September 2: Our Stories Were Being Written Before Pride Had a Name
- 2 days ago
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🏳️🌈 THIS DAY IN LGBTQ+ HISTORY
September 2:
Before the marches. Before the hashtags. Before Pride became a worldwide celebration, LGBTQ+ people were already creating, resisting, loving, organizing, and leaving their mark on history.
September 2 gives us another opportunity to look beyond the history we hear about most often and recognize LGBTQ+ people and spaces whose influence deserves to be remembered.
📚 1894: Bryher Is Born
On September 2, 1894, Annie Winifred Ellerman was born in England. She would become better known by her chosen name, Bryher.
Bryher was a writer, novelist, filmmaker, philanthropist, and an important figure within the artistic circles of the early 20th century. She had a long relationship with American poet Hilda Doolittle, better known as H.D., and their lives became connected personally and creatively.
Bryher, H.D., and filmmaker Kenneth Macpherson established the influential film journal Close Up, which explored cinema as a serious art form and helped introduce European filmmaking ideas to English-speaking audiences. Bryher also used her financial resources to support writers and artists.
Her story matters because LGBTQ+ history isn't only the history of protests and courtrooms.
It's also the history of our writers.Our artists.Our relationships.Our creativity.And the people who created space for others to thrive.
✊🏾 1970s: Lesbian Feminists Demand Their Own Space
Decades later, lesbian activists were challenging another issue: Where did lesbians fit within both the women's movement and the emerging gay liberation movement?
One important answer came through the Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist collective based in Washington, D.C.
The women associated with the Furies challenged sexism, homophobia, and expectations about women's roles while developing their own ideas about lesbian feminism. Although the collective existed only briefly, its members continued influencing LGBTQ+ media, publishing, women's organizations, music, feminism, and gay civil rights.
Their work reminds us of something we still discuss today:
Representation matters, but having a seat at the table isn't enough if your voice isn't being heard.
🏛️ September 2, 2024: Lesbian History Becomes a National Historic Landmark
More than five decades after the Furies organized, their history received major federal recognition.
On September 2, 2024, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated the Furies Collective house in Washington, D.C., a National Historic Landmark. The property had previously been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Think about what that represents.
A house once occupied by young lesbian feminists organizing around issues affecting their lives is now officially recognized as a place of national historical significance.
That's legacy.
It's also proof that LGBTQ+ history isn't something separate from American history.
We are American history.
🏳️🌈 WHY SEPTEMBER 2 MATTERS
The stories connected to September 2 remind us that LGBTQ+ history has never been one story.
Bryher represents queer creativity, literature, relationships, film, and artistic freedom.
The Furies represent lesbian feminism, organizing, community building, and women demanding that their experiences be included in conversations about liberation.
And the historic recognition of the Furies house represents something LGBTQ+ generations before us rarely received:
Acknowledgment that our spaces, our movements, and our stories are worth preserving.
That's why we tell these stories.
Because LGBTQ+ history did not begin at Stonewall.
It didn't begin when marriage equality became law.
And it certainly didn't begin when corporations discovered rainbow logos.
WE'VE BEEN HERE.
Creating.
Writing.
Loving.
Organizing.
Building community.
Challenging systems.
And leaving something behind for the next generation.
🏳️🌈 Know the history. Respect the legacy. Keep building the future.
I AM ME INC.
I Am Me Inc. is committed to informing, empowering, connecting, and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and our Allies.
🌐 Visit www.iammecorp.org
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Our History. Our Voices. Our Legacy.
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