LGBTQ+ Life in America

LGBTQ+ people have a long tradition of making significant and enduring contributions to the history of the United States and to American identity. Their story is rich and varied, a mosaic of discrimination, criminalization, oppression, resistance, achievement, and triumph. Yet prior to the 1970s, their presence was all but hidden—obscured by veiled language, media bias, or total omission. For this reason, many LGBTQ+ people remained ignored, undetected, and almost invisible to most researchers – until now.

LGBTQ+ Life in America brings to light the voices and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals throughout U.S. history. Drawing from more than 16,000 news sources, this matchless archive empowers researchers to examine how LGBTQ+ communities have shaped—and been shaped by—society, politics, and culture over the last three centuries.

Advanced language-mapping and editorial methods decode historical euphemisms and references to LGBTQ+ people across centuries. This one-of-a-kind collection surfaces millions of documents from the early 18th century through modern developments like marriage equality and gender identity rights, bringing context, nuance, and visibility to stories that have long been concealed.

This three-part collection supports teaching and research across multiple disciplines including sociology, history, law, politics, literature, and identity studies. Students seeking background and context will find LGBTQ+ Life in America easy to navigate using Suggested Searches and categorization by eras. Advanced researchers will benefit from the collection’s depth and completeness and can explore topical coverage across subject areas such as education, military, public health, religion, science, sports, and more.

Series 1: 1705-1992: From Earliest Representations through the AIDS Crisis
Explores LGBTQ+ life from its first appearances in the American and global press to the height of the AIDS epidemic. Researchers will find varied perspectives on subjects such as Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” (1855), “Girl” soldiers serving in the U.S. Civil War, “The Jolly Bachelors of Rome” (1860s), “God of Vengeance” (1923), Kinsey Report (1948), Uniform Code of Military Justice (1950), the Stonewall uprising (1969), the election of Harvey Milk (1977), ACT UP (1987), the passage of the Ryan White Care Act (1990), and much more.

Series 2: 1993-2021: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” through the Transgender Rights Movement
Chronicles key developments in LGBTQ+ civil rights following the AIDS crisis, providing essential material for contemporary policy, identity studies, and history programs. Contains over 15 million records, with coverage of events, people, and topics, including lan mark rulings and legislation such as Romer v. Evans (1996), the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (2010), and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), as well as milestones like the First Trans March (2004) and the election of Danica Roem (2017).

Series 3: “Don’t Say Gay” to Today: LGBTQ+ Life and Identity in the 21st Century
Coming soon as a subscription from NewsBank.