Jun
28

From our house to the White House: Celebrating Pride

Madeleine Wyand-Geise introduces us to the latest display in an ongoing collaboration between the Smithsonian and the White House to curate temporary exhibitions exploring American diversity. LGBTQ+ Pride Month is celebrated each June to coincide with the first Pride March held in New York City on June 28, 1970, one year after the Stonewall Uprising.

The Progress Pride Flag, designed in 2018 by American graphic designer Daniel Quasar. This new flag features black and brown stripes to represent LGBTQ+ people of color, and baby blue, pink and white to include the trans flag in its design. The design incorporates the colors of the original flag which was created by artist, designer, and Vietnam War Veteran, Gill Baker in 1978.

In celebration of Pride Month, the White House and the National Museum of American History collaborated on a 28-object display celebrating inspirational events, moments and people from the LGBTQ+ community. Illuminated by rainbow-colored lights from the Pride flag, the temporary exhibition in the White House’s Ground Floor Corridor in the Executive Residence serves as a sometimes poignant, sometimes heroic, but ultimately triumphant reminder of the community’s contributions and struggle for civil rights. The colors progress from red to violet, from west to east, as visitors move between objects of contemplation and celebration.

Although the corridor is unavailable to the public, non-dignitaries can learn about the objects on the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab site. The display will remain at the White House until July 6. Fortunately for us, the internet is forever.


Matthew Shepard

The exhibit begins with personal mementos from Matthew Shepard, a college student at who died of severe injuries following a vicious attack in October 1998 when he was a student at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. His killing made headlines around the world and resulted in an outpouring of grief and anger that people channeled into poetry, songs and musical compositions, a major motion picture, The Matthew Shepard Story, and at least two plays, The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. His parents donated a collection of his objects to the Smithsonian.

Matthew Shepard's sandals
Matthew Shephard’s sandals

Harvey Milk

These next objects commemorate the life and activism of Harvey Milk. Milk was a visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk’s unprecedented loud and unapologetic proclamation of his authenticity as an openly gay candidate for public office, and his subsequent election gave never-before experienced hope to LGBTQ+ people everywhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination. His career was tragically cut short when he was assassinated nearly a year after taking office. (From the Milk Foundation’s official bio.)

Program for Milk Street dedication
Program; Initiative to rename local street for Harvey Milk, San Diego, California; 2012 May 22
Program for dedication of Milk Street
Program; Initiative to rename local street for Harvey Milk, San Diego, California; 2012 May 22
Movie ad for "Milk"
A promotional postcard of the movie poster with Sean Penn depicting Harvey Milk in the 2008 Academy Award winning film, Milk.

Equality

The exhibit continues with objects centered on the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. For decades, the LGBTQ+ community and its allies fought for marriage equality. Until the Supreme Court established the right to same-sex marriage in 2015 with Obergefell v. Hodges, individuals such as David DeFelice and Paul Scherbak were blocked from marrying. David and Paul became some of the first same-sex couples to marry in California after the state struck down its ban on same-sex marriage in 2008. Their wedding cake topper, shown in the exhibit, demonstrates the ongoing fight for equality, justice and love for LGBTQ individuals.

Two grooms wedding topper
Wedding cake topper (a set of 2 groom cake-topper ornaments used at the DeFelice-Scherbak wedding on June 27, 2008)

Pride Celebrations

From solemnity to celebratory, the exhibit moves to objects highlighting Pride celebrations. Pride events celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Celebrations of social and self acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride are the center of the often-outdoors, worldwide events. Further down the hall, the exhibit pays homage to Pride’s origins with the Stonewall Uprising. Here, a rainbow ribbon necklace, transgender flag, “Trans and Proud” button, two pride fans, Black Pride postcard, and flyer for a South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA) Pride event demonstrate the range of intersectional identities celebrated during Pride Month.

