News accounts and reading what i could find to read and trying to make some sense of what had happened. And during that, i came across an editorial online. And that short editorial helped me understand the importance of gay bars and clubs in a way that i have never understood before. Of how important they are. As gathering places and as places of activism. Places of great significance in American History. I decided that day that we had to bring that author to birmingham so she could share her insights and research with us. And we are very pleased that we have been able to do that. She is a professor of history at santa clara university. She began teaching her course in title lesbian and gays in history in 2004. The sample class can be viewed on the cspan online library. Her work on lgbtq history is featured in her 2012 book, beyond natures housekeepers. She is also the winner of studies in progressivism and her articles have appeared in newspapers and websites. Including the miami herald, San Francisco chronicle. Cnn. Nuclear politics. Include National Public radio, Wisconsin Public radio, voice of america and she has worked as a consultant or pbs. Welcoming our in author. [applause] well, i am so honored to be here at the birmingham public library. And i really want to thank jim for inviting me to speak and for worked to everyone who so successfully to publicize this event. Most of all, i really want to thank all of you for taking the time to hear a talk about history, of all things, on a sunday afternoon. In his invitation to me, jim wrote i was struck by the similarities between the role of gay nightclubs in the Gay Rights Movement and africanamerican churches in the civil Rights Movement. And i thought that was a pretty perceptive observation. The surface, the church you see there on the left in montgomery alabama, it doesnt seem to have a lot in common with a seedy bar on the right, operating illegally in Greenwich Village new york. That Beautiful Church in montgomery was designated as a inional historic landmark 1974 in memory of Martin Luther king jr. Who served as the from 19541960. He helped to organize the montgomery bus boycott in the office in the churchs basement. And yet, this june, president declared that seedy bar in new york city as the countrys First National , gay,nt to lesbian bisexual, transgender and queer rights. And im going to go through that again in case you are not familiar. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning. So when you hear that, that is what the term is referring to. Now as it turns out, in this country, most gay bars and black churches have a very long history. Both have served as havens and sanctuaries. They have been the centers of solidarity and community and education. And as a result, they have also been the sites of arson. Violence and persecution. Thoset, resistance to efforts to intimidate and squelch ultimately led to greater advancements in pride rights and freedom. Even before the modern gay bar, place has always played a powerful role in the lives of lgbtq americans. Exclusivelyll focus on the evolution of gay bars and nightclubs and the many roles they have played in American History. So. Intimate samesex relationships have long been tolerated in American History. This was especially true of men in singlesex communities, miners and cowboys. So here is the idealized version. The gold rush miners. And heres the real thing. The assumption for most straight people is that these men werent gay. They were just making do. They are having harmless fun. And the same was thought of about crossdressing. Just harmless fun. Which it often was. That is not to say samesex sexuality was not occurring, of course it was. It just wasnt on most straight peoples radar. Urban environments offered far more opportunities to seek out and act on samesex desires than had ever been available when america was a nation of family farmers. Urban environments were creating lots of different spaces, public parks, for men to find each other. The first ymca opens in the United States in 1851 in boston. 1884, we have mens bathhouses at the bowery. Lots of activity going on there. 1880s, new yorks bleecker street was home to at least two known gay bars. The slide and the black rabbit. And the timing of this is interesting. Term92 we see the homosexual first appear in print. And it is defined as a sexual perversion. So with this invention and recognition of homosexuality, gradually comes an awareness that all the samesex activities might not just be harmless fun after all. And so, we see the new york only world has the slide bar leaker street as a pit of shame where wretches without moral sense or shame make nightly public exhibition of their evil doings. 1901, the New York Times reported on the arrests of several of the patrons of the black rabbit. It antivice activists who called the bar wicked, claiming that sato a meant more would blush for shame adhering to what depths of vice the habitues have stated. 1903 we have the first raid on a new york city bathhouse. 60 men were detained. 