As 2021 comes to an end, we’re looking back at our favorite things. Our full list is below, but first, we have to thank you for supporting our work in 2021 - we couldn't have done it without you! To expand our programming, outreach, and collecting in 2022, we need your help. Please click here to make a donation today!

Our 2021 favorites (in no particular order!):

• LGBTQ+ Storytelling | 2021 was a year full of storytelling! We’re so inspired by our storytellers. Go back and listen to Stories of Our Inheritance with the LGBT Elders of Color to learn more about Boston’s Black queer history and When I Knew with SpeakOUT to hear some wacky and heartwarming coming out stories. BONUS: Check out our special interviews with writer and artist CD Collins and legendary drag queen Zola!

• Editing Wikipedia | Together we added 20.8k words, 210 references, and edited 55 articles on Wikipedia during our Trans Awareness Month and Women’s History Month Edit-a-thons. We even published a page about Reverend Magora Kennedy!

• The Queer Histories of Dracula and Witches | During spooky season, we had the pleasure of hosting two historians working on spooky topics: Meaghan Michel on Dracula’s queer roots and Peter Muise on Witches, Sex, and Queer People in Massachusetts. BONUS: Peter’s blog New England Folklore is a treasure trove of spooky, gay, and occassionally spooky and gay posts!

• The Only Wonderful Things | Melissa J. Homestead, author of The Only Wonderful Things, a new book about the creative partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis, spoke with us last April. We’re excited to read Homestead’s take on lesbian life in the early 20th century. 

• CURED | This documentary premiered on PBS in October, but we got a sneak peek last Spring along with a special Q&A with co-directors Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon, and film interviewee, Dr. Richard Pillard. CURED tells the story of the activists who fought to remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental illnesses in 1973. 

• The Hanky Code | What’s your color? We flagged with the Mass Bears and Cubs back in July and our copy of the Boston Eagle Hanky Code is now on display at the Addison Gallery in their show Language, Sequence, Structure: Photographic Works by Lew Thomas, Donna-Lee Phillips, and Hal Fischer. BONUS: Want to learn more? Check out our Out of the Archives with Hanky Code historian Raul Cornier.

• Legendary Children | Do you know your drag herstory? Check out our conversation with authors Tom & Lorenzo and pick up your copy of their drag history Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life.

• HistoryMaker Awards | Our 12th HistoryMaker Awards event, celebrating 2021 HistoryMaker John Ward, and 2021 Lavender Rhino honoree Tre’Andre Valentine, was notable for many reasons; John Ward’s emotional speech touched on the need to come out over and over again in the 1970s, in both his personal and professional lives; and the Awards marked our first return to an in-person event (well, a hybrid event) since the beginning of 2020. 

• LGBTQ+ Immigration and Migration | This panel discussion, which looked at the long history of LGBTQ migration, immigration, and asylum from academic, legal, and community standpoints (with a focus on Massachusetts), was by turns enlightening, infuriating, and inspiring. 

• What’s Old is New Again | Have you heard that Manray is making a comeback in Central Square? Or that The Boston Phoenix has risen again on the Internet Archive? We’re excited to see both again!

With our deepest thanks to our partners, collaborators, and community who came together to share our LGBTQ+ past. See you in 2022! Happy New Year!

Click here to make a donation to make LGBTQ+ history in 2022!

Banner image of 2021 HistoryMaker Honoree John Ward (second from left) with Jeanne Bisson, Lisa Bisson, Ken Brooks, and Jim Ellis.