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                  <text>The year 1961 saw the creation of two of Washington's first organized LGBT groups, the Mattachine Society of Washington and the Oscars.  The Academy Awards of Washington, an amalgam of Oscars members and Awards Club (1965) members, incorporated in 1973 in Washington, DC, provides secure venues, mentoring, and a structure for female impersonators in the area.  It is one of the oldest and most enduring organizations in the nation to provide support for female impersonators.&#13;
&#13;
The Climate for Drag in the Sixties&#13;
 &#13;
Until 'Liz Taylor' created the Oscars in the autumn of 1961, drag performers and those aspiring to 'do drag' had no organized structure, no venues, and very little safety.  In the repressive atmosphere of the 1950s and 1960s, wearing drag was an invitation to scorn and physical danger.  Wearing drag was illegal in most southern states, and Washington DC was indeed southern in those days, though drag was never illegal in the district.  Still it invited arrest and persecution.  Public social spaces didn't allow drag (an ostracism that existed until well into the 1970s). Those who wanted to wear drag did it in the privacy of their homes or at private after hour parties.  Indeed, Liz Taylor's house parties at her Hollywood House on Monroe St. NW were legendary in their time. &#13;
Many clubs would not allow patrons in drag to enter, and few hosted drag shows.  The single exception was the Golden Key Club in North Beach, MD.  For other clubs, drag and drag shows were an option only during Halloween Week, which Mame Dennis calls "the high holy days of drag".  At Halloween, the Brown Derby, the Chicken Hut, Hide-a-way, Georgetown Grill, Johnnie's, and the Rendezvous organized drag contests.&#13;
&#13;
Creating a Safe Haven for Female Impersonators&#13;
 &#13;
Along with the Mattachine Society of Washington, the Oscars and the Awards Club were the very first organized groups for gays in the Washington area.  Recalling her vision for the Academies, Liz Taylor said "... I strived to mold an elite group of people whose social life would center around drag.  By creating parties and activities I knew that I would always be surrounded by people wanting to attend them... I knew that some form of drag group was necessary.  I had thought about it for a long time -- and suddenly I found the answer one evening on television -- the first time I saw an Awards show called the Oscars."  The first parties were held in various homes in Washington DC, which took on special names such as Blair House, Butterfield 8, Camelot, Hollywood House, Mintwood Place, Port Valada, Sand Piper, Taylor Lounge, and others.  In time, these house names became the names of 'drag houses', associations of female impersonators who participated in the social activities of the Academy Awards.  The first board members of the Academy were Lix Taylor (President), Bob Clauze, Prince Karl, Frankie, and 'Lena Horne'.&#13;
&#13;
Organization of the Academy&#13;
&#13;
The Academy's Houses in 1976&#13;
&#13;
The houses of the Academy over 30 years have included Beekman Place (led by 'Mame Dennis'), Butterfield 8 ('Liz Taylor's house), Maryland House (led by 'Patty Duke'), Henry Street (led by 'Fanny Brice'), Liberty House, Dragonwyck, Phoenix House (led by 'Jean Nate'), and Twelve Oaks (led by 'Mae Bush').&#13;
&#13;
In 1965, Jerry Buskirk and 'Vivien Leigh' led the formation of a second group, the Awards Club of Washington.  The Awards Club organized the International  Emmy Awards.  By 1968, many members of the first Academy were also members of the Awards Club.&#13;
&#13;
Bill Oates Jr. &amp;amp; Mame Dennis In May 1973 Bill Oates Jr. ("the Godfather") brokered an agreement creating the Academy Awards of Washington, led by 'Elizabeth Taylor', 'Mame Dennis', 'Patti Duke' and 'Fanny Brice'.  Beekman Place and Henry Street Houses rejoined the Academy at this time.  'Mame Dennis' (of Beekman Place), chosen as president in 1973, continues to lead the group.  Bill Oates, who became known as "The Godfather", helped put together the structure of the new group.   The original houses of the Academy Awards of Washington were Beekman Place, Butterfield 8, Henry Street, and Maryland House.  Liberty House (led by 'Edie Gorme') was added in 1974.&#13;
&#13;
In 1975, the Academy re-organized following a period of internal dispute.  The new organization included the houses of Beekman Place, Dragonwyck (of Hagerstown, MD), Henry Street, Maryland House, Phoenix House, and Twelve Oaks (of Norfolk and Richmond).&#13;
&#13;
In the 1960s, most hotels and clubs would not host drag events.  In its first years, the Academy held monthly contests at the short-lived Uptown Lounge in Cleveland Park.  It was at the Uptown that 'Liz Taylor' first did her long remembered rendition of "Letter to Daddy".&#13;
&#13;
