LGBT History

LGBT History with a focus on Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Herstory!

gender

Trans Activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Lived a Long, Beautiful Life

One of our most influential and remarkable trans queer elders — Miss Major Griffin-Gracy — has died at the age…

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Oct 14, 2025

comedy

Roundtable: The Lesbian Toaster

Everyone on staff tells me WITHOUT LOOKING where they think the lesbian toaster thing came from.

Erin —

Jun 22, 2017

lgbt history

Lesbian Bar Names of the Past, Ranked

RIP sweet girls.

Erin —

Jun 15, 2017

lgbt history

You Should Go: Brush Up Your ’90s Activist History with Lesbians to Watch Out For

The history and art exhibit opens tonight and runs through June 30 at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. Zines! Avengers! Arrests! Street resistance! And a grassroots organizing panel!

Carrie —

Jun 2, 2017

lgbt history

Queer Folklore: Athena and Hestia Bring the Asexuality to Olympus

The Ancient Greek pantheon, though upsettingly low on the lady loving women considering the rampant male bisexuality going on, does has a surprising wealth of asexual and aromantic goddesses.

Siobhan —

May 30, 2017

lgbt history

10 Very Gay Excerpts from Vita and Virginia’s Love Letters

The lives (and affair) of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West is coming to the big screen this year. Here are some of the gayest things they wrote to one another.

Alice Lesperance —

May 24, 2017

lgbt history

Let’s Talk About Dionysus, Genderqueer God of Partying and Pride

If you want a god of sex, wine and smashing the gender binary into little tiny pieces you might want to try Dionysus.

Siobhan —

May 16, 2017

lgbt history

12 Lesbian Resorts You Could Visit This Summer If You Have A Time Machine

Hot women-only hotels, resorts and cabins to check out in Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon, Palm Springs, Delaware, Key West and Montana — just be sure to check in before…

Riese —

May 16, 2017

lgbt history

Artemis Is the Queer Girl Goddess BFF of Your Dreams

The mythology has her securing a promise of perpetual “virginity” from her father and immediately skipping off into the mountain forests with a group of like-minded nymphs. Together she and…

Siobhan —

May 2, 2017

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24 Very Gay Excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt’s Love Letters with Lorena Hickok

"Most clearly I remember your eyes with a kind of teasing smile in them, and the feeling of that soft spot just northeast of the corner of your mouth against my lips."

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

24 Very Gay Excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt’s Love Letters with Lorena Hickok

lgbt history

How Magazines Served As Sites of Trans Community-Making 50 Years Ago

These magazines provided critical representation for trans and gender expansive individuals across the United States who saw themselves represented in their pages.

Emma Cieslik —

Aug 8, 2025

78 Years Of Lesbian Magazines Keeping Our Queer Legacy Alive

The desire to connect with other people like us has been the driving force of queer media since the first lesbian print magazine ever launched in 1947. Here are just…

Riese —

Aug 4, 2025

Rosie O’Donnell In Blazers, 1992 – 1999

In this much-anticipated follow-up to “12 Monumental Moments In Lesbian Blazer-Wearing History” we are narrowing our focus onto one key subject in 90s blazer history: Rosie O’Donnell.

Riese —

Jul 14, 2025

The Hidden History of Lesbian Phone Lines

London Friend’s Lesbian Line, which opened in 1989 and closed in 1999, was one of many gay and lesbian phone lines across the UK.

Lauren Herold —

May 1, 2025

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About Autostraddle

LGBT History

gender

Trans Activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Lived a Long, Beautiful Life

Roundtable: The Lesbian Toaster

Lesbian Bar Names of the Past, Ranked

You Should Go: Brush Up Your ’90s Activist History with Lesbians to Watch Out For

Queer Folklore: Athena and Hestia Bring the Asexuality to Olympus

10 Very Gay Excerpts from Vita and Virginia’s Love Letters

Let’s Talk About Dionysus, Genderqueer God of Partying and Pride

12 Lesbian Resorts You Could Visit This Summer If You Have A Time Machine

Artemis Is the Queer Girl Goddess BFF of Your Dreams

Featured Archive

24 Very Gay Excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt’s Love Letters with Lorena Hickok

How Magazines Served As Sites of Trans Community-Making 50 Years Ago

78 Years Of Lesbian Magazines Keeping Our Queer Legacy Alive

Rosie O’Donnell In Blazers, 1992 – 1999

The Hidden History of Lesbian Phone Lines

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LGBT History

gender

Trans Activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Lived a Long, Beautiful Life

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Featured Archive

24 Very Gay Excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt’s Love Letters with Lorena Hickok

How Magazines Served As Sites of Trans Community-Making 50 Years Ago

78 Years Of Lesbian Magazines Keeping Our Queer Legacy Alive

Rosie O’Donnell In Blazers, 1992 – 1999

The Hidden History of Lesbian Phone Lines

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