Durham’s LGBTQ community used political activism to propel their fight for liberation into the public eye in the early 1980s. They were moved to action by two hate crimes: the murders of the Greensboro Five at a Communist Workers Party anti-Klan demonstration in 1979, and the anti-gay assault and murder of…
LGBTQ Rights
The North Carolina Lambda Youth Network, abbreviated NCLYN, was established in downtown Durham in July of 1996 as a youth-led, statewide leadership development network for LGBTQ youth ages 13-24. The Lambda Youth Network provided young people with an open, identity-affirming space, in which Durham’s young…
The Durham Lesbian and Gay Health Project (LGHP) was founded in 1982 “to openly and affirmatively promote individual and community well-being of gay men and lesbians…” Founders David Jolly, Carl Wittman, Timer McBride, and Aida Wakil wanted to connect gay men and lesbians with gay-friendly physicians…
Feminary was a Southern Feminist journal, written and edited by a Lesbian Feminist women’s collective in North Carolina’s Triangle Area between 1969 and 1982. “Feminary” was actually the publication’s third name, succeeding “The Research Triangle Women’s Liberation Newsletter” and “The Feminist Newsletter.” The journal’s founders—most of whom…
Sign 1: “Don’t give into fear seek truth”
Sign 2: “Hatred hurts us all”
Stop 3: “Stop vigilante violence”
Sign 4: “It is not acceptable to kill people because they are gay. It is not acceptable kill people at all”
On Friday, April 17th, 1981, 125 men, women, and children held up these signs and others as an act of…