Two new National Historic Landmarks honor the LGBTQ community. Both are located in Washington, D.C. and were announced in December by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
They are part of 19 new NHLs that are nationally significant properties that reflect the importance of sites in sharing America's diverse history, according to a news release from the National Park Service, which is under the Interior Department's jurisdiction. The sites reflect the importance of LGBTQs, African Americans, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and women's history in addition to moments important in the development of American technology, landscape design, and art, the release stated.
One of the LGBTQ-related sites is the Furies Collective House.
"From 1971-1973, a modest rowhouse in Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Hill neighborhood was the home and operational center for 12 lesbian feminists and their lesbian, feminist, separatist group The Furies Collective," the park service's website for the house stated. "During this time, the women of the Furies Collective used their publications to address major questions of women's identity and women's relationships with other women, with men, and with society at large."
The house is located at 219 11th Street, SE. It is not open to the public, according to the website.
The second historic site is the Lucy Diggs Slowe & Mary Burrill House, also located in the nation's capital. Located at 1256 Kearny Street, NE, it is also not open to the public and is privately owned.
"The Slowe-Burrill House was once home to the most famous lesbian couple in Washington, D.C. Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill lived on Kearney Street from 1922 until Slowe's death in 1937," the website states. "Slowe and Burrill were prominent activists and educators in Washington's Black community but neither publicly claimed their relationship. Despite this, in later decades, Slowe and Burrill always were known as romantic partners to their large circle of friends and now are cited as the most well-known lesbian couple in Washington during the 1920s. Unlike the other monuments to Slowe and Burrill around the city, Kearney Street centers their queerness alongside their professional achievements."
Haaland noted the importance of the new additions.
"As America's storyteller, it is our privilege at the Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service, to tell our nation's history and honor the many historical chapters and heroic communities that brought us to where we all are today," stated Haaland. "These newly designated historic landmarks join a list of the nation's premier historic and cultural places, all of which were nominated through voluntary and locally led stewardship."
An NHL designation is the highest federal recognition of a property's historical, architectural or archeological significance, and a testament to the dedicated stewardship of many private and public property owners who seek this designation, the release stated. While the National Park Service maintains NHL listings, most are privately owned.
An effort to obtain federal landmarking for the site where a transgender uprising against police harassment took place in San Francisco 58 years ago remains pending two years after state preservationists had supported doing so, as the Bay Area Reporter noted in an October article. That's the intersection of Turk and Taylor streets where the Compton's Cafeteria riots occurred in August 1966. San Francisco officials landmarked the site in 2022.
For a listing of the recently designated U.S. historic properties, click here.
San Mateo Pride center starts drop-in program
The San Mateo County Pride Center has started a twice-weekly drop-in space. Conversation and Community, as the program is known, meets Tuesdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. at the center, located at 1021 South El Camino Real (11th and El Camino Real) in San Mateo. The service started last week.
According to an email announcement, center officials want LGBTQ community members to have a safe space "during these uneasy times."
"Join us to have a little escape or just be with community," the announcement stated. Snacks, table games, cards, crafts, video games, and activities will be available.
The center last fall reinstated its mask requirement and will provide one to visitors who forget their own. For other accessibility information, people can check sanmateopride.org/accessibility.
For questions, contact [email protected] or (650) 591-0133.
Self-defense class offered in Castro
Castro Community on Patrol, a volunteer safety group, will hold a self-defense class for beginners Saturday, January 18, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 100 Diamond Street, in Ellard Hall.
According to a flyer, the class is open to anyone 18 years of age or older. The cost is $30 per attendee and registration is required.
CCOP is a nonprofit organization that started in 2006. Volunteers provide safety support at events and in the Castro. The organization also offers classes, such as the upcoming self-defense seminar.
To register for the class, click here.
For more information about CCOP, go to castropatrol.org.
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