'Fanny Brice's house, Henry Street, formed a drag performance show, Showstoppers, in 1971, which premiered at Georgetown's Trinity Theatre in September 1971.  In May 1972, the Showstoppers group participated in DC's first Gay Pride celebration with a show at George Washington University's Marvin Center. Showstoppers appeared at the Marvin Center from 1973 to 1981. Showstoppers endured for many years as a very popular annual production in Washington DC's GLBT community.&#13;
&#13;
Until 1968 when the Washington Hilton hosted the Black Pearl Awards, most events were held at the Cairo Hotel, Casino Royale, Dodge House, and the Palm Ballroom.  One of the first venues used by the Academy Awards after 1973 was the third floor area above the Hideaway and Louie's clubs at 9th and Pennsylvania NW. This third floor space became the Oscar's Eye Theatre and was used for most of the Academy and house functions.  In the 1970s, Academy members became involved in the Waaay Off Broadway theatre at 55 L St. SE.  Beekman place opened the theatre with its production of Cabaret.  The Academy held events at the Rogue, after the latter's move to 5th and K Streets NW.  In 1992, the former Waaay Off Broadway theatre became Club 55, and Academy events were invited to move there.  It is still the home of many Academy functions.  The Academy Awards holds events every Sunday from September through May at the Club 55,  55 L Street SE (formerly the location of the Waaay Off Broadway theatre).&#13;
&#13;
Protocols and Events&#13;
&#13;
From the beginning in 1961, the Academy has sponsored Oscars for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Drag in a Series, President and First Lady, Mr and Miss Academy, Mr and Miss Showbusiness, Vice President and Vice Lady, New York Drama Critics Best Actor and Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and Mr and Miss Oscar.  In addition to regularly scheduled drag balls, the Academy's top annual pageants are those for Miss Gaye Universe-DC and Miss Gaye America-DC.  Monthly contests at Club 55 present Zodiac awards.  Annual special awards, such as the 'Lanie Kazan', recognize outstanding contributions to the community.&#13;
&#13;
At pageants, the order of appearance of award winners is strictly controlled by the Protocol. For some titles, the winners make make an entrance on stage.  Top awards, such as Miss Gaye America and Miss Gay Universe, are 'walking' awards entitling the winner to take a formal presentation walk on stage before the audience.&#13;
&#13;
'Fanny Brice', speaking to Bruce Pennington in a 1975 interview for Friends Radio talks about her first drag experience.  Brice was 'mother' of the Henry Street drag house and founder of the popular Showstoppers revue of the 1970s.</text>
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                  <text>The year 1961 saw the creation of two of Washington's first organized LGBT groups, the Mattachine Society of Washington and the Oscars.  The Academy Awards of Washington, an amalgam of Oscars members and Awards Club (1965) members, incorporated in 1973 in Washington, DC, provides secure venues, mentoring, and a structure for female impersonators in the area.  It is one of the oldest and most enduring organizations in the nation to provide support for female impersonators.&#13;
&#13;
The Climate for Drag in the Sixties&#13;
 &#13;
Until 'Liz Taylor' created the Oscars in the autumn of 1961, drag performers and those aspiring to 'do drag' had no organized structure, no venues, and very little safety.  In the repressive atmosphere of the 1950s and 1960s, wearing drag was an invitation to scorn and physical danger.  Wearing drag was illegal in most southern states, and Washington DC was indeed southern in those days, though drag was never illegal in the district.  Still it invited arrest and persecution.  Public social spaces didn't allow drag (an ostracism that existed until well into the 1970s). Those who wanted to wear drag did it in the privacy of their homes or at private after hour parties.  Indeed, Liz Taylor's house parties at her Hollywood House on Monroe St. NW were legendary in their time. &#13;
Many clubs would not allow patrons in drag to enter, and few hosted drag shows.  The single exception was the Golden Key Club in North Beach, MD.  For other clubs, drag and drag shows were an option only during Halloween Week, which Mame Dennis calls "the high holy days of drag".  At Halloween, the Brown Derby, the Chicken Hut, Hide-a-way, Georgetown Grill, Johnnie's, and the Rendezvous organized drag contests.&#13;
&#13;
Creating a Safe Haven for Female Impersonators&#13;
 &#13;
Along with the Mattachine Society of Washington, the Oscars and the Awards Club were the very first organized groups for gays in the Washington area.  Recalling her vision for the Academies, Liz Taylor said "... I strived to mold an elite group of people whose social life would center around drag.  By creating parties and activities I knew that I would always be surrounded by people wanting to attend them... I knew that some form of drag group was necessary.  I had thought about it for a long time -- and suddenly I found the answer one evening on television -- the first time I saw an Awards show called the Oscars."  The first parties were held in various homes in Washington DC, which took on special names such as Blair House, Butterfield 8, Camelot, Hollywood House, Mintwood Place, Port Valada, Sand Piper, Taylor Lounge, and others.  In time, these house names became the names of 'drag houses', associations of female impersonators who participated in the social activities of the Academy Awards.  The first board members of the Academy were Lix Taylor (President), Bob Clauze, Prince Karl, Frankie, and 'Lena Horne'.&#13;
