public history spaces. Analyzing the queerness of a historical figure is a difficult task. It is not always possible to project the various complex labels that exist now onto the past. At the same time, history is presented through a heteronormative lens that often does not allow for sexuality and gender deviancy. Public history spaces have the potential to represent queer history in a way that is both historically accurate and provides visibility for the queer community and its history - although that task can present quite a challenge.
This thesis will be a critical analysis of the various ways public history spaces represent LGBTQ history. I will analyze three kinds of public history spaces: historic house museums, where history is exhibited, sites of 'negative history,' where history of
memorialized, and sites of 'positive history,' where history is commemorated. In studying these specific cases, it is important to note which aspects of queer histories are being represented and how they are being showcased. It is also important to investigate which aspects of queer history are missing. In the chapter on historic house museums, it will become evident how and why queer history is erased and what can be done to combat this.
Additionally, the chapter will investigate which tools historic house museums can utilize to showcase queer history in a way that is historically accurate. The chapter on sites of 'negative history' will focus on queer public history sites that memorialize tragedy. The chapter will investigate how violent or otherwise negative events have been memorialized in public spaces, and who the target audience for these memorialization efforts is. The chapter on Stonewall will focus on the commemoration of 'positive' historic events for the queer
1 katie, username @jycdivision, Twitter post, September 12, 2016, 09:36 a.m., https://twitter.com/jycdivision/status/775372500167458817.
2 'Straightwashing' refers to the erasure of gay identity, meaning that the sexuality of individuals is not mentioned. It is also used to refer to attempts, usually by historians, to fit information into a heteronormative perspective.
community, such as riots that led to an increase in gay civil rights activism. Because the Stonewall riots play an important role in the historical narrative of gay liberation, it is worth questioning how Stonewall became such an important symbol for the gay civil rights
movement, and how the Stonewall riots are commemorated in various public history spaces today. In the end, this thesis will showcase an analysis of representations of LGBTQ history in a variety of queer public spaces. It will show the ways in which queer history can be represented successfully in queer public spaces, as well as what the pitfalls of this process are.
Representing LGBTQ history in queer public spaces is important for several reasons. First, shedding light on LGBTQ history can increase the visibility of the queer community and its history in society, which in turn can lead to the destigmatization of individuals from sexual and gender minority groups. It has the potential to lead to greater acceptance. Similarly, shedding light on the gaps and silences in queer representation is important, as these gaps further queer erasure and therefore stand in the way of greater acceptance. Second, it is capable of creating a greater sense of togetherness and inclusivity within the LGBTQ community, since the community is divided on many issues and some groups within the acronym are not fully accepting of others. LGBTQ is a large umbrella term with a vast
amount of stories under its banner, and some stories have gathered more light than others. It is important to rectify this imbalance. Third, it has the potential to amplify queer voices that tell stories that have been historically silenced and forgotten. Showcasing the erased queer aspects of history will lead to a greater understanding of historical events, people, and contexts.
This analysis will focus on three different kinds of queer public history spaces, each with their own case studies and primary sources. In general, the primary sources used are from 2010 and later, ensuring that they are current. They are representative of reactions of the general public to these spaces. They are, for example, museum websites that visitors would access if they were looking for information, online articles that can be found through Google, comments left by visitors on articles or review websites, and films and film reviews. In doing so, I intend to stay as close to the general public as possible. Chapter 2 is about historic house museums in the United States, specifically the Alice Austen House in Staten Island, the Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago, and the yet to be opened Pauli Murray house in Durham, North Carolina. In terms of sources, I pay attention to the information provided by these historic houses on their websites as well as comments left by visitors on sites such as Yelp. The chapter will also feature information from online articles written about these historic houses from online magazines such as the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe. In chapter 3, I will analyze the memorialization of Pulse nightclub, as well as other examples of
'negative' queer history, using news coverage from these events by CNN, The Washington
Post, Psychology Today, and other such journals. Chapter 4 deals with the Stonewall Inn and
its commemoration with the use of online articles on Stonewall and New York Pride, as well as two feature films on the topic of Stonewall and reviews written on those films.
In terms of scholarly work, a significant discourse has emerged surrounding the topic of queer museology and historic sites. One such work is Susan Ferentinos Interpreting LGBT
History at Museums and Historic Sites (2015). This book is an introduction to the topic of
museum representation of LGBT history as well as a handbook for curators of museums and historic sites who are interested in interpreting that history. Ferentinos gives a broad overview of LGBT history, using case studies like the Chicago History Museum and New England historical sites, and glimpses into some of the unique issues involved in this pursuit. She also gives a large overview of useful sources. For example: in 2016, the National Park Service published LGBTQ America online, a study in which American LGBTQ history and its role in American history and society is examined. This work examines the role that historic sites of memory play specifically for the LGBT community. It features chapters on LGBT historic sites, LGBT history, intersectionality, civil rights, military service, health, and many other topics.
Ferentinos states that historians and museum professionals are missing opportunities to present LGBT lives in current museums.3 In instances where LGBT history is represented, different concepts, agendas, and social experiences are awkwardly thrown together into a common narrative. This is representative of the LGBT community in general as it presents itself as a united group to larger culture, whereas it is in fact a community of many different experiences and thus must be represented as such.4 Ferentinos draws heavily on queer theory by authors like Judith Butler and David Halperin, as well as writings by Leslie Feinberg, to explain that historians of sexuality need to be careful about studying LGBT history within the context of time, since sexual understanding is socially constructed and therefore terms that are used to signify certain people now, such as 'queer' or even 'homosexual', do not necessarily apply to the past. 5 Ferentinos argues that museums have a responsibility to interpret the history of same-sex love for multiple reasons. First, museums are sites of public dialogue and creators of cultural values. Second, historical organizations are responsible to fully present the past. Third, LGBT history will diversify and expand audiences. And fourth, it will provide visibility for marginalized and erased groups. In doing so, it is important to focus on
3 Ferentinos, Susan, Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites (New York 2015) 3. 4 Ferentinos, Interpreting LGBT History, 6.
identifying the outsiders rather than making it an exercise in inclusivity. The gaps and silences in LGBTQ history need to be studied as well.6
Another important work is Gender, sexuality, and museums; a Routledge reader (2010). This reader, edited by Amy K. Levin, contains a collection of essays surrounding the topics of 'forgotten' history, that of women and the LGBTQ community, in museum spaces. Useful essays include Robert Mills' "Queer is Here?" This essay gives insight into LGBT history in museums in the United Kingdom. Mills argues that a significant discourse is emerging on the staging of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, but it is often represented as a linear chronological story of homophobia – coming out of the closet – community formation. Mills uses the example of Queer is Here, a recent London exhibit, as an example of this linear presentation of LGBT history. It does not confront multiple
temporalities of sex and gender within a certain time. These unified narratives need to be disrupted. Creating successful queer museum exhibits will require the creators to contest the norms in which museums and other 'popular' history narratives are embedded. In other words: curators need to stop trying to show a 'history as it really was', and need to start recognizing multiple changing interpretations and timelines7.
