Exploring LGBT D.C.
Source: The Rainbow History Project
Big or small, every city has a unique and important LGBT story to tell. With its large gay population, the Nation's Capital is certainly no exception. Join Christopher Dyer, director of the city's Office for LGBT Affairs, for a tour of the sites and neighborhoods that matter to the diverse LGBT community in and around the District of Columbia.
Neighborhood: Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle
Part of the “old city” that was planned by French architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Dupont Circle has undergone several transformations in its many years, including a 1970’s resurgence that morphed it into an edgy gay ghetto with a distinct bohemian feel. Today, change continues to be a dominating force in the area, as many of the storefronts and former gay hangouts on Connecticut Avenue now belong to chain restaurants and national retailers. However, despite the fact that most of the edginess and many of the LGBT residents and businesses have relocated eastward, the circle remains the visual centerpiece – and arguably the heart – of Washington's queer community. It was here where the city's first lesbian march was held in 1993, as well as where its youth Pride celebration was founded in 1997. Also, during the 80s and 90s, the circle’s wide public spaces hosted countless AIDS protests and vigils.
The Community Building | 1724 20th Street, NW
In the 60s and 70s, this building was known – especially by police and the FBI – as the Community Building. Back then, it was home to leftist groups like the Black Panthers, the Youth International Party and the DC Switchboard, which ran 24-hour first aid stations during war protests. In 1971, a shop called Earth Works opened its doors there. Owned by Deacon Maccubbin, the store was Washington's first openly-gay, non-bar business. In addition to “handmade things for the mind and body,” Earth Works featured shelves of LGBT literature and non-fiction, which ultimately inspired Maccubbin to open Lambda Rising, the city’s first LGBT bookstore, across the hall. But Maccubbin wasn’t done with firsts yet. In 1975, he helped organize the city's first official Pride festival, which was held on the street in front of the Community Building. Over the following years, organization after organization would call 1724 home, including the Gay Blade, which was the precursor to today’s Washington Blade newspaper, and the lesbian review called Off Our Backs.
Don't stop there! Learn more about the many important places in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood through the photo component of our tour of historic LGBT D.C.
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill
Metropolitan Community Church | 705 7th Street, SE
Washington's Capitol Hill is a historic neighborhood where generations of LGBT Washingtonians have frequented a handful of consistent “gay spots,” some of which have housed only LGBT-owned and operated establishments since the late 1940s. It is also the birthplace of one of the strongest spiritual cornerstones of the local LGBT community – the Metropolitan Community Church. This row houses was once the home of Reverend Paul Breton. It was here in 1970 that he founded Washington’s congregation of an international fellowship known for extending a warm and welcoming hand to the LGBT community – the Metropolitan Community Church. The church met in Reverend Breton’s house for several years before relocating – as it has done several times since – to outpace space limitations. Today, the thriving congregation meets in northwest Washington, and consistently sponsors one of the most out-and-proud contingents in the city's annual Pride parade and street festival.
The Furies | 219 11th Street, SE
Our next stop in historic Capitol Hill is the building that housed many thought leaders in the lesbian separatism movement. Formed in the early 1970s, the Furies collective was among Washington's best-known communal living groups. The twelve women who met here constituted an important experiment in lesbians of diverse social and economic backgrounds who lived and worked together to make their political and social beliefs a day-to-day reality. Most of the members of the collective also wrote for the group's newspaper, which was published and distributed nationally between 1972 and 1973.
Congressional Cemetery | 1801 E Street, SE
Our final stop in Capitol Hill is Congressional Cemetery. Located on a rolling site above the Anacostia River, Congressional Cemetery is the final resting place of over 60,000 persons, including Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a gay-rights activist and Air Force veteran. Matlovich became a gay icon in 1975 after he told his superiors he was gay and was booted out of the service as a result. That same year, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine alongside a headline that read, “I am a homosexual” – a declaration that made him a symbol for thousands of gay and lesbian service members. He died of complications from AIDS in 1988, and today his headstone reads, “They gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharged me for loving one.”
Don't stop there! Learn more about the many important places in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood through the photo component of our tour of historic LGBT D.C.
Neighborhood: Upper Northwest D.C.
Club House | 1296 Upshur Street, NW
From the mid-1970s until the end of the 80s, Club House was the place to be for LGBT African Americans on Saturday nights. Known for its state-of-the-art sound and lights systems, dramatic balloon drops, and a popular libation called “acid punch,” Club House was a membership-based venue that, at one point, had over 4,000 names on its roster. The goal was always to have the “party in your house you never had.” However, unlike any other gay bar in town, Club House was operated as a nonprofit and provided much-needed space for community events and fundraisers. In 1983, the club hosted the city’s first AIDS forum for African Americans, and in 1985, it helped spur the creation of Us Helping Us, one of the first organized responses by African Americans to AIDS in their community.
Neighborhood: Southeast D.C.
Nationals Park | 1500 South Capitol Street, SE
The final stop of our tour is Nationals Park, which opened in 2008 to house Washington’s Major League Baseball team. However, before high-beam stadium lights lit up this neighborhood, it was a collection of warehouses and light industrial buildings that housed an LGBT entertainment district. Unlike like Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill, the area offered a remoteness that was both positive and negative for LGBT people. On one hand, the environment provided a degree of anonymity that was appreciated by private and closeted patrons. On the other, it opened the door widely for hate crimes. As a result, a group by the name of the Gay Ex-Marines was formed in the 1970s to patrol the streets, protecting club goers from young Marines from the nearby Navy Yard who were up to no good. Over the years, the area was also important for a very special part of the LGBT community – drag performers. At one point, DC-area bars and clubs offered more than 40 weekly drag shows. Pier 9, which was the first gay club to open its doors in the area in the 1970s, hosted performances by the Awards Club – a group of female impersonators that was one of the city's first organized LGBT community groups.
Help us show some pride in place! Snap a This Place Matters photo in front of a place that matters to you and your local LGBT community. No camera? Plant a flag (or two!) on our interactive map of spaces and places that tell important stories.
