Maryland LGBTQ Historic Context Study By Susan Ferentinos, PhD With Benjamin Egerman For Preservation Maryland and Maryland Historical Trust September 30, 2020 Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 2 PARAMETERS OF THIS STUDY ........................................................................................................................................... 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER TWO: ISSUES TO BE AWARE OF WHEN APPROACHING LGBTQ HISTORIC PRESERVATION..................... 11 CHANGING LANGUAGE AND DEFINITIONS ......................................................................................................................... 13 LACK OF EVIDENCE ....................................................................................................................................................... 16 LACK OF INTEGRITY (OR EVEN SITES) ................................................................................................................................ 19 PRESERVATION OPTIONS BEYOND DESIGNATION ................................................................................................................ 23 PRESERVING SITES OF DIFFICULT HISTORY ......................................................................................................................... 26 THE INTERPLAY OF LGBTQ BEHAVIOR AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER THREE: LGBTQ HISTORICAL OVERVIEW................................................................................................. 30 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY .......................................................................................................................................... 30 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ............................................................................................................................................ 40 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR, 1800-1870 ..................................................................................... 48 THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, 1870-1920 ....................................................................................................... 58 THE INTERWAR PERIOD, 1920-1940 .............................................................................................................................. 70 THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY, 1940-1970 ................................................................................................................... 78 GAY LIBERATION, LESBIAN FEMINISM, AND AIDS, 1970-1996 ........................................................................................... 92 THE TURN OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, 1996-2016 ................................................................................................. 105 CHAPTER FOUR: THEMES RELATED TO MARYLAND LGBTQ HISTORY ................................................................. 117 SOCIAL LIFE AND SUPPORT ........................................................................................................................................... 118 POLITICAL ORGANIZING AND PROTEST ........................................................................................................................... 123 BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 125 SPIRITUALITY ............................................................................................................................................................. 128 PERSECUTION AND VIOLENCE ....................................................................................................................................... 131 MEDICINE AND HEALTH .............................................................................................................................................. 134 MARITIME HISTORY ................................................................................................................................................... 136 SEPARATISM AND INTERSECTIONALITY ............................................................................................................................ 140 ART AND ARCHITECTURE ............................................................................................................................................. 142 RURAL LGBTQ LIFE ................................................................................................................................................... 143 NEIGHBORHOODS ...................................................................................................................................................... 145 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 148 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................................ 149 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................... 151 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Maryland is a state of varied landscapes and varied populations, encompassing a rich and diverse history. The land that now comprises the state has witnessed twelve thousand years of human habitation; one of the earliest settlement efforts of the English in North America; the founding of the United States and subsequent battles over the meanings of American freedom; hundreds of years of immigration, industrialization, and urbanization; and the consequences of being located in one of the most populated and most powerful regions of the country. And throughout this history, we find evidence of same-sex love and desire and of gender variance. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) perspectives have been underrepresented in Maryland’s historical narrative, yet they nevertheless comprise an important part of that larger story. Maryland’s population, according to a U.S. Census Bureau estimate from July 2018, is over 6 million (6,042,718), of which just over half (50.9 percent) is white (non- Latinx); 30.8 percent is African American, 10.1 percent is Latinx, 6.8 percent is Asian American, and 2.8 percent is mixed race.1 In January 2019, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law reported that 198,000 Marylanders, or 4.2 percent of the state’s population, self-identified as LGBT (the category of Queer was not included in the question). These numbers make Maryland twenty-second on a list of U.S. states and the 1 U.S. Census Bureau, “QuickFacts: Maryland,” July 1, 2018, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/md. 2 District of Columbia with the highest percentages of LGBTQ residents.2 The institute has also calculated geographic breakdowns of the state’s LGBTQ population, but these are based on older data. According to statistics from 2010, the Maryland counties with the highest percentage of same-sex households were Baltimore County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, respectively.3 Yet, despite its long history and significant LGBTQ population, as of 2019, Maryland had no properties on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed for their relevance to LGBTQ history.4 Efforts are afoot to address this oversight, however. In 2018, the Maryland Historical Trust awarded a non-capital historic preservation grant to Preservation Maryland, a statewide private nonprofit organization, to complete a historic context study of LGBTQ history within the state, placing Maryland at the forefront of states documenting their LGBTQ history in this manner. At the time of this grant, Kentucky was the only other state to have completed a historic context study in this area of history, although numerous United States cities had also done so.5 2 Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, “LGBT Demographic Data Interactive,” January 2019, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/visualization/lgbt-stats/. Interestingly, the District of Columbia was listed first on this list. 3 Gary J. Gates and Abigail M. Cooke, “Maryland: Census Snapshot 2010” (Los Angeles: Williams Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, 2010), https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp- content/uploads/Census2010Snapshot_Maryland_v2.pdf. Note that this statistic is for same-sex households, whereas the previous numbers cited were for individuals. The use of same-sex household excludes single gays and lesbians, bisexual people partnered with opposite-sex partners, and straight-identified or single transgender people. 4 While numerous NRHP properties in Maryland do have LGBTQ associations, none are currently documented as such. The list of LGBTQ-associated sites that follows this report indicates existing designations for each listed property. 5 Catherine Fosl, Daniel J. Vivian, and Jonathan Coleman, “Kentucky LGBTQ Historic Context Narrative” (Louisville, KY: University of Louisville, Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, 2016); Donna J. Graves and Shayne E. Watson, “Citywide Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History in San Francisco”