Another useful essay from this reader is Anna Conlans "Representing Possibility." In this essay, Conlan states that museum representations of sexuality and gender matter because they are also political deployments of sex and gender. Museums are spaces where knowledge and public opinion are formed. By showing certain histories or contemporary lives and ignoring others, they are telling the public whose lives are legitimate or illegitimate, acceptable or unacceptable, worthy of grieving and not worthy of grieving. To create a successful queer exhibit, it needs to critique institutional heterosexism. Conlan argues that museums must redesign their conceptual and physical structure in order to question systemic heteronormativity. Not only would this be interesting, they have a responsibility to do so. Museums need to legitimize the previously marginalized queer lives in the past and in the present.8
The role of museum spaces as cultivators of meaning is deeply examined by feminist studies scholar Jennifer Tyburczy in Sex Museums: The Politics and Performance of Display (2016). Tyburczy argues that museums fulfill a bigger role in society than just the exhibiting
6 Ibidem, 9.
7 Mills, Robert, "Queer is here? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Histories and Public Culture" in: Amy K. Levin ed., Gender, Sexuality, and Museums: A Routledge Reader (New York 2010) 80-88.
8 Conlan, Anna, 'Representing Possibility: Mourning, Memorial, and Queer Museology' in: Amy K. Levin ed., Gender, Sexuality, and Museums: A Routledge Reader (New York 2010) 253-263.
of historical artifacts. They are spaces were meaning is created. This is also the case in museums that deals with topics surrounding sexuality and gender. Certain kinds of
representation have always been included in museums by museum professionals, and simply by putting them in a museum they are classified as high art. Others have been excluded, inexplicitly classifying them as not relevant or worthy of representation. Museums play and have always played an important role in shaping how the public talks and thinks about sex. With this work, Tyburczy aimed at accomplishing four important goals. First, exploring the ways in which museums have shaped the binaries of 'normal' and 'perverse'. Second,
discovering how present day sex museums have reshaped these binaries. Third, understanding the challenges involved in creating exhibits that revolve around marginalized sexual
identities. Fourth, proving that all museums are sex museum already.9 She argues for a "queer praxis": a practical application of queer theory in museum display to create queer curatorship. Curators need to critically examine the socially constructed nature of sexuality and adjust their exhibits accordingly – introducing artifacts or works of art that allow for that same examination. In order to create a successful queer exhibit, the museum itself needs to allow for critique of institutionalized ideas of normal sexual behavior and heteronormalcy.10
Many museums present history from a heteronormative standard of gender and sexuality. Amy K. Levin, in “Straight Talk: Evolution Exhibits and the Reproduction of Heterosexuality,” analyzes the way in which museums on evolution rely on this same
heterosexist gender binary.11 Historic house museums do not tend to focus on evolutionary or biological history, but Levin's central arguments holds up. Exhibitions do not have to make explicit statements about what kind of gender divide or sexuality is considered 'normal,' yet they still make these statements by presenting heteronormative and patriarchal values as the norm. Exhibitions on evolution represent sexuality only as a biological phenomenon, showing a discomfort with the representation of sexuality in general.12 On top of that, any information on homosexuality, or other sexual or gender minorities, is absent. Even newer exhibits fail to critically examine the established gender binary as a social and historical construct, and omit homosexuality, intersex, transgender, and other variations on the sexual and gender binary
9 Tyburczy, Jennifer, Sex Museums: The Politics and Performance of Display (Chicago 2016) 2. 10 Ibidem, 3-4, 175-176.
11 Heterosexism refers to a form of ideological thought in heterosexuality is the norm, and its sexual practices need to be followed. It is closely linked to heteronormativity. Homophobia is a form of heterosexism and can be identified as a fear or antipathy towards homosexuals and homosexuality, as well as the behavioral patterns based on these feelings.
12 Levin names examples of exhibits where sex and reproduction were represented by the showing of merging DNA nuclei, bacterial cell division, endocrine systems and fetal development charts, or other biological processes.
from their exhibitions. Levin states that museums "police our preferences", representing only certain types of sexuality, heterosexuality, and gender identity, keeping heteronormalcy and patriarchal structures intact. The absence of valid alternatives sends the message that there are no valid alternatives.13
Obviously, there are valid alternatives, and presenting them in museums legitimizes them in the public eye. To further identify why representation of LGBTQ history continues to matter, this thesis will utilize theory from The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (1991), edited by Henry Abelove. In Adrienne Rich's "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence," for example, Rich argues that heterosexuality is still seen as the standard of sexuality, and that the lives of people with a different sexuality continue to be seen as different and lesser. Women especially are forced to adhere to heterosexual notions of sexuality in forced and subliminal ways, and this is especially the case for lesbian women. They are expected to adhere to standards that they do not necessarily identify with and remain trapped in a "mold of heterosexuality", which needs to be challenged.14 As stated previously, museums have the capability to do that.
In "Homophobia: Why Bring It Up," Barbara Smith outlines the intersections between racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia, and argues that homophobia is often the least mentioned of these notions. While lesbian and gay male oppression is just as serious as other oppressions, people are reluctant to bring it up because they are generally not comfortable talking openly about sexuality, and because many people believe that the fight against homophobia has already been won.15 Violence against homosexuals still occurs in the United States and subtle expressions of homophobia, such as jokes and derogatory slang, are not taken seriously as a potential cause.16 The solution to this is education, Smith argues. Negative attitudes towards homosexuals, whether explicit or implicit, need to be challenged, especially in young students. Smith also argues that the term 'gay' is not inclusive, and that it has come to signify only white, middle- or upper-class men. This excludes women, people of color, working class, poor, disabled, and older people from the queer community.17
This thesis will contribute to the scholarly debate surrounding representations of LGBTQ history in public spaces in the following ways. It will focus on case studies that are
13 Levin, Amy K., "Straight Talk: Evolution Exhibits and the Reproduction of Heterosexuality" in: Amy K. Levin ed., Gender, Sexuality, and Museums: A Routledge Reader (New York and London 2010) 201-212. 14 Rich, Adrienne, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" in: Henry Abelove e.a. ed., The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (New York and London 1991) 241.
15 Smith, Barbara, "Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?" in: Henry Abelove e.a. ed., The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (New York and London 1991) 100-101.