14 were arrested. The onlyork is not place to feature early gay bars and clubs. They began springing up in every city. The opened in San Francisco in 1908. Establishments called bathhouses or juke chances. They offered some opportunities for nonphysical sexual behaviors. Far from the prying eyes of the disapproving churchgoing establishment. Now i know means worthies for homosexuals only that they were the starting place for many women who would later become relatively open including lucille bogus, born here in birmingham and the author of the explicity it lesbian bold dagger womens blues. Were the place to be. Almost all clubs remained racially segregated. Harlem residents said about the 1920s, new york was a great place to be a lesbian. You had a beautiful time up there. Oh, girl, you have some time up there. By 1932, this nightclub map would feature gladyss clam house. There it is right there. [laughter] gladys was Gladys Bentley, who made no secret her sexual preference for women. In the 1930s she was the featured singer at the ubangi club. You can note her gay male dancers. Becomehtclubs would especially important in world war ii. Particularly in coastal cities. In small towns and farmhouses across america, most homosexuals were deeply closeted. In their isolation, many believed they were the only ones in their town or even in their state to have these feelings. And they feared what others said were true, that homosexuals were dangerous perverts. Closeted homosexuals from all over the United States left their small town to serve their country, either by enlisting in the military or taking up more production jobs. War production jobs. At some point, most ended up near a coastal city and almost all ended up in some city. Often for the very first time. Many closeted gays go to their first gay bar. For example, San Franciscos black cat. Many lesbians go to their first lesbian bar. Monas. Known as you will notice Gladys Bentley was still performing in the 1940s. They find out they are not the only ones, that there are a lot of people who are atypical sexually, and theyre not perverted deviant criminals but good, loyal americans who are serving their country well in a time of need. When the war is over they dont , want to return to their small towns and their smalltown closets. Many settled in the cities where they first experienced themselves accepted. We are poised for a whole new era and looking back you might anticipate this is when we are going to have the gay and lesbian Rights Movement. This would be the beginning of that. Instead, lgbtq people are going to have to endure 25 more years of repression. After those hopes raised by world war ii, the cold war was a particularly horrible time to be gay, lesbian, transgender, or bisexual in the United States. Gay men and lesbians were seen as particular risks to national security. Sexual perverts who infiltrated our government in recent years are perhaps as dangerous as the actual communists. Atypical sexuality was grounds for immediate and permanent dismissal from government jobs. This begins in the state department pretty high up. Pretty soon, its going to filter its way all the way down. This includes people like postal carrier and workers and librarians. Anybody who has any kind of government position. And so people remained in the closet. Its a little different now. What do you do with that nascent pride and sense of identity . That was born out of world war ii. You cant unring a bell. You cant unlearn something you have learned about yourself. Gay bars are going to become more important than ever. And theyre going to be scarier because of police raids. It was illegal to serve an alcoholic drink to known homosexual, as they were deemed inherently disorderly. Remember that homosexuality itself is not only considered unnatural and in moral, it is illegal. And not just sex acts, but any samesex conduct, like Holding Hands can be deemed lewd and lascivious. So you can imagine what would happen in this climate if you get your name or, god for bid, your picture in the paper during such a raid. And you will note the headline here. 109 arrested in vice den, eight teachers, suburb principle seized. If you are married, as most closeted homosexuals were, these were immediate grounds for divorce. With the spouse getting sole custody of your children. It means you would lose your job, lose your apartment, lose your churches and friends. And that is ultimately if the charges are dropped. If they are pressed you are going to face the prospect of a jury trial. I think we can all understand why virtually everyone facing a morals charge with lead to a lower misdemeanor drunk and disorderly for example, or pay a fine, anything to not to have to go to court. You could also be committed, against your will come on. Going to need somebody to push a button for me. Just one second. Changing battery. There we go. You could also be committed to a mental hospital. And this is especially true of young people to be cured of your illness. This could include electroshock therapy and various forms of aversion therapy. Getting caught at a gay bar was a quick way to ruin your life. So why go . Gays and lesbians who came of age in the 40s, 50s, and 60s speak over and over and over again about how they risk their reputation, their marriages, their family, their livelihood by going to gay bars. The gay bars save their lives. They kept them from despairing that they were the only ones. Kept them from believing that society was right, that they were sick and criminal and would be better off dead. In the bars and nightclubs, they found hookups and one night stands. They also found partners and lovers and friends and people who accepted them as they were. They didnt have to carry out the exhausting work of pretending to be straight. They could be themselves, and being true to yourself is very precious. It is worth a lot of risk. Lesbians during this period suffered double discrimination. Even most gay men saw women as inferior. In the days before widespread feminism, the lesbian bar was the truly rare place where women were not pressured to cater to men. A lesbian in the 1940s said, we could throw off our dresses and high heels, the uniform required of all