National Park Service Seeks Nominations For LGBT Historical Landmarks
by Will Kohler
The
National Park Service is seeking nominations of historical LGBT sites
and landmarks to be added to the National Register of Historic Places
and for consideration to be designated as a National Historic Landmarks.
"We
are looking to preserve and protect sites associated with LGBTQ
history," said Alexandra M. Lord, Ph.D., branch chief of the National
Historic Landmarks Program.
To
date ONLY THREE sites, all on the East Coast, which includes the
Stonewall Inn, the Washington, D.C. home of the late gay rights activist
Frank Kameny and the Cherry Grove Community House and Theater on Fire
IslandIn have recieved federal recognition specifically due to their
ties to LGBT history.
One
minor problem concerning LGBT historic sites is the fact that many were
situated in neighborhoods that have since been gentrified. For federal
landmark purposes or listing on the register, a structure must still
exist and many have been torn down or altered in such a way that their
historical integrity no longer is intact.
The
next LGBT historic site designation very likely will be the Henry
Gerber House in Chicago. Given city landmark status in 2001, the
residence is where Gerber lived in the early 1920s when he formed the
Society for Human Rights, the first American gay civil rights
organization, according to its listing on the Chicago Landmarks website.
The
late great LGBTactivist Supervisor Harvey Milk's old camera shop and
campaign headquarters at 575 Castro Street, in San Francisco is also a
property that could receive federal recognition. Currently the Human
Rights Campaign owns the property.
For
information about the California State Historic Preservation Office,
which the park service has asked to assist with identifying LGBT sites
to nominate, visit http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/
NOTE: The National Park Service is planning to hold a LGBT-focused webinar later this month. For more information, visit http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/
.
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