16 Smith, "Homophobia," 101. 17 Ibidem, 101.
specifically located in the United States. First, the spaces analyzed are all accessible to the general public and, as such, have the capacity to become spaces that provide visibility and representation for the queer community and its history. The studied attempts at queer representation, memorialization, and commemoration that take place in these spaces are recent developments. Second, this thesis will often shift its focus towards queer women, since this subgroup has received significantly less attention in scholarly research about queer representation. Third, the research will focus on primary sources that are accessible to the general public. A lot of the sources used include news coverage of events, museum websites, online reviews and comments, and online articles. By combining these sources with scholarly work, it will be possible to create a scholarly analysis of queer public spaces while still allowing (queer) voices from the general public to be heard.
When engaging in queer public history it is important to note that a difficulty with terminology and acronyms exists within this field of study. Many umbrella terms and acronyms exist to describe individuals who belong to sexual and gender minority groups. Within these groups, individuals often disagree on the precise definition of certain terms, and being completely inclusive presents a challenge. Another issue with these terms is that they can often not be used to describe notions of sexual and gender difference in the past because the terminology to describe them did not come into existence until late in the 20th Century. Taking into account Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality (1976), it can be argued that homosexuality as an identity did not exist before the 19th Century. Someone who engaged in, for example, sodomy, was persecuted as 'a person who engaged in sodomy', rather than someone whose core identity drove him to practice sodomy.18 However, it can be useful to project modern terms of identification onto historical figures for the sake of providing
visibility to aspects of their history that are often forgotten because of their lack of clarity. As long as possible issues with historical inaccuracies are taken into account, modern
terminology can be applied to the past to study it in a useful way. Frequently used words and acronyms include gay, lesbian, LGBT(QIA+), same-sex love or relationships, and queer.
The word 'gay' emerged in the 1940s and 1950s to describe both male and female homosexuals, although it was mostly associated with men. Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "sexually attracted to people of the same sex and not to people of the opposite sex."19 This term proves difficult to use in a historical context because it is limited to sexual attraction, which is nearly impossible to study in historical contexts where sex was not openly discussed.
18 Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality (New York 1990) 43. 19 Cambridge Dictionary, s.v. "gay," accessed June 19, 2017. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gay.
The Human Rights Campaign glossary of terms defines 'gay' as "a person who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to members of the same gender."20 During the 1960s and 1970s, female homosexuals claimed the term 'lesbian' because many women felt excluded by the term 'gay'.21 'Lesbian' came to denote women who were attracted to women. However, with gender binaries shifting, these terms are becoming increasingly problematic. They also exclude people from other sexual or gender minority groups. In this thesis, the use of 'gay' and 'lesbian' will be limited to describing people who self-identify as such or refer to themselves as such, or to explain scholarly work in which these terms are used by the author.
In all other cases, this thesis will make use of the term same-sex relationship, queer, or LGBTQ. Same-sex relationship is a useful term to refer to relationships between people of the same sex in the past because the sexuality of these individuals is often unclear. Some scholars prefer the term 'same-sex love', but love is a more difficult concept to define than relationship and has romantic connotations, whereas this term can refer to relationships that are romantic, sexual, friendly, or whose precise nature is up for debate, as they often are. The term queer is defined by the Human Rights Campaign glossary as "A term people often use to express fluid identities and orientations. Often used interchangeably with LGBTQ."22 When the term comes up in this thesis, I use it to signify all sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or cisgender. It can include gay, lesbian, and bisexual sexual identity, as well as a host of gender possibilities, including transgender, agender, and genderfluid.23 The acronym LGBTQ will be used to refer to the 'community' of individuals who belong to sexual or gender
minority groups. Many scholars and writers use the term LGBT or GLBT, which originated in the 1990s and includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Since then, more letters have been added to include more variations in sexual and gender identity, including Q for queer or questioning, I for intersex or intergender, A for asexual or ally, and a plus sign at the end to signify other possible variations.24 Because queer is an umbrella term and often used interchangeably with LGBTQ, the acronym used here ends at the Q, because it already encompasses all known variations who wish to identify as a part of it.
Such a vast group of individuals falls under the LGBTQ spectrum that using an umbrella term like 'queer' or 'LGBTQ' needs to be done carefully. Although the acronym
20 "Glossary of Terms," Human Rights Campaign, s.v. "gay," accessed June 19 2017.
21 Zak, Emily, "LGBPTTQQIIAA+ - How we Got Here From Gay," Ms. Blog, October 1, 2013, accessed June 19, 2017, http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/01/lgbpttqqiiaa-how-we-got-here-from-gay/.
22 "Glossary of Terms," Human Rights Campaign, s.v. "LGBTQ," accessed June 19 2017.
23 Levin, Amy K., "Introduction" in: Amy K Levin ed., Gender, Sexuality, and Museums: A Routledge Reader (New York 2010) 6.
24 Zak, Emily, "LGBPTTQQIIAA+ - How we Got Here From Gay," Ms. Blog, October 1, 2013, accessed June 19, 2017, http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/01/lgbpttqqiiaa-how-we-got-here-from-gay/.
LGBTQ implies a cohesive community with similar goals, in reality each letter is its own community with its own goals, some of which garner significantly more attention and representation than others. Each letter is also a collection of individuals who all have their own ideas and goals. There are also groups that are divided on whether or not they want to be added at all. 25 Terminology can signify inclusion as well as exclusion. In May of 2017, the queer women dating app Her posted the following question on its public forum: "What issue do you think is most affecting the LGBTQ community?" The majority of users responded with comparable answers. User Hayden said: "People within the community tearing each other down." User Shelbie wrote: "The fact that we discriminate in our own acronym," and user Olga responded: "The lack of unity."26 The LGBTQ umbrella cannot hold all the different voices and stories that exist within it, leaving some voices unheard and stories untold. This is why historians and activists work on creating room for a wider range of voices to speak, and a wider variation of stories to be told.
2. (Un)queering historic house museums in the United States
The National Trust for Historic Preservation estimates that there are 15,000 historic house museums in the United States today.27 According to a 2016 study conducted by the National Park Foundation, out of 86.000 national historic sites that have been registered to the National
25 This is mainly the case for intersex people. Many intersex people do not feel comfortable being included because Intersex is not a sexual orientation or gender identity, it refers to physical characteristics. Others feel strongly about being included because they do not identify as straight and/or cisgender. If someone were to identify strongly with the queer community, they could be included in the Q since it encompasses all variations. I'm sure a different case could be made, but perhaps it is better made by someone who is intersex.