Multi-colored ribbons
Ribbon necklace
Pink and blue flag
Transgender flag
Pink and blue button
Trans and Proud button
Black Pride postcard
Black Pride postcard . Events cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic (Washington DC 2020)
Hand fan
Rainbow-colored hand fan
hand fan
Pride hand fan

Serenity

Objects in this case symbolize differing paths LGBTQ+ women took – one privately, and one publicly – to living, loving, and sharing their lives.

Rose Cleveland, President Grover Cleveland’s sister, served the role of White House hostess until his marriage in 1886. The recent exhibition of First Lady portraits at the National Portrait Gallery included a likeness of her with label text that described a relationship she had with Evangeline Marrs Simpson, a wealthy married woman who eventually became her life partner. They were living together by 1910 in Bagni de Lucca, located in the Tuscany region of Italy, until Rose’s death in 1918. Rose and Evangeline are buried side by side in Italy and their love letters, which are housed in the Whipple Collection in the Minnesota Historical Society, were published in 2019.

Rose Elizabeth Cleveland

Activism

Pride Month simultaneously celebrates the progress towards LGBTQ+ equality and reminds us of the rights still unwon. The objects in this narrative demonstrate the resilience and determination of the many individuals who fought to live freely and authentically. Many of the objects in this group are from the collection of Frank Kameny, an early movement leader who spent decades fighting against the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ+ employment policies.

The “Homosexuals for Equality Button,” “Gay is Good” buttons, “Go-Go Mattachine” button, come from the collection of Frank Kameny, one of the founders of the gay rights movement.

Match book, “The Ladder Homophile topics of Particular Interest to Women.” 2007.0131.05.
Match book, reverse. “Daughters of Bilitis.” 2007.0131.05.

The Ladder magazine was published by The Daughters of Bilitis, the New York chapter of the first national organization for lesbians. Barbara Gittings, a prolific organizer and activist, established the group. Other popular LGBTQ news sources included The Homosexual Citizen and the Mattachine Review magazine.


The Stonewall Uprising

Objects in this display recognize the origins of Pride celebrations: the Stonewall Uprisings. In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non- conforming people, lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.

Pin; button; LGBTQ button. Christopher Street Gay Pride ’72. 2016.0235.06.
NMAH Archives Center
Mark Segal Papers
Series 3
Box 23
Folder 11
Flyer; Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day, New York City, New York; 1970 June 28

The “Seize the Spirit of Stonewall 25” button commemorates the 25th anniversary of the raid’s resulting protests. For the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in 2019, New York City paid homage to the original protests and became the center of World Pride.

NMAH Archives Center
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
1146
Box 113
Pin; “Seize the Spirit Stonewall 25”, New York City, New York; 1994 June 24-26

The AIDS Epidemic

The final portion of the exhibit centers around the AIDS Epidemic and its devastating toll on the LGBTQ+ community. The AIDS Epidemic began to take hold in the early 1980s. While HIV affects Americans from all walks of life, the epidemic continues to disproportionately impact certain members of the LGBTQ+ community. Individuals with AIDS not only struggled to find medical care and treatments, but also endured the menacing effects of socialized stigma surrounding the disease.

The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt grew out of a group of devoted family, friends, and partners of those lost to AIDS and help others understand the devastating impact of the disease.

Brooch, beaded. AIDS red ribbon. 2010.3072.11.

Candle in cup, carried in the AIDS Memorial Candlelight March, Washington, DC. 10 October 1992. 1992.3216.01.

For more objects in this exhibition, visit the Smithsonian Learning Lab.


Posted: 28 June 2021
About the Author:

Madeleine “Maddie” Weyand-Geise recently joined OPA as the public affairs assistant, though she’s yet to step foot into the Castle as an employee. After starting work mid-pandemic, Maddie can’t wait for coworkers other than her aloe plant. Maddie comes to OPA with a background working in communications for local arts organizations and higher education. With degrees in art history and public relations, Maddie sees the Smithsonian as the perfect workplace to combine her passions for art, public access and education.