women. Lesbians could wear pants and be free of mens unwanted sexual attention. The lesbian bar created a whole new alternate society. And culture. And for many workingclass lesbians that was the world of the butchfemme. It created roles for lesbians, told him how to dress, how to behave, even how to act. Undercover cops trying to get into lesbian bars were easily spotted and kept out. As one regular said, that was my world, and the other world was not real. Some very brave gay men and lesbians for the organizations againstn to fight back government treatment. Bars became the crucial battles in the campaigns for gay rights. It became the settings for the crucial battles in the campaigns for gay rights. And perhaps the least known, but most important, took place inside this bar. On april 21, 1966, kasich been a sipin wasd staged, like a sitin. They bring a photographer and they bring a photographer and the announced to the bartender that they are homosexual men and they wanted to drink. Its a gay bar, everyone knows they are gay, but they announce this to the bartender. They would announce this to the bartender. This picture was taken just before they announced it and you can see the bartender putting his hand over the glass, because he is not going to be up to serve them the drink. As you know, that is illegal to serve openly gay men a drink. Mattachine then challenged in court the laws that prohibited serving alcoholic beverages to gays. The ruling in the case that the gays could peacefully assemble at bars and drink alcohol and established a new era of licensed, legally operating gay bars, and included a new gay bar in 1967 only a block away, the Stonewall Inn. Just as lesbians were often rejected or discriminated against in some gay mens bars, gays and lesbians of color faced racial as well as sexual discrimination. Transgender people were virtual iniahs, not even accepted gay bars. Contins cafeteria was a diner in San Franciscos tenderloin district, and one of the few places transgender people congregated publicly in the city. Crossdressing was illegal, and so the police regularly raided the place. In august 1966, just a few months after the sipin, some patrons began picketing the cafeteria, because management kept calling the police to have their transgendered customers arrested. During an attempted arrest, the transcustomers began to fight back and a riot broke out. One of the first efforts by transgendered people to stand up against abuse and discrimination by police. And there is something very empowering about standing up for yourself. Gay bars were the sites of all kinds of empowerment. They were lifesaving and fun, despite the fact that they still represented real danger in the form of constant raids and police harassment. It was no longer illegal to serve and openly keep person age rink in some states, but atypical Sexual Activity serve and openly gay person in serve and openly gay person in some states, but atypical sexual activities still remains illegal. 1962, illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults in private. Until 2003 that the Supreme Court declared sodomy laws still in many states to be unconstitutional. Admit that police in gay bars could be harassed by police not just for homosexual acts, but also drunk and disorderly and obscene behavior and the whole list of possible offenses. A major turning point in lgbtq history started at the Stonewall Inn at about 1 20 in the morning on june 28, 1969. Stonewall was a gay bar and two of the keywords are class and race. Who were the patrons of this bar . For the most part workingclass. Drag queens which lesbians, love the different people. Some are people of color. Many are people who have already been deemed to be inferior, lower class, and many are openly gay. They are not white middleclass people terrified of losing of having their sexuality revealed. They are terrified of being they arent terrified of being outed, they arent going to lose their jobs, their homes, their families. Stonewall had been raided several times for operating without a liquor license. Lots of bars did. It was cheaper to pay off the police than it was to pay for a liquor license. Some police started the standard raid, and the patrons had had enough. And they began rioting inside the bar. They threw bricks and bottles and fires. Spreads,rating news Everyone Wants to be part of this. They come back and do it again the next tonight. And then again the next night. It gets some coverage. Some of the coverage is negative. This is a really snotty article for the new york daily news. The queen bees are stinging mad. It is getting publicity. There is something significant about fighting back against injustice. Just like other oppressed people were doing in the civil Rights Movement. Violence seems to generate respect or at least attention. A decade later, Allen Ginsberg remembered the guys were so beautiful. They have lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago. I think there are two components to this. One was the creation of the Gay Liberation front. And another was a more aggressive Political Organization that had been in existence before. And the second press is a commemorative march that takes place one year after the stonewall riots. You can see the christopher street march. Very well attended. There is also a commemorative march in los angeles. As you know, to this day there are gay pride parades, and these people in the may not realize they are commemorating the stonewall riots, but in fact that is what those parades were originally designed to do. They are a really exhilarating powerful event. Homosexuality, it is called there