26 User aamielynn commented: "LABELS!!" My apologies aamielynn.
27 Graham, Ruth, "The Great Historic House Museum Debate: Do We Have Too Many? The Surprising Fight Over a Quirky, Dusty, and Endangered American Institution," The Boston Globe, August 10, 2014, accessed May 8, 2017,
Register of Historic Places, only three percent explicitly represents minority populations defined by race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.28 There is a limited amount of historic house museums that revolve around the lives of queer people, and an even smaller amount that actually represents the potentially queer identity of its historical resident. 29 It is a pity, because historic house museums offer a unique opportunity to represent the lives of people who are generally not included in grand historic narratives. Some of the original residents of historic house museums are still nationally known, but often they are only regionally known, or more known for their real estate than for their accomplishments.30 This allows for a retelling of history from an individualistic perspective, and it allows for people who engaged in 'deviating' sexual or romantic relationships to have their story told.
Representing queer history poses a challenge for curators and museum professionals. This is partially due to the fact that LGBTQ is a modern term that cannot be applied to the past without creating historical inaccuracies. It is also an umbrella term that contains many different perspectives and stories. Not to mention that it is difficult to represent a history that is hard to identify in historical periods where sexuality was not openly discussed or
acknowledged. How do you represent something that does not appear to be there? Unfortunately, the historic house museums that fall within the three percent that does explicitly represent minority populations do not necessarily do a good job in representing queer history. By investigating what the trials and tribulations in representing queer history are, and how historic house museums have dealt or not dealt with these issues, it becomes possible to analyze how queer history could be represented well in queer public history spaces.
To analyze the different ways in which historic house museums can exhibit queer history, I have chosen three case studies of historic house museums with (sometimes allegedly) queer former residents. The first museum is the Alice Austen house in Staten Island, New York, the former home of American photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952). This case study will offer an example of a historic house museum that revolves around a resident whose queerness seem rather explicit but whose same-sex relationship was not made explicit in the museum itself. Although the Alice Austen House Museum was added to the list of National LGBT Historic Sites on June 15, 2017, it is worth investigating why the choice
28 Springate, Megan E. ed., LGBTQ America. A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History (National Park Foundation, Washington DC, 2016).
29 Buckner, Joshua, "'How Can We Talk About It?" Disrupting Heteronormativity Through Historic House Museums" (diss., University of Washington, 2016).
was originally made not to represent her same-sex relationship in this historic home.31 The second museum is the Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago, Illinois, the former home of author, reformer, settlement activist and pacifist Jane Addams (1860-1935). The second case study will be an example of a museum where the queerness of its former resident is less explicit but the historic house museum has made a larger effort to represent the possibility of queerness in its exhibits. Third, I turn to the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, the former residence of civil rights activist, women's right activist, lawyer, author and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray (1910-1985). This historic house museum is scheduled to open in 2020. By inspecting the plans for the Pauli Murray Center, it is possible to get a sense of the development that is visible in the representation of queer history in historic house museums.
Heteronormativity in historic house museums
Historic house museums are generally heteronormative spaces, even if its former resident did not exclusively engage in heterosexual relationships or adhere to gender expectations.32 They are notoriously conservative spaces of public history, where the genealogy of elite families is often an important part of the exhibit and the heterosexual relationships within the family tree are emphasized. This leaves little room for differences in class, gender, colonialism and sexuality in their historical legacy.33 Historic houses usually center their information and exhibit around one person: the former resident of the house. If the identity or sexual
orientation of the resident did not fit into standardized notions of gender or sexuality, either those that exist in the present or those that existed in their historical context, omitting that information means erasing an important part of the history of that house. Historian Joshua Adair argues that the erasure of gay history from historic house museums is a problem across the United States. For gay men this happens on two levels. First, the histories of gay men are erased from the historical narratives of the historic house museums. Adair calls this the "straightening of the biographical record."34 Second, their contributions to heritage
31 Rizzi, Nicholas, "Alice Austen House Designated as National LGBT Historic Site," DNA Info, June 16, 2017, accessed June 26, 2017, https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170616/rosebank/alice-austen-house-museum-lgbt-history.
32 Heteronormativity refers to the belief that people fall into a gender binary (male and female) that is accompanied with expected patterns of behavior. It also assumes that heterosexuality is the norm for sexual orientation, and that other sexual orientations are abnormal or wrong. The term 'heteronormalcy' can also be used.
33 Oram, Alison, "Going on an Outing: the Historic House and Queer Public History," Rethinking History 15.2 (2011) 192.
34 Adair, Joshua G., "House Museums or Walk-In Closets? The (Non)Representation of Gay Men in the Museums they Called Home" in: Amy K. Levin ed., Gender, Sexuality and Museums: A Routledge Reader (New York 2010) 265.
preservation are also erased, as a lot of gay men have played important roles in the
preservation and restoration of historic house museums. According to Adair, gay men display a higher level of interest and involvement in the creation and preservation of historic house museums, more than other groups in Western society. Some historic house museums have embraced this fact, like the Hillwood Estate in Washington D.C, an estate with a museum and garden that uses the promotional tagline "where fabulous lives" and showcases exhibits full of jewels, flowers, dresses, and Fabergé eggs.35 Most of the time, however, the roles of gay men as major contributors tend to be obscured, if not completely erased from the record, as are their roles as subjects of these houses. This happens because the institutions that employ gay men and exhibit the histories of gay men refuse to acknowledge their identities, keeping visitors unaware of the voices of gay men that can be heard both in history and in the present. Adair says that this likely has to do with gay employees feeling uncomfortable being
identified as such because of discrimination, fear of retribution, or increased personal discomfort. If museums were to openly address the lives of gay men in their exhibitions, the gay men who regularly contribute to the existence of house museums would benefit from this representation, which would in turn lead to more open discussions on the topic in historic house museums for museum staff and visitors alike.36 The same thing happens to the voices of lesbian women in historic house museums across the United States.37
Even when same-sex love is made visible rather than kept invisible in historic house museums, it can still keep heteronormative and patriarchal notions of gender and sexuality intact, as social and cultural historian Alison Oram argues. She uses Shibden Hall, the
residence of Anne Lister, as an example to show how the efforts to represent queer history can inadvertently reinforce notions of heteronormativity. Shibden Hall is promoted as a 'family house' where the rooms evoke the life of a traditional family structure. The kitchen is presented as a woman's space, whereas the study is presented as the man's space. There is a bedroom with a large marital bed, as well as a children's room and a nursery.38 This does not necessarily reflect the history of the house. Many generations who lived there, both above and below Anne Lister, rarely married or had only a few children. In the two hundred year period that the Lister family lived there, until 1933 when the house became publically owned, there
35 "A Visit to the Fabulous Hillwood Estate in DC for Gay Day!," Meetup, September 15, 2012, accessed June 27, 2017, https://www.meetup.com/nl-NL/The-baltimore-gay-social-group/events/80405932/?
eventId=80405932.