&#13;
Organization of the Academy&#13;
&#13;
The Academy's Houses in 1976&#13;
&#13;
The houses of the Academy over 30 years have included Beekman Place (led by 'Mame Dennis'), Butterfield 8 ('Liz Taylor's house), Maryland House (led by 'Patty Duke'), Henry Street (led by 'Fanny Brice'), Liberty House, Dragonwyck, Phoenix House (led by 'Jean Nate'), and Twelve Oaks (led by 'Mae Bush').&#13;
&#13;
In 1965, Jerry Buskirk and 'Vivien Leigh' led the formation of a second group, the Awards Club of Washington.  The Awards Club organized the International  Emmy Awards.  By 1968, many members of the first Academy were also members of the Awards Club.&#13;
&#13;
Bill Oates Jr. &amp;amp; Mame Dennis In May 1973 Bill Oates Jr. ("the Godfather") brokered an agreement creating the Academy Awards of Washington, led by 'Elizabeth Taylor', 'Mame Dennis', 'Patti Duke' and 'Fanny Brice'.  Beekman Place and Henry Street Houses rejoined the Academy at this time.  'Mame Dennis' (of Beekman Place), chosen as president in 1973, continues to lead the group.  Bill Oates, who became known as "The Godfather", helped put together the structure of the new group.   The original houses of the Academy Awards of Washington were Beekman Place, Butterfield 8, Henry Street, and Maryland House.  Liberty House (led by 'Edie Gorme') was added in 1974.&#13;
&#13;
In 1975, the Academy re-organized following a period of internal dispute.  The new organization included the houses of Beekman Place, Dragonwyck (of Hagerstown, MD), Henry Street, Maryland House, Phoenix House, and Twelve Oaks (of Norfolk and Richmond).&#13;
&#13;
In the 1960s, most hotels and clubs would not host drag events.  In its first years, the Academy held monthly contests at the short-lived Uptown Lounge in Cleveland Park.  It was at the Uptown that 'Liz Taylor' first did her long remembered rendition of "Letter to Daddy".&#13;
&#13;
'Fanny Brice's house, Henry Street, formed a drag performance show, Showstoppers, in 1971, which premiered at Georgetown's Trinity Theatre in September 1971.  In May 1972, the Showstoppers group participated in DC's first Gay Pride celebration with a show at George Washington University's Marvin Center. Showstoppers appeared at the Marvin Center from 1973 to 1981. Showstoppers endured for many years as a very popular annual production in Washington DC's GLBT community.&#13;
&#13;
Until 1968 when the Washington Hilton hosted the Black Pearl Awards, most events were held at the Cairo Hotel, Casino Royale, Dodge House, and the Palm Ballroom.  One of the first venues used by the Academy Awards after 1973 was the third floor area above the Hideaway and Louie's clubs at 9th and Pennsylvania NW. This third floor space became the Oscar's Eye Theatre and was used for most of the Academy and house functions.  In the 1970s, Academy members became involved in the Waaay Off Broadway theatre at 55 L St. SE.  Beekman place opened the theatre with its production of Cabaret.  The Academy held events at the Rogue, after the latter's move to 5th and K Streets NW.  In 1992, the former Waaay Off Broadway theatre became Club 55, and Academy events were invited to move there.  It is still the home of many Academy functions.  The Academy Awards holds events every Sunday from September through May at the Club 55,  55 L Street SE (formerly the location of the Waaay Off Broadway theatre).&#13;
&#13;
Protocols and Events&#13;
&#13;
From the beginning in 1961, the Academy has sponsored Oscars for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Drag in a Series, President and First Lady, Mr and Miss Academy, Mr and Miss Showbusiness, Vice President and Vice Lady, New York Drama Critics Best Actor and Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and Mr and Miss Oscar.  In addition to regularly scheduled drag balls, the Academy's top annual pageants are those for Miss Gaye Universe-DC and Miss Gaye America-DC.  Monthly contests at Club 55 present Zodiac awards.  Annual special awards, such as the 'Lanie Kazan', recognize outstanding contributions to the community.&#13;
&#13;
At pageants, the order of appearance of award winners is strictly controlled by the Protocol. For some titles, the winners make make an entrance on stage.  Top awards, such as Miss Gaye America and Miss Gay Universe, are 'walking' awards entitling the winner to take a formal presentation walk on stage before the audience.&#13;
&#13;
'Fanny Brice', speaking to Bruce Pennington in a 1975 interview for Friends Radio talks about her first drag experience.  Brice was 'mother' of the Henry Street drag house and founder of the popular Showstoppers revue of the 1970s.</text>