is an old expression to reveals one homosexuality, it is called letting a hair pin drop. Stonewall was called the hair pin drop around the world. As gays and lesbians came out of the closet. Publications and organizations proliferated, and gay bars became increasingly visible and popular sites for socializing and political organizing. They also became sites for violent people. People leaving bars were freed with the victims of street violence and gay bashing. The pulse bar in orlando was not the first to be the site of a mass murderer. In 1973, an arsonist set fire to the gay bar the upstairs lounge in new orleans, killing 32. Despite that large number of fatalities, no politician, not the mayor or governor, certainly not the president made any kind of a statement. The fire was likely set by a psychologically unstable patron, but we will never know, because the police are not interested in investigating. The patron committed suicide the following year. According to a survivor of the lounge fire, what happened to us had to be kept private. The public didnt know about it and if they heard about it they didnt care. Saying things like that god they are gone, they deserved it. And yet the gay and lesbian , population continued to push for rights. Continue to push the american medical association. In 1974, the year after the fire, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders of the American Psychiatric association removes homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. As one gay activist put it, we all went to bed sick and morning we woke up well. [laughter] discrimination continues through the 1970s and beyond, and gay and lesbians continue to flock to gay bars and nightclubs. The cartoonist and author of the memoir fun home remember that in 1980, my first gay bar was in akron, ohio. I used to feel like an alien, in butkind of a social group, in that mixed crowd, i produced a profound existential release for once not being the only queer. A year later in 1981, i moved to new york. There was a lot of routine antigay hostility on the street. Even in Sheridan Square you would get hassled for Holding Hands. Then you would step past the bouncer at the duchess, and you were home free. That bar had its own perils, but it afforded me the space to just be, with my guard down, and that was foundational. Salvational. A year after bechdel started going to the duchess, some of its patrons staged a protest against respite from the liquor board. Why be so protective of a bar . I bought this says it will, you want to come into the bar where all your dreams come true, or go to the left, to disappointing real life. [laughter] a huge crisis hits the Gay Community in the early 80s, the hivaids crisis. And in many cities, the bathhouses were closed as ground zero for spreading the disease. Gay bars became some of the most important centers, not only for sharing information about safer sex practices, but for planning protests, in particular, demanding that the government quicken the pace of the development and testing of new drugs. Many gay bar patrons became part of the aids coalition to unleash power act up. , a potter remembered being at a gay bar in providence, rhode island. A city long known for being a center of gay culture. He was frivolously dancing, in walks a dude from new york who was a member of act up, wearing a Leather Jacket that says dont tread on me. It was a defining moment for me. It was all about gay empowerments, about not getting messed with, and about the importance ofhe addressing an existential crisis head on. I moved to new york the next year. From the height of the hivaids epidemic and even today, gay bars and nightclubs play a crucial role in the lives of lgbtq americans. Author Andrew Sullivan remembered ease and dignity had seemed incompatible with my gayness until my sweaty june bar visit sent me on a new path, one that would lead me to marrying, my husband, having our children, and becoming an activist for lgbtq rights. Cnn anchor don lemon remembers, i was deeply closeted in college. Everybody was. It was the 1980s, it was the south, and people did not come out then as quickly as they do now. After i finally built up the liquid courage to do it, to go to a gay bar in baton rouge, i never turned back. It was gay heaven. I didnt have to pretend anymore. I was finally at home. Television host andy cohen said even in the 1990s, it was literally like stepping into another world. It is where i built a community of friends. Preinternet, gay bars were integral to our social development. They were in escape from the often unfriendly outside world, packed every night of the week. Everyone inside was a friend. According to actress carrie brownstein, gay bars is ours, like putty, ours likes clay. The environment is both ridiculous and profound, but we get to decide whether it is one or the other, or both, or neither. Only away from the glare of homophobia can we experience the malleability, a flexing of oneself, a full rotation. Who knew there were 360 degrees . Lori stevens of tennessee states there is a monthly Queer Dance Party hosted a local bar herein east nashville. Since many of us dont or cant go to church, bars and close have been the central gathering places for us. They have an almost spiritual quality. Jason of chicago agrees. Calling them sacred spaces is not hyperbole. I didnt feel like it was finally ok to be myself the first time i went to church, or to the movies, or the post office, or the first day of kindergarten, or my First Company christmas party. The first time i felt like i didnt have to watch what i said or police who i looked at or feel shameful for