36 Adair, "House Museums or Walk-In Closets?," 265-266. 37 Ibidem, 266.
38 Oram, Alison, "Sexuality in Heterotopia: Time, Space and Love between Women in the Historic House," Women's History Review 21.4 (2012) 540.
were two short periods totaling thirty-two years when children under the age of eighteen lived in the house. For about a hundred of those years the house was inhabited by pairs of
unmarried brothers and sisters living together.39 The present curators of Shibden Hall have made an effort to represent Anne Lister's lesbianism more openly. They name her same-sex relationships explicitly in promotional literature and during tours.40 But because the house itself presents such a conventional idea of family throughout history, Anne Lister's same-sex love is presented as an anomaly, rather than as a valid alternative way to have a family.41
The Alice Austen House in Staten Island, NY is an example of a historic house museum that makes a minimal effort to represent the queer history of its former resident. Alice Austen was one of America's earlier female photographers. According to the biographical information page of the website for the Alice Austen House, she was also a landscape designer, a master tennis player, and the first woman on Staten Island to own a car. The page gives an overview of her life and mentions that "Alice Austen was in a loving and devoted relationship with Gertrude Tate," and that she was "a rebel who broke away from the ties of her Victorian environment." About Gertrude Tate the page states that she moved into Austen's home in 1917 despite her family's objections of her 'wrong devotion' to Alice. The biography section also informs readers that after their deaths Alice and Gertrude wished to be buried together, but their families denied this.42
Although it may seem like the historic house museum does not shy away from talking about the relationship between Alice and Gertrude, this is really the only information about their same-sex love that is visible anywhere on the website. The rest of the information pages talk about her photography and the home itself. There are no exhibitions specifically
dedicated to addressing the queer history of the house. There is no mention of the word 'queer' or 'lesbian' anywhere. The Alice Austen House Museum did send a contingent to New York's gay pride parade in 2015, but the article on the Staten Island Live website announcing this mentions that this is because Austen was a pioneering female photographer who took photos of women cross-dressing and embracing. It also mentions that she lived with another woman, Gertrude Tate, but that it was unknown whether or not they had a sexual relationship and that it was not uncommon for single women to have a 'Boston marriage'.43 Janice Monger, the
39 Oram, "Sexuality in Heterotopia," 541. 40 Ibidem, 541.
41 Ibidem, 542.
42 "Alice Austen: Her Life," Alice Austen House, accessed May 26, 2017, http://aliceausten.org/.
43 This is a term generally used to describe two women who were financially independent from men and chose to live together out of friendship. It is often unclear whether a relationship between two women was a platonic friendship, a romantic friendship, or a same-sex relationship.
Alice Austen house executive director, said: "We're not trying to label the relationship nor do we know the precise nature of the relationship."44
It makes sense that Monger would say this because it a historically accurate way to approach the history of these figures. First, it is impossible to know the precise nature of the relationship between these two women. Second, using modern terminology (queer, lesbian, LGBTQ+) to describe historical figures is anachronistic because they could not have
identified that way and the terminology did not exist yet. Third, identity politics surrounding sexuality were completely different in this historical context. If a term such as 'lesbian' even existed, women were not free to use it to describe themselves. And fourth, perhaps it is more historically accurate to leave the legacy of these historical figures as they would have
intended, or as their family members alive today would like: with their sexual or romantic preferences unknown to the public. However, leaving a large part of someone their history unspoken because the precise nature of it is unknown feels like a cop-out. It makes sense that the minute details are not always clear when you are dealing with historical information, but that does not mean that it cannot be useful to open up debate surrounding the unanswered questions in someone's life.
The now-closed Liberace museum in Las Vegas is an example of a museum where the sexuality of Liberace was completely ignored, seemingly going against historical accuracy. The museum displayed his costumes, pianos, and cars, but contained no mention of his homosexuality anywhere, which some visitors found rather odd. Reviewer JB_L commented on the Liberace Museum Tripadvisor page on June 21, 2005, saying: “[I]t's fascinating how they handle (or do not handle actually) Liberace being gay. As a former historical site guide, I found this major omission and how they interpreted around it the most interesting." It is an odd decision, but in a way it makes sense. The Liberace museum is supposed to represent the legacy that Liberace left behind in the world. Since Liberace denied being homosexual all his life, perhaps it is a fitting tribute to him that his museum would be as tight-lipped about his sexuality as he was.45 Retro-actively pulling someone out of the closet when they have made a decision to stay there could be considered disrespectful to their legacy.
Another example of retro-active outing is the photography exhibit Ken. to be
44 Associated Press, "Alice Austen Museum embraces gay pride to honor Victorian namesake," SILIVE, June 10, 2015, accessed May 26, 2017,
http://www.silive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/museum_embraces_gay_pride_in_h.html.
45 Matheson, Brandon, "Finding 'the gay' in Las Vegas. The Strip's Headliners Have Long Dished Out Camp Culture and Queer Sensibility," Daily Xtra, August 28, 2015, accessed May 8, 2017,
destroyed, exhibited and published in 2016.46 This collection of photographs was inherited by Sara Davidmann and her siblings from their aunt and uncle Ken and Hazel Houston. The photographs, along with correspondence between Ken and Hazel, were in the possession of Sara Davidmann's mother Audrey Davidmann, in an envelope titled 'Ken. To be destroyed'. The photographs and correspondence told the story of Ken's private life as a transgender woman.47 Not only did Davidmann publish photographs of her uncle that had originally been labeled 'to be destroyed', she altered the photographs with analogue and digital processes to show her uncle wearing dresses and heels, carrying purses, and wearing makeup to visualize what he might have looked like as a woman and to present him in "a place where he would probably have wanted it to be."48 There is no way of knowing how, when, or where Ken wanted his secrets presented to the world, not even for his family members who have made this decision for him. Davidmann has spoken out about the importance of the visibility of transgender people's stories, and the importance of having them presented as functioning members of families rather than isolated outsiders.49 She is correct is saying that this kind of visibility is important for the transgender community. However, to make public and explicit something that has been actively hidden for so long could be considered disrespectful to the subject of the photographs. It is worth asking the question: Who is this for? Unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary to make a decision between honoring the legacy of someone in the past and preserving silence around their sexuality or gender identity, and keeping an important part of their lives invisible, or doing what is best for the community today and outing them retroactively.50
Although it is possible to make a case for being discrete about the queer history of historical figures, in another project, the Alice Austen house in Staten Island, NY, the
visibility of queerness is sorely missed. In a review left by a visitor of the Alice Austen House on the Yelp website, Jodi M. stated the following in 2016:
This property is a treasure. Not only for early life on the island, but mostly for a fact that isn't outwardly spoken to the visitors of Alice Austen house. Alice Austen was a
46 "Ken, to be destroyed," Sara Davidmann website, accessed May 26, 2017, http://saradavidmann.com/index.html.