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                <text>Washington (D.C.)</text>
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                  <text>Barbara Gittings Papers on the Mattachine Society and Other Homophile Organizations, 1962-2001 (Series VI)</text>
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                  <text>Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Papers: Digital Collection, 1962-1972</text>
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                  <text>Includes copies of outgoing correspondence, news clippings, legal proceedings, ephemeral publications, flyers, press releases, and other documents generated by the activities of various homophile organizations, many of which Gittings was a member. A significant number of the items in this collection document the joint activities of Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny in their efforts to secure basic civil liberties for lesbians and gay men. The largest gathering of materials relate to the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. and the various homophile organization confederations of which it was a constituent member, such as East Coast Homophile Organization (ECHO), Eastern Regional Homophile Conference (ERCH), Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO), and North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTRDWwOCsnQ_1qBGlPn98_5-eF2NpGjraPqCt8Fsb6O6pipwI2vGxLoGQMFDjtPWjOBPlwzNQS3Cnzu/pub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VIEW ONLINE FINDING AID&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</text>
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                  <text>Gittings, Barbara, 1932-2007</text>
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                  <text>Tobin Lahusen, Katherine "Kay," 1930-2021</text>
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                  <text>&lt;span&gt;Some items available online. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;All other items open &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;to all &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.dchistory.org/research/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;people at the DC History Center&lt;/a&gt;, MS 0764, Series VI.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;Collection is available for “fair use.” Material may be protected by copyright.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTRDWwOCsnQ_1qBGlPn98_5-eF2NpGjraPqCt8Fsb6O6pipwI2vGxLoGQMFDjtPWjOBPlwzNQS3Cnzu/pub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VIEW ONLINE FINDING AID&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</text>
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                  <text>Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was a prominent American activist for gay equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine The Ladder from 1963 to 1965, and worked closely with Frank Kameny in the 1960s on the first picket lines that brought attention to the ban on employment of gay people by the largest employer in the US at that time: the United States government. &#13;
&#13;
Gittings challenged the Daughters of Bilitis' conservative leadership by publishing an article by Kameny that urged readers to "move away from the comfortingly detached respectability of research into the often less pleasant rough-and-tumble of political and social activism." In response to her publishing this article, the Daughters of Bilitis leadership removed her as editor of The Ladder in 1965.&#13;
&#13;
Her early experiences with trying to learn more about lesbianism fueled her lifetime work with libraries. In the 1970s, Gittings was most involved in the American Library Association, forming the first gay caucus in a professional organization, in order to promote positive literature about homosexuality in libraries. She was a part of the movement to get the American Psychiatric Association to drop homosexuality as a mental illness in 1972. Her self-described life mission was to tear away the "shroud of invisibility" related to homosexuality that associated it with crime and mental illness. She was awarded a lifetime membership in the American Library Association, and the ALA named an annual award for the best gay or lesbian novel the The Barbara Gittings Award. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) also named an activist award for her. </text>
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                  <text>At the first GLBT ALMS (Archive, Library, Museum, Special Collection) conference in May 2006 at the University of Minnesota, she mesmerized the audience with her plenary speech. I remember speaking with other conferees who had never heard her before: the commanding tone, the warm smile and stories, and the eyes that asked "what more are you going to do for our cause?". They were agog.&#13;
&#13;
