LGBTQ+ people have made tremendous contributions to this country. They cannot be erased.
In 1924, a Chicago postal worker named Henry Gerber founded the first gay rights organization in the United States. It lasted less than a year. He was arrested on trumped up charges and lost everything.
But the movement Gerber and the Society for Human Rights helped spur led to a century of progress that he never could have imagined and backlash that would have been much more familiar.
With queer lives and culture under threat, Our Queerest Century highlights the contributions of LGBTQ+ people since the 1924 founding of the nation’s first gay rights organization. Pre-order a copy of the series in print.
Our Queerest Century explores these 100 years of history and exceptional contributions by LGBTQ+ people through six personal essays by queer writers and a groundbreaking poll gauging the views of adults in California and throughout the country.
The project is the work of dozens of queer and allied journalists and artists from throughout The Times newsroom and beyond.
The essays consider the influence of queer people in the artsand entertainment,law and democracy, their heroism in the fight against AIDS. They speak to the lives of young LGBTQ+ Californians and their hopes for the future.
The poll helps explain why rights for gay men and lesbians have expanded and why transgender and nonbinary people still face serious discrimination — even in California, home to the largest LGBTQ+ population in the U.S. and a major battleground in the fight for queer rights.
In many ways, queer history is California history. And as the largest news organization in California, the Los Angeles Times is uniquely positioned to tell this story.
To bring you Our Queerest Century.
— Maria L. La Ganga, deputy managing editor, California and Metro