47 Smith, Jamie Davis, "Ken. To Be Destroyed: An Art Exhibit Exploring The Life Of A Transgender Woman in 1950s London," Huffington Post, January 16, 2017, accessed May 26, 2017,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ken-to-be-destroyed-a-transgender-woman-from-1950s_us_58768367e4b065be69099100.
48 Booth, Hannah, "My Transgender Uncle: A Family Secret Hidden for Decades," Huffington Post, November 16, 2013, accessed June 27, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/16/transgender-uncle-family-secret-for-decades.
49 Booth, "My Transgender Uncle".
courageous, independent Lesbian. (..) As an important part of American LGBT history, it should be explained that women in that era were forced to play gender roles and had to dress those roles to fit in. Meanwhile they did not fit in. Alice Austen was a pioneer and a brave individual who lived her life openly in a time when it was a risk to her own life to be who she was. Especially being a lesbian of high society in the small town of Staten Island. I admire her work, and I especially admire her courage and strength to be herself as she lived with the love of her life no matter what was
"expected" of her. She is a historic person that everyone should openly recognize for who she was (the Whitney museum recently held discussion about her life and work as a lesbian woman). You go, Alice!!!! Thank you for paving the way!51
This reviewer does not shy away from the term lesbian and states that she found that there was not enough emphasis on Alice Austen as a figure in LGBT history in her historic house museum. She considers Austen someone who has paved the way for the LGBT community and has thus played an important role in the history of her own community. If this were represented in her house, the queer community could come to see Austen as a queer icon and her house as the site of pilgrimage. Historian Linda Young argues that commemoration is a powerful concept within historic house museums. The museums can become monuments to certain important figures, and can even act as sites of pilgrimage.52 Having more sites of pilgrimage for the queer community would not only act to make their history more visible for the general public, but it would also aid in creating a greater sense of togetherness within the queer community.
Labeling lesbians and life partners
Although there are pitfalls in representing queer history in historic house museums, it can be done in a way that is both historically accurate and still provides visibility for the queer community and its history. An example of a historic house museum that does these things is the Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago. Jane Addams founded the Hull-House settlement with Ellen Gates Starr in Chicago in 1889, aided by the financial contributions of Mary Rozet-Smith and others. Hull House was a social settlement, a response to problems created by urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. It was a place where educated, middle-class and upper-middle middle-class women and men could live and work to help others. It featured a kindergarten and day care facilities, an employment bureau, an art gallery, libraries, English classes, music and art classes, and many cultural events. Jane Addams lived and worked there herself, producing eleven books and numerous articles, becoming involved in the peace
51 Comment on 'Alice Austen House', username Jodi M., Yelp, July 3rd, 2016, https://www.yelp.com/biz/alice-austen-house-museum-staten-island?q=lesbian.
52 Young, Linda, "Is there a Museum in the House? Historic Houses as a Species of Museum," Museum Management and Curatorship 22.1 (2007) 59-60.
movement during World War I, and founding the Women's Peace Party (WILPF). Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1931. She lived there until her death in 1935.53
The information on the "About Jane Addams" page of the Hull House website lists many of her accomplishments, but does not make any mention of her relationship with Mary Rozet-Smith. As it is so often the case with the same-sex relationships of historical figures, it is unclear what kind of relationship these two women had exactly. They vacationed together and traveled the world. Addams had Smith listed as her emergency contact. They co-owned a house together in Maine, and even considered adopting a child together. Over the course of forty years they wrote letters and love poems to each other when they were apart, which Addams requested to be burned after her death because they were too intimate. It seems as if they were in a committed relationship.54
In an article for WBEZ 91.5 Chicago a number of historians give their opinion on whether Jane Addams can be called a lesbian. John D'Emilio, Gender and Women's Studies scholar and co-author of the book Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America from 1988), assigns the label lesbian to Addams. He defines lesbian as "a woman who turns to other women for the love, and emotional support and intimacy that most human beings like to have in their personal lives." Although it is impossible to know whether or not they had a sexual relationship, he says this is irrelevant. The director of Hull-House, Lisa Lee, is quoted as saying: "Personally, I have no problem calling her a lesbian, but I would have to qualify that and say, 'I don't think she would identify as a lesbian in the way the word is used now'." She adds that she could not give a definitive yes or no answer. Ethics professor Jean Bethke Elsthain is quoted as saying that she finds the whole "Was Jane Addams a Lesbian? Project" strange, stating that speculating about her love life will only distract from her extraordinary achievements, although other historians argue that a lifetime partnership is a central facet to someone's life and worth investigating.55 Gender and Women's Studies scholar Jennifer Brier, who co-curated the Allen Bérubé prize winning 'Out in Chicago' exhibit in 2012, answers no, saying "as a historian I would say no. As a lesbian who exists under the current definition – sometimes I'd like to say yes. But in the end, I say no." She adds that, although 'lesbian' was a term used in Addams' timeframe, she would not have used to identify herself, and it probably was not a phrase that had meaning for her. It would be ahistorical, she argues, to assign this
53 "About Jane Addams," Hull House Museum, accessed May 26, 2017, http://www.hullhousemuseum.org/about-jane-addams/.
54 Brandel, Jennifer, "Should We Use The 'L Word' For Jane Addams," WBEZ 91.5 Chicago, September 5, 2013, accessed May 26, 2017, https://www.wbez.org/shows/curious-city/should-we-use-the-l-word-for-jane-addams/2157704a-3738-4b8f-a879-b5aed91bb8f8.
label retroactively. Addams' era had different relationship cultures, and "shorthand terminology can bypass context and you can lose the richness and diversity of human behavior."56
Defining the sexuality of Jane Addams and her relationships remains a difficult part of representing her history accurately. How do the Hull House museum professionals deal with this point of contention? As mentioned earlier, there is no mention of Addams' relationships on the official Hull House website. The house itself, however, undertakes various projects that are meant to bring the queer history of Hull House to the attention of visitors. When one visits the Hull House, they can choose to follow a self-guided tour through the house or follow a guide-led tour. Hull House features different kinds of tours. There is an hour-long full tour of the house, the contents of which can be modified by guides to include themes such as labor, immigration, gender, social work, art, activism, and other special interests. There is also a 'Re-imagining the Mexican American Experience Tour', which poses questions around Mexican-American identity and how these notions change over time. Lastly, there is a 'Gender and Sexuality Tour' available, which is promoted with the words "Bring Chicago history out of the closet!" This tour focuses on "early 20th century stories of gender non-conformity, diverse definitions of family, and fierce self-expression." The description of the tour outwardly states that the question "Was Jane Addams a lesbian" will be addressed, and the historical context that complicates both the question and the potential answers will be investigated. It's also stated that the tour will help visitors consider how history can be
connected to social justice issues today, and how modern ideas of gender and sexuality can be broadened.57 In short, this Gender and Sexuality tour does more than ponder the question whether or not Jane Addams was gay. Museum staff attempts to make visitors aware of the difficulties in determining these things historically, and how gender and sexuality
identifications are unstable, even in our current time.
