This Day in LGBTQ History Vol. 3: July-September

When I was young, I scoured my school libraries, from elementary to high school, to find a reflection of myself as a young lesbian, though that wasn't a word I knew. In 1962, I finally found an entry in an encyclopedia that thinly described gay men and lesbians: homosexual - a man who has sex with other men; lesbian: a woman from the isle of lesbos. I was lost...and what did the Isle of Lesbos have to do with me anyway???

When I began work as the LGBT Center Director at UCLA in 1997, I created then expanded a 400 square foot library in the Center so that students would have a place in which to find reflections of themselves and to learn their histories. Finally, young people could find accurate representations of themselves!

We have a long, rich history, we LGBTQ people. We didn't just jump out of a bar last Thursday night. LGBTQ folks came before us, paving the way for our freedom though they likely weren't aware of that. Our history informs us about who we are, from where we came, and perhaps to where we're going.

This compilation is just that, daily information about people, places, and events that brought us to this day. It offers hidden stories that we never learned in school. And it may teach us that the LGBTQ community is far more diverse than we ever imagined!

Our heroes and sheroes and they-roes call to us to remember. I hope you find them in these pages.