On June 28, 1969, at New York City’s Stonewall Inn, armed police raided a peaceful LGBTQ+ bar. Though raids were common, this time patrons like Black drag icon Marsha P. Johnson resisted. This was not the first time LGBTQ+ people resisted police harassment nor the laws that targeted them. Still, Stonewall became a turning point in the nationwide queer rights movement.
Here in South Bend, the LGBTQ+ community was vibrant. Laws and police also targeted them, yet people found ways to form a community. They built intentional queer celebratory spaces, connected in an era before digital communication, and worked together to fight injustices.
“Queer SB in the 1970s” shows a small piece of South Bend, Indiana’s LGBTQ+ community just a few years after Stonewall’s famous uprising.
Developed and curated by George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center with review from Tre Goodhue, H.R. Jung, and Eli Williams. Transferred into digital exhibition by Lillian Magers-Pershing, Student Professional at Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.
This activity was made possible, in part, with support from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County.