Museum staff asks visitors to contribute their interpretation of the relationship that Jane Addams had with Mary Rozet-Smith. After hearing the information on their relationship, they choose one of three possible interpretations. The first label describes Mary-Rozet Smith as a 'companion' and does not mention their emotional intimacy at all. The second label describes Rozet-Smith as her 'life partner' and financial supporter of the house, and adds that
56 Schoenberg, Nara, "Outing Jane Addams', Chicago Tribune, February 6, 2007, accessed May 26, 2017, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-02-06/features/0702060273_1_hull-house-mary-rozet-smith-lesbian. 57 "Visit: Group Tours," Hull House Museum, accessed May 26, 2017,
it is 'hypothesized that they were lesbians', based on the intimate quality of their letters to each other. It also says that because of the different historical context, it's not entirely possible to label them as 'lesbians' outright. The third label describes Rozet-Smith as her 'partner', and says that "they shared a deep emotional attachment and affection for one another." It also says that many women at the time formed emotional, romantic, and practical attachments to other women, often rejecting traditional marriage as the result. The label also mentions that Addams referred to herself and Rozet-Smith as married in their letters, and that many of these letters were eventually burned by Addams.58 According to a Chicago Tribune article, the majority of visitors leaned towards the second label. The label 'lesbian' seems to be important to visitors of Hull House, although they are hesitant to say anything definitive about the same-sex relationship other than that Addams' status as a lesbian is 'hypothesized'. When asked to respond to this information, Lisa Lee said that she liked that caption because it portrayed the relationship the most honestly. She says: "I don't want to be guilty, at the helm of this
museum, of keeping [Addams] in the closet -- but I don't want to be guilty of outing her just for shallow identity politics [either]."59
By leaving historical evidence open to a potential range of interpretations, and entering into a debate with visitors about those interpretations, Hull House museum professionals manage to create an exhibit about Jane Addams that represents her queer history without labeling her with any historical inaccuracies. They open the floor for ever-changing gender- and sexual identities to be discussed, and thereby create space for several different potential narratives to exist side by side in the house. This way, it is also possible to subvert ideas of conventional family relationships by showing that there are, and have always been, many different ways to shape family, intimacy and romantic partnerships.60
Historian Robert Mills argues that the main problem with a lot of historic house museums is that they stick with unified narratives of sexuality and family life. Even if queer history is presented in these exhibits, it is presented in a singular narrative: one of struggling with homophobia, coming out of the closet, and finding self-identification and a welcoming community in the end. 61 This story does not apply to every LGBT individual. Although any representation is better than no representation at all, it is reductive.Coming out is not the only
58 Hayward, Claire, "Representations of Same-Sex Love in Public History" (diss. Kingston University, 2015) 192-193.
59 Schoenberg, "Outing Jane Addams'.
60 Hayward, "Representations of Same-Sex Love in Public History," 155.
61 A similar problem occurs with LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream film and television shows. The stories of gay characters often follow along the same narrative, which reduces their life experiences to one
thing gay people experience in life. On top of that, LGBT is an umbrella term that contains an even wider variety of genders and sexualities, in which some are less represented than others. 62 It is also a modern and Western term, which may leave out the identifications of non-Westerners.
One way to disrupt unified narratives of queer life in the past is to queer the styles of presentation themselves. Mills theorizes that museums need to engage in critical theory about gender and sexuality, and add opportunities to their exhibitions to engage in debate regarding the way history is presented as linear, and the way it is interpreted by audiences. Translating queer history into public history and culture will require a debate in which the ways museums present historical narratives are challenged, by showcasing the closet as something that was created by modern heteronormative structures, for example, rather than it being an actual barrier that limits people in their self-expression. Linear narratives need to be dropped in favor of a multitude of stories about sex, gender, style, feelings, and emotions. Exhibitions need to question the mold of grand narratives. Instead of telling audiences one specific story about the past, as if it is the history, they need to show that history is all about interpretation, and that interpretations change, especially when there are so many diverse stories to be told. 63 In my opinion, the Jane Addams Hull House has taken an important step in this direction.
It is difficult to define something as a queer historic site, or queer historic house museum, when the sexuality of a historical figure is unverified, as they so often are. However, there are many queer people who feel connected to the stories of these historical figures, even if their queerness is historically undecided. Hull House educator Lena Reynolds says that modern-day members of the LGBT community embrace Addams as one of their own. Not only as a potential lesbian or queer woman, but as someone who fought for equality and human rights.64 Another example of this is Katherine Hepburn's home in Los Angeles. The interactive online Facebook-archive Preserving LGBT Historic Sites in California recently revisited the house in honor of the 110th anniversary of Hepburn's birth. They state that Hepburn was often rumored to be lesbian or bisexual from the 1930s on. She was also one of the first famous women in Hollywood to wear pants, blurring the conventions of gender during a time when that was not often done in such a bright spotlight.65 According to the people at Preserving LGBT Historic Sites in California, places associated with Hepburn
62 Mills, "Queer is Here?," 82. 63 Ibidem, 85-87.
64 Brandel, "Should We Use The 'L Word' For Jane Addams."
65 Kosin, Julie, "Go Inside Katherine Hepburn's $7.39 Million LA Home," Harper's Bazaar, August 20, 2015, accessed June 26, 2017, http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/interiors-entertaining/news/a11912/katharine-hepburn-coldwater-canyon-house/.
