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Documenting the LGBTQ past in the USA. It's Timely!

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Featured Exhibits

• Postcards: Masculine Women, Feminine Men; early-20th c.

• WOW Festival: NYC, 1980-present

• The Pre-Gay Era, USA: 1950-1969

• Queer Youth: On Campus, in the Media, 1947-2007

• Out and Elected in the USA: 1974-2004

• Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin: 1607-1776

• Lesbians in the Twentieth Century: 1900-1999

Help OutHistory Make History

Here's how to participate in this website in development on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and, yes, heterosexual history.

Explore Content To date, OutHistory has 2,488 articles. Users can "Search" keywords, search by month, day, and year, by century or decade, or by time era, or view featured Exhibits, survey Contents, or browse a Random Page. Provide Content As an experiment in history by the people, all logged on users with data, documents, citations, or skills to share can create entries, or edit, add to, and improve any entry except those with a named creator, or those closed to protect their content. Practice editing in the Sandbox. For how to create entries, volunteer data, documents, citations, and edits, and to help with research, fact-checking, copyediting, administration, technical matters, graphic design, fundraising, publicity, and any other aspect of the site see Participate.

Discuss Content All users can comment on the site via the Discuss option on the Main Page top bar. All users can comment on a particular entry via the "Discuss” section of that entry. Fill in Stubs and Research Requests All users can search: Stub Categories (a list of all categories for which there is no or little content) and Stub Articles, and begin to fill in the data and citations. All users can also view the category Research Requests to fill in missing information. All users can also create new stub entries for topics they would like to see filled in. Donate To help fund the development and continued life of this site see Donate.

Two Sources of Content

OutHistory has two souces of content:

(1) entries provided by named creators which can only be edited by those creators and site administrators, marked by a gray box and "Protected Entry" text. Here is an example:

PROTECTED ENTRY: This entry by a named creator or site administrator can be changed only by that creator and site administrators, so they are responsible for its accuracy, coverage, evidence, and clarity. Please do use this entry's Comment section at the bottom of the page to suggest improvements. Thanks.

(2) Content provided by any signed on user and open to public collaboration, marked by a yellow box and "Open Entry" text. Here is and example:

OPEN ENTRY: This entry is open to collaborative creation by anyone with evidence, citations, and analysis to share, so no particular, named creator is responsible for the accuracy and cogency of its content. Please use this entry's Comment section at the bottom of the page to suggest improvements about which you are unsure. Thanks.

OutHistory in Brief

OutHistory.org is directed by Jonathan Ned Katz and produced by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), located at the City University of New York Graduate Center. The CLAGS OutHistory Project Director is Lauren Gutterman. The site's coordination, design, and maintenance are funded in 2007-2008 by a grant from the Arcus Foundation, and its content is provided by volunteers. For more about OutHistory.org, see About.