There are fewer and fewer living witnesses to the bad old days of federally enforced 'closetting' and socially mandated hatred, fewer and fewer of those distinctive personalities that gave up so much to make it a better place for those of us who followed. With Barbara's passing, we have lost all that and therole as moral compass that she still played. A presence is gone and we are the poorer for its departure.&#13;
&#13;
Jack Nichols, writing in 1997, about Barbara's selection as co-grand marshall of New York City's Pride Parade called her "the Grand Mother of Lesbian and Gay Liberation". Not the 'Grandmother' but the "Grand Mother'. Ms Gittings also had an uncompromising element of earth mother in her motherliness. She was forthright, out, and outspoken, organized, hardworking and a strategist.&#13;
&#13;
Nichols also paid tribute to the inseparability of the "Barbara-and-Kay" team of Barbara and her life partner Kay Tobin Lahusen. For those who have met the 'team', it is a life partnership the like of which we all would love to have in our lives. Lahusen is the documentarian on the team, whose photo collection is now one of the treasures of the LGBTQ community.&#13;
&#13;
In Washington, DC Barbara Gittings found a partner in activism, Dr. Franklin E. Kameny, whose uncompromising and innovative gay civil rights activism found an echo in Gittings. They met in 1963. Active since 1958 (at the age of 26) in gay civil rights, with an already established role in the Daughters of Bilitis (she organized a NY chapter in 1958), she embraced the then radical idea of gay picketing, joining the Mattachine Society of Washington (MSW) in picketing the White House and other federal sites in Washington. She recalled in The Gay Crusaders (1972) that Kameny "was the first gay person I met who took firm, uncompromising positions about homosexuality and homosexuals' right to be considered fully on a par with heterosexuals.... Frank really raised my consciousness on this matter! Also thanks partly to him, I got turned on to gay civil rights issues." On July 4, 1965, she and Kameny brought gay picketing to Philadelphia's Independence Hall, three months after MSW began picketing.&#13;
&#13;
Gittings and Lahusen became active not only in the Daughters of Bilitis (where they met) and with Washington's Mattachine, but in the effort to organize regional homophile groups, beginning with the East Coast Homophile Organization and moving on to the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations, and the nation conference, NACHO. At the Daughters of Bilitis, Gittings became editor of The Ladder, bringing the lesbian periodical into a bolder role, adding the subtitle "A Lesbian Review" in 1964 and adding cover photos of women in 1964.&#13;
&#13;
Gittings and Kameny worked together for nearly a decade to overturn the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder. In May 1971, they were seated at the front of the hall at the APA's Washington, DC convention when gay activists took over the proceedings and Kameny seized the microphone. The following year Gittings and Kameny staffed a booth on homosexuality at the next APA convention in Dallas, TX. Gittings and Kameny were both honored in October 2006 with the first Fyrer Award from the APA for their leadership in the relation between psychiatry and homosexuality.&#13;
&#13;
In 1966, Gittings gave up editorial control of The Ladder and became involved as a personal counsel working with Kameny, Mattachine and others to counsel those in conflict with the Department of Defense over security clearances and employment issues.&#13;
&#13;
Gittings and Lahusen were active in Dr. Kameny's March 1971 campaign for Congress, travelling down from Philadelphia to help canvas for petition signatures and to leaflet voters. They came down with the busloads of volunteers from Philly and New York and stayed for the strategizing and the parties.&#13;
&#13;
&#13;
In 1972, Gittings, long involved with libraries though not a librarian, joined the American Library Association's Task Force on Gay Liberation, becoming its leader. She has played a major role in ensuring that libraries carry resources that will inform and support gays and lesbians. She never lost sight of the frustration of days in her youth when she combed through libraries and bookstores looking for explanation and validation of her affectional orientation. In 1971 she established a Gay Book Award focusing critical evaluation on fiction and non-fiction books dealing with homosexuality. Librarians recognized her enormous contributions. In 2003, the American Library Association made her an honorary member in recognition of her contributions. The Free Library of Philadelphia had honored her in 2001 with the creation of the Barbara Gittings Gay/Lesbian Collection.</text>
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                  <text>1962-2001 (bulk 1962-1980)</text>
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                <text>National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations agenda items</text>
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