History on Tap: PRIDE

In celebration of Pride Month, the Cleveland History Center is shining the spotlight on Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ history with History on Tap: PRIDE. Join us at the Cleveland History Center on June 24 for a historic happy hour celebrating Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ community, from its origins to the modern day.

The event will open with a brief presentation from our Cleveland history experts, followed by a networking opportunity designed to connect participants with the LGBTQ+ organizations within the community. Then, join us in the garden of our Bingham-Hanna Mansion to enjoy live music by the Dane Vannatter Trio, and explore our museum galleries, including our newest exhibit, Women & Politics, to learn about the LGBTQ+ trailblazers represented in the WRHS collection. A cash bar will be available (beer and wine only), and light refreshments will be offered for purchase.

Schedule of Events

5:30-5:45pm | PRESENTATION: Lucius and Chuck – Visible “Partners”?

Presenter: Dr. John Grabowski, Krieger Mueller Chief Historian

From the 1930s to the 1960s, Lucius Morris Beebe was an American celebrity. Born into wealth, he became a syndicated columnist, author, gourmet, and ostentatious boulevardier who chronicled Café Society, the American West, and, most famously, railroads. But Beebe was also a member of America’s rather open wealthy gay society. He and his partner, Charles Clegg, lived, loved, and worked together for twenty-six years. Their relationship ended only with Beebe’s death.

This presentation focuses on the story of “Luke” and “Chuck” but also explores the wider upper class gay society in which they lived – an interconnected community that included Cole Porter, Monty Wooley, and, importantly, several Clevelanders, including Jerome Zerbe, Leonard Hanna, Jr., and Winsor French.

5:45-6:00pm | PRESENTATION: Cleveland is So Gay!

Presenter: Ken Schneck, author of LGBTQ Cleveland and editor of The Buckeye Flame

Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ history exhibits the classic components of a Hollywood blockbuster: heroes, villains, epic crowd scenes, meet-cutes, and a soundtrack to end all soundtracks. We’ll take a quick tour through some images ranging from inspiring 19-year-olds to nefarious state senators to how a blade of grass almost caused the arrest of a cadre of protestors. And we’ll learn a heck of a lot about our LGBTQ+ Pride in the process!

6:00-6:30pm | Networking

Organizations Present: Plexus LGBT & Allied Chamber of Commerce; West 117 Foundation; The Buckeye Flame; PFLAG Cleveland; Western Reserve Historical Society LGBT Archives

6:30-8:00pm | Entertainment

Live music from the Dane Vannatter Trio

Cash bar

Museum galleries open

Pop-up exhibits

Admission

Event Admission: $25

WRHS Member Admission: $20

Includes admission to the Cleveland History Center as well as event admission.

To purchase your tickets, please click here.

Special Thanks to Our Partners

Virtual History on Tap: PRIDE

This month, we are shining the spotlight on Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ history with Virtual History on Tap: PRIDE. Grab a cocktail and join us for this online happy hour as we discuss the rich history of Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ community, including local activism, the birth of the LGBT Community Center, the 2014 Gay Games, and Pride celebrations of years past. Presented in partnership with the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, this event will feature presentations from our Cleveland history experts, interviews with special guests, and live Q&A.

Presentations include…

History of the LGBT Center | Presented by the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, this presentation will illustrate the Center’s 45-year history and discuss some of the key programs and services that they offer to the community today.

Gay Life in the 1970s | In a wide-ranging informal conversation, John Grabowski will be speaking with John Nosek and Leon Stevens about gay life in Cleveland during the 1970s: the post-Stonewall period that saw the the beginning of the GEAR (Gay Education Awareness and Resources Foundation, the progenitor of today’s LGBTQ Center), its first newspaper, High Gear, and the city’s first Gay Pride marches.

Victory of Self | Filmed for our 2014 exhibit, The Victory of Self: The LGBT Community in Northeast Ohio, this video has never before been shared outside the walls of WRHS.

And more!

How to Register

Registration: $5

WRHS Member Registration: FREE

Note: To purchase tickets, click below. This event will be held through the Zoom platform. When you register, we will email you a link that will allow you to join, as well as all necessary login information and instructions.

Ticket sales will close at 3:00pm on Friday, June 26.