Queer History is American History: The National Park Service's LGBTQ Heritage Initiative

In June of 2014, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the National Park Service's LGBTQ Heritage Initiative, one of several designed to address the under-representation of specific groups in NPS parks and programs. These programs include the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks. The NPS LGBTQ Heritage Initiative is the first of its kind in the world. The central component of the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative is the theme study, an extensive 30+ chapter document written by historians, geographers, community activists and other experts that presents the diverse histories of America's LGBTQ communities. The theme study serves as a tool for historic preservationists, state and local reviewers, and community activists to list properties on the NRHP and NHL, and is also written to be accessible to a broader audience interested in LGBTQ history and heritage in the United States. Against a backdrop of places associated with our rich and diverse LGBTQ history, I introduce the theme study and discuss the challenges and rewards of a commitment to intersectionality and to presenting the multiple contexts, histories, and experiences encompassed by the LGBTQ umbrella.