WAS OSCAR WILDE GAY IN LATER LIFE FULL
WAS OSCAR WILDE GAY IN LATER LIFE TRIAL
WAS OSCAR WILDE GAY IN LATER LIFE LICENSE

The bank eventually settled with Dorr, but this case is important in LGBTQ history because of the attention it brought to employment discrimination in Louisville.Īlso: Here are some of our favorite LGBTQIA+, inclusive bars in Louisville 1982 Dorr won on appeal, and then the case went to district court. Dorr had hoped coming out to his boss would pre-emptively ease the publicity the new role would bring, but instead, the bank said he had to stay closeted or resign. He hired an attorney, and the court found in favor of the bank. Sam Dorr had worked at First National Bank for nearly two decades when he was named president of a pro-gay advocacy group with a religious affiliation in 1981. opened on Kentucky Derby Eve of 1973. This was Louisville’s first modern gay disco and was known for its extravagant drag shows. By 1974, the group grew large enough to rent space at First Unitarian Church at 809 S. Fourth St., which remains a safe space today. Louisville’s Metropolitan Community Church congregation, a local branch of a nationally gay-friendly group, began meeting in private homes in 1972. But what do those other LGBTQ flags mean? 1972 Read this: Rainbows are everywhere during Pride month. The drag bar operated in Louisville’s oldest Black neighborhood, but it's unknown how diverse its clientele was. in the Highlands neighborhood, which sheltered both men and women. Group members also opened The Gay Lib House at 1919 Bonnycastle Ave. The LGLF also pioneered what’s believed to be Kentucky’s first call-in phone line for gay and lesbian people. The group met at the home of its two primary co-founders, Lynn Pfuhl and Mike Randall, and the organization was among dozens that sprang up in the United States following the formation of New York’s Gay Liberation Front in late 1969. In July 1970, 13 women and two men established the Louisville Gay Liberation Front or LGLF. The judge ruled against the couple in February 1971, and two years later, the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed.

WAS OSCAR WILDE GAY IN LATER LIFE FULL

Surprisingly, the complaint received a full hearing on Nov.

WAS OSCAR WILDE GAY IN LATER LIFE LICENSE

The license was denied and the couple filed suit for the right to marry. Two women, using the pseudonyms Tracy Knight and Marjorie Jones, went to the Jefferson County Clerk’s office seeking a marriage license on July 6, 1970.

WAS OSCAR WILDE GAY IN LATER LIFE TRIAL

Louisville in 1970 became the site of what appears to be the first lesbian marriage trial in U.S. history. The earliest known lesbian bar in Kentucky was Aunt Nora’s in Pleasure Ridge Park at 4806 Cane Run Road. The front portion was a roughneck men’s bar, and the back was a small late-night lounge that catered seemingly exclusively to women. In Louisville, The Beaux Arts Lounge in the Henry Clay Hotel at the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets in downtown opened in 1947 and was among the earliest bars of its kind in the state. 1882Īfter World War II, more gay-friendly or exclusively gay bars appeared in United States cities. Because the LGBTQ community lived out their sexuality in secret, only vague references appear and guesswork is needed to find queer history in the context of general sources. Pre-20th centuryĪccounts and even mentions of queer history are very limited in Kentucky until the 1900s.

Here's an abbreviated, chronological look at what Fosl and her team uncovered about Louisville. Through this project, the team hosted 'history harvests' across the state designed to preserve the oral histories and find artifacts from the 20th century.įosl readily admits this study doesn't include enough about BIPOC communities, but she believes it's a good introduction to LGBTQ history in Kentucky. LGBTQ history has largely been as hidden as its population was in the first half of the 20th century.īecause the community faced threats from the police, loss of employment, and estrangement from society, much of Kentucky's LGBTQ early past has been loosely preserved through stories told in informal settings.īut in 2016, the Kentucky LGBTQ Heritage Initiative published the nation’s first statewide LGBTQ Historic Context Narrative. Cate Fosl, director of the University of Louisville Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, and a research team published a 125-page report on Kentucky's LGBTQ history.įosl says tracking down the earliest parts of Kentucky's LGBTQ history often means combing through history and looking for fragments.

View Gallery: A look at LGBTQ history in Louisville for Pride Month

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