Athens is well-known as one of the few safe havens in Ohio for the queer community. Maybe it wasn’t always that way, but the city has sure made an effort to move forward into alliance and protection for our marginalized neighbors for decades. And on the other side of the same coin, the LGBTQIA+ community has made their mark here, becoming an integral piece of our puzzle, or more like ingredient in our melting pot.
Athens has often progressed ahead of the national acceptance curve since the early ‘70s, with great credit due to the queer community members and allies that struggled for decades to gain the rights and privileges they already should have had.
1970s-1980s
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance was founded in 1972 as a social organization for the queer community and people exploring their sexuality. Students at United Campus Ministries encouraged their closeted reverend to come out and be a visible role model. GALA (now Open Doors) and UCM have remained a social center and advocacy group since.
The first workshop on counseling LGB people was held at the university in 1979, and in 1980, sexual orientation was added to the non-discrimination policy. Just a few years later in 1984, to protest for the addition of those same protections in the Athens’ city policies, an OU professor and GALA advisor was arrested for refusing to leave Graduate Bar (now Jackie O’s). He and his friends had been asked to leave because they were dancing with other queer people.
The good news is, shortly after, that bar became O’Hooley’s, which hosted an ‘80s dance night that was a big spot for the queer community for a long time. And today it’s Jackie O’s, which is just all around one of the chillest and most welcoming spaces in town. And the same year as that stand-in, in 1984, Equitas Health was founded, which is a medical center specifically dedicated to caring for the LGBTQ community.
1990s-2000s
Meanwhile on Court Street, the location that is currently Stephen’s became a haven with early LGB dances, basement dance parties and a Gay Awareness Week. Just down the block, Casa Nueva became the host of monthly Open Doors Dance Parties in 1990, which lasted until 2014. They’ve recently been reinstated, now called Casa Dance Nights.
In 2000, OU hosted the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Made of 45000+ 3x6ft panels representing 45000 people who had died during the AIDS crisis, the quilt has been a national symbol since 1987 for the NAMES project. NAMES is an organization meant to raise awareness about HIV, advocate for the queer community’s disproportionate suffering from the virus, and to offer education to the public on prevention as well as the systemic and social contexts of the AIDS crisis.
2010s-Present
In 2011, the university established its first GNH (Gender Neutral Housing) at Smith House. A voluntary venture, GNH allows any residential students to live here with roommates anywhere on the gender and sexual orientation spectrum. Shortly after, in 2013, OU students got trans-related healthcare services added to the student healthcare plan.
And did you know that Galbreath Chapel isn’t a Christian space at all? It welcomes people of all faiths, has no identifying religious symbolism inside, and has been the location of Coming Out worship services, Trans Day of Remembrance vigils and other receptions.
Back on Union St, Athens Uncorked became one of the first LGBTQ-owned businesses in town, and from its inception until it was sold in 2020, you could not find a more lively and queer-centric space. It was the first official location of Athens Pride, hosted countless drag shows, as well as regular events like “Homo Happy Hour” and “Cheers n’ Queers”.
In August of 2017, Athens, Ohio officially banned the barbaric practice of conversion therapy on minors. In October 2017, the Southeast Ohio History Center down on State St hosted one of the first LGBTQ+ History Month exhibitions complete with a History Happy Hour to celebrate the exhibit. And shortly after, Arts West established an afterschool arts program targeted to queer kids.
Since 2022, Donkey Coffee has hosted an art show for LGBTQ History Month, and when the political climate began to spiral in the late 20-teens, many other uptown Athens businesses began to visibly display their support for the queer community. You’ll find any and all flavors of Pride Flags at Donkey, Brennan’s, Tony’s, Casa, and even a couple churches around town. From the outside looking in, it seems the town of Athens is striving to become a community of safe space for all individuals, period.
The Current Climate of Queer Athens
We all know we’re facing an age of regression into hatred of people some view as “others”, and unfortunately, its spectre hasn’t skipped over our city. A decidedly unsafe space for the queer community is Artifacts Gallery, a little shop at the intersection of State and Court Streets. The owner has radical beliefs about feminism that directly invalidate and victimize so many on the queer spectrum, especially trans feminine people, and she is not at all quiet about those views in her public actions, choices and words.
There may have been a time when this kind of ignorance was tolerated here, but you’d be hard-pressed to see a local Athenian visit this shop anymore; it now relies on visitors who don’t know the context. Those views are inhumane and antithetical to the oasis of acceptance Athens prides itself on working towards.
Fortunately, this is a lone person on an unhinged campaign, and the majority of our town is supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community, including protecting access to healthcare and fostering presence and participation in public spaces. The Pride Parade, SEORA trivia nights, Eclipse drag shows, the LGBTQIA section for teens at the public library, drag queen story time – we could go on.
And while we’re still dealing with hateful voices here and there, we’re all hoping love can drown out hate and, at least within the bounds of our little university town, everyone can feel safe, accepted and celebrated.For more on LGBTQIA+ history in Ohio, visit the Gay Ohio History Initiative’s website. You can access a treasure trove of queer experience especially on their Oral Histories page, where LGBTQIA+ Ohioans tell their stories.