should be listed as queer historic sites even if its queer history is not explicit. It gives visitors and docents a chance to question the way in which Hollywood dealt with variations in gender roles and sexuality. It also gives historians and curators a chance to question how much direct evidence is needed to 'prove' homosexuality or bisexuality in order for something to be considered LGBTQ+ history.66
The future of queer historic houses
So how can we envision the future of queer historic house museums? To investigate different ways in which queer history can be represented, it's worth keeping an eye on queer historic house museums that are opening its doors in the near future, such as the Pauli Murray House in Durham, North Carolina. This house is scheduled to open in 2020. It was the home of Pauli Murray, an African-American member of the LGBTQ+ community. She was also a Civil Rights and Women's Rights activist, a lawyer, an Episcopal priest, and an author. The Pauli Murray house is her childhood home. The National Trust for Historic Preservation website states that her legacy has been forgotten, and that to restore her place in American history her house needs to be made into a historic site.67 The official website of the Pauli Murray Project says that the house will be called the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice and that it has been approved as a designated historic landmark by the Department of the Interior/National Park Service on January 11, 2017. 68
The website quotes Barbara Lau, director of the Pauli Murray Project, as saying that their main focus is to connect histories of women, African Americans and LGBTQ folk that are usually rendered invisible. There is a lot of exclusion within the LGBTQ label and there are groups who are severely underrepresented in historic house museums and scholarly work. Within the LGBTQ acronym this is the case for the T for transgender as well as the B for bisexual. These groups are consistently erased in both history and contemporary culture.69 The same goes for people of color, who are marginalized and discriminated against within the LGBTQ umbrella. The historic house museums that exist currently focus almost exclusively
66 Preserving LGBT Historic Sites in California Facebook page, posted on May 13, 2017,
“Places associated with Hepburn merit listing as queer historic sites because they offer us a chance to interrogate the ways gender norms, celebrity and public relations created both obstacles and openings for gender and sexual variation during Hollywood's golden years. They likewise challenge us to ask what evidence is sufficient to surmise homosexuality and bisexuality during an era when discretion about such matters was the norm". 67 "Pauli Murray House," The National Trust for Historic Preservation, accessed on May 26, 2017, https://savingplaces.org/places/pauli-murray-house#.WSiNTuvyjIU.
68 "Pauli Murray Center," Pauli Murray Project, accessed May 26, 2017, https://paulimurrayproject.org/becoming-involved/.
on white historical figures. As a result, the scholarly work on historic house museums is also not inclusive of these groups. Opening the Pauli Murray Center will be an important step in incorporating history of queer people of color into the existing collection of queer public history spaces. Hopefully, it will be the first of many new spaces that focus on including marginalized groups that are often forgotten even within this field of study.
Barbara Lau has also stated that she would like to focus on today's issues of justice and equity to positively impact the community and "nurture the next generation of Pauli
Murrays." The Pauli Murray Project has not given much information on what kind of exhibits they plan to host in the house, except that they plan to create interactive panels in key
locations as well as an audio tour. 70 It sounds like a promising new historic house and a good opportunity to represent queer history in a context of activism and social justice. Pauli Murray never identified as a lesbian, although her longest lasting relationships were with women. She did self-identify as a heterosexual man. According to the LGBT History Month website, this was due to the fact that she associated homosexuality with mental illness and therefore refused to accept it.71 It'll be interesting to see how the Pauli Murray Project handles the unstable identifications that are always present with historical figures.
When confronted with a historical figure, you might view them as someone you can connect with, especially if someone seems similar to you or fought for the issues you care about. At the same time, as visitors from another time who live under different circumstances, historical figures are also always something alien.72 According to Alison Oram, rather than focusing on the otherness of sexual meaning in the past, historians should research the similarities that exist in love and intimacy in the past and in the present while keeping their historical context in mind.73 This way, visitors can create a personal connection to the past and feel like they're a part of a wider community. They will be able to feel validated in their sexuality because they're able to see that there is historical precedent for it. Ensuring visibility is important, but comes with its own risks. The historical accuracy of a historic house
museums can be lessened, historical figures can be retroactively outed, and visitors can equate queer experiences with the unified narratives that public history spaces showcase. Despite these risks, historic house museums have the potential to be dynamic sites where open
discussions on the changing concepts of gender and sexuality can be held. When queer history
70 "Pauli Murray Center," Pauli Murray Project, accessed May 26, 2017, https://paulimurrayproject.org/becoming-involved/.
71 "Pauli Murray," LGBT History Month, accessed May 26, 2017, http://lgbthistorymonth.com/pauli-murray?tab=biography. 72 Oram, "Going on an Outing," 190.
is presented like this, historic house museums can act as site of pilgrimage for queer men and women.74
3. Sites of negative history: memorializing Pulse nightclub
Whereas historic house museums exhibit the daily lives of historical figures, there are many queer public history spaces that come into existence by their association with singular impactful events in queer history. By violent attack or tragic loss of life a queer public space becomes associated with negative history, thus creating an opportunity for the
memorialization of trauma or loss. Memorials represent queer history in a different way than historic house museums or sites of positive history do, because their creation intends to help
people cope with strong emotional responses, and their legacy is focused on remembrance and grief, rather than simply representation or even celebration. This chapter will focus mainly on Pulse nightclub, where a gunman opened fire on June 12th, 2016, and killed 49. I've chosen this case study because it is a recent example of violence against the LGBTQ community in the United States.
Since the attack, it has already become an informal memorial, although it is not yet clear what the official function of the space will become. This case study, along with other significant examples of LGBTQ memorials and memorial symbols, can help us analyze what happens to queer public spaces when they are memorialized and how these memorial spaces function for the general public as well as for the LGBTQ community. The other examples of memorial symbols I've chosen are the pink triangle, the AIDS memorial quilt, and the UpStairs Lounge fire. I've selected the pink triangle and the AIDS quilt because they are associated with two historic events that historians consider large tragedies of the past century. The persecution of queer individuals in the holocaust is a contested subject and it is worth examining if queer erasure has taken place in holocaust memorialization. The AIDS crisis is one of the most impactful tragedies in queer history, making its memorialization worth studying.
On the night of June 12, around 2:00 am ET, Omar Mateen drove up to Pulse
nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Pulse, a gay club, was hosting its weekly Latin Night, drawing a primarily Hispanic crowd. There were about 320 people present at the club. Omar Mateen approached the building on foot with a semi-automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun, and started shooting visitors to the nightclub. The attack led to a three-hour standoff between police and the shooter, with many visitors of the club being held hostage or otherwise trapped inside the club. Around 2:22 am, the police made telephone contact with Omar Mateen. During the calls, he pledged allegiance to ISIS.75 At 5:53 am, the Orlando Police department tweeted "Pulse Shooting: The shooter inside the club is dead."76 When more information on the attack was released, it became clear that 49 people had been killed and 53 were wounded. The attack at Pulse was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States by a single gunman, and the deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people in United States history.77
75 Zezima, Katie, Matt Zapotosky e.a., "Orlando gunman said he carried out attack to get 'Americans to stop bombing his country,' witness says," The Washington Post, June 14, 2016, accessed April 17, 2017,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/06/14/fbi-director-orlando-shooting-probe-also-looks-backward-into-agency-files-on-shooter/?utm_term=.d6d11fadce2c.
76 Orlando Police Department, Twitter post, June 12, 2016, 11:53 a.m., http://twitter.com/OrlandoPolice. 77 Stapleton, AnneClaire and Ralph Ellis, "Timeline of Orlando nightclub shooting," CNN, June 18, 2016, accessed March 23, 2017, http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-shooting-timeline/.
