LGBTQ+ Stories in NYSM Galleries
Throughout its history, New Yorkers have led the charge for equality, including fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals. In 1969, a spark was lit in the already growing gay rights movement at the Stonewall Uprising in Greenwich Village, New York City. As the movement continued to grow nationally over the next few decades, New Yorkers participated in activism across the state, from the struggles of Gay Liberation through the AIDS crisis to the successful fight for marriage equality in 2011.
New York holds a special place in LGBTQ+ history, as a haven for those in search of a safer environment and like-minded companionship. Across the state, the LGBTQ+ community has celebrated its strength and diversity, while working for equal rights, visibility, and inclusion through protests, Pride celebrations, and community center activities.
Below, learn about some of the LGBTQ+ stories that can be found in the New York State Museum’s galleries in June 2023.
Dress Reform, Gender Norms, and Sexuality in the Suffrage Movement
The fight for women’s rights was not just about the vote. Nineteenth-century reformers like Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony were concerned with a broad swath of issues that negatively impacted women’s lives, including lack of access to education and to the professions, lack of ability to serve on juries, and the restraining qualities of popular women’s fashion (heavy, floor-length skirts and constricting corsets that limited women’s ability to participate in many activities).
In the 1850s, many reformers, including Stanton and Anthony, began wearing what would become known as “the Bloomer costume,” a relatively shorter skirt with loose pants underneath. For some, this change was short-lived, as the mocking and criticism they received in public took attention away from the ideas they wanted to express about women’s rights.
For others, including Dr. Mary Walker (1832–1919), the freedom to move and to express oneself as she wanted, despite gender norms, was far too important to give up so easily. Walker, who served as a surgeon in the Civil War, continued to wear a bloomer costume or even trousers and a top hat, for the rest of her life. By dressing this way, she kept true to herself but also faced arrest on numerous occasions. (More on Dr. Mary Walker here: https://wamcpodcasts.org/podcast/the-persistence-of-dr-mary-walker-a-new-york-minute-in-history/)
Many who opposed women’s suffrage felt that allowing women to vote (or wear pants or go to work outside of the home) would upend society and turn ideas about gender norms on their head. Satirical cartoons depicted “manly” suffragists leaving their homes while their “womanly” husbands struggled to cook and care for children. Many suffrage leaders realized the importance of their image in the press. Baby parades and suffrage cookbooks promoted the idea that suffragists were wives, mothers, and homemakers who also wanted to vote. An unfortunate side effect, though, is that women in the movement who went outside norms of gender or sexuality were pushed out or forgotten in early written histories. Dr. Mary Walker was ultimately ostracized from state and national suffrage meetings due to her dress and opinions. Other queer women in the suffrage movement remained in the closet or put forth a public façade of “close friendship.” Suffragists Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) and Mary Garrett Hay (1857–1928) are buried together in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx at Catt’s request—their gravestone reads, “Here lie two, united in friendship for thirty-eight years through constant service to a great cause.”
Artifacts:
Photographs by Berenice Abbott for Changing New York
Where to find them:
Here is New York exhibition
