“Gay Is Good”: Digital collections in LGBTQ U.S. History

Abstract

June 28, 2019, was the 50th anniversary of the first day of the Stonewall Uprising. In the early morning hours, a series of spontaneous protests began at the Stonewall Inn following a police raid. Just over one year later, on July 1, 1970, librarian Israel Fishman organized the first meeting of the ALA Task Force on Gay Liberation at the ALA Annual Conference in Detroit. A few months later, activist Barbara Gittings, created the organization’s first “Gay Bibliography,” complete with the “Gay Is Good” slogan she adopted from her friend, Washington, D.C. activist, Franklin Kameny. She distributed 3,000 copies at the ALA Annual Conference in 1971. Gittings knew from experience the challenges of researching the history of sexual minorities.