who i was attracted to was the first time i set foot in a gay bar. Emily sullivan recalls where i grew up in rural virginia, there is no safe place for lgbt citizens. Most of whom are invisible. My move to brooklyn has brought me shelter. Because i grew up in a town that made my sexuality feel painful, i cant take these spaces were granted in what they offer lgbt people. They are solace. They are accepting. They are safety. Others spoke of the importance of gay and lesbian bars catering to people of color. Here is an emphasis on gay black pride in north carolina. According to Laurie Stephens of nashville, as someone who is queer and latina, these spaces are even more important. The mainstream lgbt communities is often very white. I know it is not something they intend. But we dont get a lot of lgbt white folks saying something like, immigration is an lgbtq issue, even though it is. A lot of those who were killed and wounded in orlando were identified as immigrants, some undocumented. There is a whole other level of barriers for these families. Like many lgbtq clubs, pulse in orlando, florida, and note that logo, served as a welcoming place to party for gays and lesbians who were not white or middle to upper class. Pulse not only welcomed the areas large immigrant population, but hosted social and educational events, like Breast Cancer awareness and hivaids prevention. According to its website, pulse orlando served as a driving force in the lgbtq community, seeking to make strides toward Equality Awareness and love for all. The mass shooting on june 12, 2016, resulting in a death of 49 people, was a particularly outrageous violation of the notion of gay bars as places of safety from a hostile homophobic world. Jake summed it up like this you dont know what we are feeling. Think of the place you felt most comfortable, safe, and loved. It is probably the house you grew up in. Imagine someone burning that house to the ground with your family inside, because they hate you. That is what we feel right now. It must be like how many africanamericans felt after the 1953 bombing that killed four little girls in a church in birmingham. Their sacred states have been violated. Another youngest and most vulnerable had been killed. And so many of them went to church to find solace and comfort and community. Gays too refused to allow their sacred spaces to becomes sites of fear. After the killings, a flocked to clubs and bars to grieve and find solidarity, and to reaffirm that they would not be reintimidated back into the closet. This tweet says from the club you cannot silence us. You cannot destroy us. We are not going anywhere. A survivor of the upstairs lounge arson fire says, to see the outpouring and level of support that these poor pulse families have gotten is fantastic. They know that the world supports them and understands their grief. He continued president obama address to the nation, which i thought was very moving. In his last will and testament, openly gay suit mayor harvey milk wrote should a bullet enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door. The attack provoked the same kind of reaction followed milks assassination. As he had said burst down those , closet doors once and for all. Stand up and start to fight. The pulse massacre prompted many closeted gays to finally come out. Some are worried about the future of the gay bar. Shortly before the massacre at pulse, i gave the keynote at a gay conference on environmental matters, talking about the importance of place in gay and lesbian history. During the q a, i was asked about grindr and other apps used as a means to hook up. I said i was no expert. I recently asked my daughter how her kindle date went. She rolled her eyes and said do you mean my tinder date . I think my conference questioner wanted me to disavow grindr as nothing but an avenue for casual sex. Gay bars were done for the same reason. Im certainly no expert on grindr. This impressed upon immediately me deeply the importance of the internet in all its facets in making many gay men and lesbians feel less alone and more like members of an accepting and supportive community. Even a brief history of gay bars and my close reveals the importance of community, and of the human need for acceptance and safety. Like the black church, the gay bar has been a site for solidarity and spiritual renewal. It has been the subject of attack, but has served as a site for fostering pride, to overcome hatred and the scrimmage and, and to promote safety and and discrimination, and to promote safety and acceptance. Gay bars and nightclubs are unique places and spaces that continue to foster gay pride, facilitate progress, and promote feelings of belonging, solidarity, and joy. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. So, there are some questions that you have for me. Can you address the issue of the u. S. Military employing the talents of gay and giving them a dishonorable discharge at the end of world war ii . This is a fascinating subject. I wish you could all take my day gay and lesbian class. We spend a lot of time talking about the impact of world war ii. It was interesting. At the beginning of world war ii there was no effort to keep gays , out. We need every pair of hands. Lets win this war. We only see the discrimination and discharges coming after there is a turning point in the war. In this way, it was particularly unfair a position to put gay men in. As gay men are being increasingly given discharges, which means you can get your you cant get your g. I. Bill of rights, have a hard time getting a job, and this is a tough thing to happen lesbians are not being pushed