A guide to the places where LGBTQ people have fought for their rights, created community, and shaped American culture
Drawn from the work of the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, an award-winning cultural heritage initiative, this long-overdue book carefully and thoughtfully catalogs 101 places that illustrate the LGBTQ community's often-neglected contributions to New York City and American history. Spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these sites reflect the diversity of LGBTQ people, from internationally recognized figures such as Keith Haring, James Baldwin, and Audre Lorde, to everyday New Yorkers who helped shape the city. Looking beyond familiar LGBTQ landmarks such as Stonewall, the book highlights the significant impact that LGBTQ people have made in all of the arts, literature, social justice, and more. It also documents important gathering spaces, such as bars, clubs, cafes, baths, parks, and community centers that were among the few places where LGBTQ people could come together, be themselves, form community, and organize. Illustrated with contemporary photographs and archival images, this book invites readers, whether exploring the city in person or from home, to look anew at spaces that previously went unnoticed and appreciate stories that, until this collection, have been all but invisible.