Articles tagged as Gay Rights | Smithsonian Magazine

The new monument designed by Anthony Goicolea will honor the LGBT community and victims of the Orlando massacre.

NYC Unveils Design for New Monument to the LGBT Community

The monument will be built in the Hudson River Park, a historic LGBT site

June 27, 2017

Chas. Kendrick made this caricature of Oscar Wilde and sunflower.

Cool Finds

LGBTQ History Comes Out of the Shadows in New U.K. Exhibition

Gay UK tells the stories of people once subject to oppressive anti-gay laws

June 22, 2017

Cool Finds

Drag Queens Are Public Libraries’ Newest Storytellers

Early reading just got a lot more glamorous

May 18, 2017

From the outside, the James Beard House is easy to miss. But as they say, it's what's inside that counts.

This Unassuming NYC Home is the Legacy of America’s First Foodie

James Beard’s culinary philosophy helped shape American cuisine

May 5, 2017

Sylvia Townsend Warner, the author whose first book was chosen as the first Book of the Month selection in 1926, was openly involved in relationships with both men and women, a fact that scandalized readers.

Don’t Judge the Book-of-the-Month Club By Its Cover

Although today you might associate its name with staid offerings, the club’s first book was by an openly queer author

March 10, 2017

The replica club will be open through the end of the month.

Cool Finds

This Short-Lived 1930s Speakeasy Was a Sanctuary for Gay Londoners

And now you can visit a recreation

March 2, 2017

Senators Kenneth Wherry (pictured at left) and J. Lister Hill conducted the first congressional investigation into homosexuality in the federal workforce.

For decades, the agency purged gay and lesbian workers believing their sexual orientation made them security risks

January 10, 2017

Memorials cropped up outside of Orlando's Pulse Nightclub after the gay club turned into the site of America's largest mass shooting.

The city announced plans to take over the now-vacant nightclub where 49 guest were gunned down

November 9, 2016

Scientists are using genetic sequencing to reconstruct how AIDS hit the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.

New Research

Genetic Sleuthing Clears ‘Patient Zero’ of Blame for U.S. AIDS Epidemic

Scientists debunk the myth of the man once thought to have brought the virus to the states

October 27, 2016

Christopher Isherwood and poet W.H. Auden (right) were romantic partners, but their sexual relationship in the 1930s was punishable by criminal prosecution in England.

The private member’s bill will not go ahead

Updated: October 21, 2016 | Originally Published: October 21, 2016

Oscar Wilde spent two years in what was then called Reading Gaol.

Cool Finds

A British Jail Is Paying Artistic Tribute to Oscar Wilde, its Most Famous Inmate

Patti Smith, Ai Weiwei and others envision what it’s like to be Inside

September 20, 2016

The site where the historic Stonewall Inn was located will now be the United States' first National Monument to gay rights.

The Stonewall National Monument tells the story of LGBTQ struggles in the United States

June 24, 2016

A memorial in solidarity with the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in front of Montreal's St. James United Church.

Hate crimes against LGBT people are far from rare

June 17, 2016

Cool Finds

This Transgender Archive’s Oldest Artifacts Tell a Story of Courage and Community

The Digital Transgender Archive was born out of two researchers’ frustration with finding materials by and about transgender people

March 29, 2016

Or did it?

December 22, 2015

Lebanese-British singer-songwriter Mika performs atop a piano at Fabrique in Milan this June.

Is There a ‘Gay Aesthetic’ to Pop Music?

From Elton John to Mika, the “glam piano” genre may be as integral to the Gay American experience as hip-hop and the blues are to the African American one

August 13, 2015

The "Queer Threads" exhibition, which ran in early 2014, examined the diversity of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer experiences.

Urban Explorations

What it Took to Create the World’s First Gay Art Museum

Charles Leslie’s passionate half-century of homoerotic art collecting offers a mirror for the history of gay history itself

July 7, 2015

South Africans celebrate at a gay pride event outside Johannesburg in 2013. While other countries have passed legislation criminalizing homosexuality, South Africa has advocated tolerance.

Some African Countries Are Trying to Use Science to Make Homophobic Laws, Now African Scientists are Pushing Back

Some African countries have tried to use science to justify laws that criminalize homosexuality

June 17, 2015

Segah, a male belly dancer, performs in a gaudy nightclub off Istanbul's Istiklal Street

Inside the World of Istanbul’s Male Belly Dancers

The nation’s shifting views toward homosexuality have opened the market for a centuries-old tradition

December 9, 2014

Americans are in favor of granting legal rights like property inheritance to same-sex couples. They aren’t as in favor of public displays of affection.

November 20, 2014