Few social groups have made such rapid strides in equality as the LGBTQ community during the fifty years following the Stonewall uprising. Leading up to and beyond that seminal moment, D.C.’s own courageous men and women made invaluable contributions to the cultural and social history of our city:
- Walt Whitman celebrated “the love of comrades” in his groundbreaking poetry and his intimate relationship with Pete Doyle in the 1860’s.
- Langston Hughes, Angelina Weld Warnke, Alain Locke and other artists of the Harlem Renaissance made the Strivers Section their DC home base.
- Frank Kameny protested federal employment discrimination in the 1960’s and campaigned for Congress on a “Gay is Good” platform.
- Lesbian folk singers Cris Williamson and Meg Christian launched their careers at the DC Women’s Center, while activists lived and worked together at the Gay Liberation Front commune.
See the sites associated with these figures and events while walking through the Dupont Circle and Strivers Section Historic Districts. The walk will conclude on vibrant 17th Street NW, a short walk back to the Dupont Circle Metro station.
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