As in all cities, Portland's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning roots go back...waaaay back.
The LGBTQ community has had a presence in Portland since far before the start of the gay rights movement. In fact, Howard Solomon, former University of Southern Maine Adjunct Professor of History and Scholar-in-Residence for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Collection, says a number of notable artists and writers were drawn to Portland in its early days. Solomon writes in a chapter from Creating Portland: History and Place in Northern New England that "Bohemians and artists discovered Maine between the turn of the century and World War I … the allure was Maine's beauty and solitude, the fact that it was not urbanized...” He goes on to chronicle the evolution of Portland from a place where LGBTQ people lived largely invisibly, into a community of effective political activists and the most openly gay city in the state.
Key Moments in Portland's Recent LGBT History
1974 - Maine Gay Task Force forms, led by Portland activists
1979 - Author John Preston moves to Portland
1983 - Audacity Theater produces "Gay Side Story” and "Queer Wars”
1983 - Our Paper, a gay newsletter, begins publishing
1983 - Gay Health Action Committee begins preparing for AIDS invasion
1984 - LGBTQ community and their allies march through Portland after murder of young gay man in Bangor
1986 - Straight ally Frances W. "Franny” Peabody helps organize the AIDS Project
1987 - Barb Wood is the first openly gay person elected to the Portland City Council
1987 - Celebrants hold the first Portland Gay Pride Parade
1990 - ACT/UP steps up its activities in Portland
1991 - Matlovich Society forms to advocate for gay rights
1992 - Portland enacts Maine's first local human rights ordinance
1995 - Maine Gay Net, an Internet forum, goes online
1998 - Rainbow Business & Professional Association founded
1998 - LGBT archives established at University of Southern Maine
2000 - Census: Portland ranks 3rd in U.S. for lesbian couples, 10th for gay male couples
2001 - Franny Peabody dies at the age of 98
2004 - University of Southern Maine rated one of US's 100 most gay-friendly campuses
2005 - Sexual identity, gender expression added to Maine's human rights act
2005- Portland's first annual Dyke March kicks off at Portland Pride
2009 - Maine governor signs marriage equality bill, first in nation passed by legislature
2009 - LGBTQ community and their allies protest after marriage equality bill repealed by referendum
2010 - EqualityMaine, the LGBTQ community and their allies vow to continue fighting for marriage equality
2012 - Mainers voted and won the ability to allow same-sex marriage to become legalized
Special Thanks to Howard Solomon