out in the same way. There is a much higher percentage of lesbians. At one point eisenhowers general says, i hear there are lesbians a battalion, give me a list, we have to get rid of them. Shes as i will, my name will be at the top and there will be anyone left, but i can do it. So he says okay, nevermind. [laughter] just forget about it. He didnt want a scandal. What is interesting to me is that on the one side, the military has been one of the biggest promoters of homophobia, but it is also during world war ii when they really need every pair of hands they say okay, we need to understand this. He says yes, like any disease, it requires understanding, not punishment. There is an effort they do some of the leading research on acceptance. And we see over and over in American History prior to the more recent laws, for the korean war, there are more acceptance of homosexuality because we need every pair of hands. When things settle down, there is a ramping up of persecution. It is an interesting phenomenon. It was frustrating for me that the military held on for so long and that homophobia was indoctrinated into its processes. It has been a great relief. Was the Gay Rights Movement inspired or influenced by the black civil Rights Movement . What a great question. One of my true heroes, a big frank family was a big activist in the Gay Rights Movement. He served in world war ii, then he went to harvard with a phd in astronomy and is working for the government. During the cold war, this is a plum job. And he gets fired because he is gay. He got caught in a moral incident. He says, you cant fire me. You need me, my sexuality has nothing to do with what is going on. And he keeps resisting. He takes it all the way to the Supreme Court and they say no, you are fired. So he becomes an activist. To the gayrights people of his day he says look, you are so , apologetic. Youre asking whether or not we should seek medical help to try to change ourselves. He says, look at the civil Rights Movement. You dont see blacks saying, maybe we can end Racial Discrimination by bleaching our skin. You dont see that. You dont see the Antidefamation League saying we should end antisemitism by jews converting to christianity. You dont see that. People want to be accepted for who they are. He is very open about saying that the gay and Lesbian Movement needs to mirror his self to the civil Rights Movement. To be accepted as they are, not tolerated. There is clear patterning, theres talking about borrowing from the civil Rights Movement. Clearly it was extremely , influential. Can you speak to how bathhouses in europe responded to hiv by distributing condoms, versus in america, and how they shut down . How drastic or the ramifications . They were pretty drastic. As you can imagine, a lot of as you can imagine, there was a lot of frustration about the bathhouses citing, we understand this is ground zero, this is where so much of this disease is spreading, but it can also be ground zero for information. There was such panic in the United States that the shutting down of bathhouses took over. And with drastic impact. Should we teach lgbtq history in school . Well, of course, we should. It is part of American History. In my state, california, it has been mandated that at appropriate grade levels k12 it must be taught. I have given a number of talks to panicked teachers saying, not more one goddamn thing we have to teach [laughter] and i say no, let me show you. Let me show you how teaching lgbtq history helps you to achieve these things. It is not an addon, it is an integral part of American History. Were there regional differences in the role of gay bars in American History, the south compared to the west coast . And so forth. I think there are regional differences there are climates microclimates. , california is really liberal but if youve into the central valley, not so liberal. It really depends. I think there are regional differences, but also in areas. I was raised in washington state. The west of washington, seattle, very liberal. The east of washington is right next to idaho, where there are the white supremacists, very different. There are not just regional differences, but many differences in how people are treated. Was the european gay bar comparable to the american gay bar in the 20th century . I have vast ignorance on this topic. Really, i am pretty much a myopic american historian. I know that in the early 20th century, germany in particular was way ahead of the curve, and was talking a lot about sexual differences. Unfortunately, the work of some of those sexologists was taken up by the nazis, and helped to bring a lot of gay men to the concentration camps. I think that kind of thinking helps understand why it was so hard for so many gays and lesbians to really get organized. The idea of having your name on a list, whether you are in nazi germany or the United States fearing arrest, it is daunting stuff. That picture that i showed you of the protest, the men protesting and women protesting federal treatment. That took an enormous amount of courage to stand up against a society that saw it as a sin and crime. It is pretty remarkable history. I think that is all the questions that you have. I want to thank you so much for your attention. This is a big thrill for me. Thank you. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] up next on the International Spy museum, the story of slave and revolutionary wars by james lafayette, working for Marquis James poses a slave to infiltrate camps. He gained the trust of Benedict Arnold and british general cornwallis, and how the information gathered helped the american cause