Common Ground, second location, 1230 Danby Road
After fire destroyed the original location in 1988, the Common Ground bar moved here near Comfort Road. The new location offered dance music, special events, and outdoor summer barbecues. It closed in 2009, and reopened under new management as Oasis. For more history of the Common Ground, visit the stop on this tour that describes its original location on State Street.
Summertime picnics in Upper Buttermilk State Park
Many people fondly remember Upper Buttermilk State Park as the site of regular picnics for LGBTQ community members. Some gay bear groups also held events here. In gay culture, a bear is often a larger, hairy man who projects an image of rugged masculinity.Its location near the relocated Common Ground bar on Comfort Road meant it was close and convenient to hold community barbecues and then later, for those who wanted, head over to the bar. State parks as a locus of important, organized LGBTQ community social interaction and connection are not frequently discussed, yet "queers in state parks" as one local individual put it, are a large part of our history.Please visit the two Common Ground stops on this tour for more information about its history and role in the community
Butterfield Stadium, Commencement Regalia, and Honorary Degree Recipients May 2017/2018, Ithaca College
Ithaca College Commencement is always festive and, well...gay! Many of our LGBTQ and allied graduating seniors sport rainbow honor cords, recognizing their accomplishments, their history and their culture. Our LGBTQ students receiving Masters and Doctoral degrees proudly wear graduation stoles emblazoned with rainbow colors. In 2018, many Ithaca College Board of Trustees members and other members of the platform party donned rainbow stoles to show their support for our LGBTQ students as well. In 2017, President Tom Rochon conferred an honorary degree to Ann Thompson Cook, advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights in religious communities and co–founder of Many Voices: A Black Church Movement for LGBTQ Justice. He also conferred an honorary degree to La June Montgomery Tabron, who serves as the first female and first African–American president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Montgomery Tabron also works to advance racial equality.In 2018, President Shirley M. Collado awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degrees at the ceremony to Mara Keisling, founder and executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, along with educator and civil rights advocate Gloria Hobbs and Daniel Weiss, president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ithaca College Main Flagpole, near E Parking Lot
If you stand next to the Textor Ball and look north toward Cayuga Lake, you’ll see the main campus flag pole. In February 2001, the Pan African flag was raised on this flagpole in observance of Black History Month. Later that spring, the LGBTQ Pride flag was raised here in April. Just a few days later, the Pride flag was stolen. The LGBTQ student organization BiGayla rallied and replaced it. A BiGayla student leader said, "If it keeps coming down, we're going to keep putting it up." Less than a week later, the campus community was enmeshed in discussion about whether the college should use this flagpole to fly any flags other than the US flag, or as the Ithacan put it, "special interest flags."Now look behind and to your right towards Campus Center to the second flagpole. After campus discussions about flying flags other than the American flag on the main campus flagpole, this second flagpole was erected in 2003 to provide the opportunity to fly flags representing communities, interests, and nations other than the US. For 5 consecutive years after this new flagpole was installed, the Pride flag was flown and stolen from this flagpole, too. Each time, a new Pride flag was raised immediately. Alumni donated their flags, and the LGBT Center made sure to have extra flags on hand as replacements. Each year, LGBTQ students organized shifts to keep vigil under the flag, day and night, to deter further theft or vandalism. They brought games, snacks, and sleeping bags to keep warm, and the LGBT Center director visited each night between midnight and 4 am with hot chocolate and to check on everyone. This was an annual tradition for several years during the early 2000s. The Pride Flag still flies every year on this flagpole, and the Transgender Pride flag was hoisted here for the first time in 2017.The Pride Flag is the only flag that has ever been stolen from IC’s flagpoles.
Rod Serling Archives, Ithaca College Library
Screenwriter, television producer and playwright Rod Serling taught at Ithaca College from 1967-1975. Many alumni were influenced by his teaching. The college houses the Rod Serling Archives in the campus library, and displays some of his Emmy awards on the main floor of the Park School of Communications near the Park Auditorium. Serling created the popular television series The Twilight Zone. He hosted the series and wrote many of the scripts. Following his death in 1975, his wife Carol Serling, a member of the College's Board of Trustees, began donating her husband’s work to the College. The Rod Serling Archives at Ithaca College is the largest single collection of his television scripts and screenplays. The collection also includes movie scripts, scripts for stage plays, scripts for unproduced works, 16 mm films of productions, awards, and photos. Much of his work, including The Twilight Zone, focused on issues of civil rights. His work didn't directly center LGBTQ issues. However, common themes included our shared humanity, treating everyone with dignity and respect, and calling out injustice and evil. These themes resonated then and now with LGBTQ people and individuals who are members of marginalized communities.
The Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality, 1972, General Conference for Friends, Ithaca College
One of the first recorded meetings on bisexuality in history took place at a gathering of Quakers (Friends) right here in Ithaca during the summer of 1972. The 1972 General Conference for Friends, held June 24 through July 1, 1972, brought 1400 members and friends of Quakerism to Ithaca College for their annual convention. The week typically includes a wide range of programs, from small workshops to public plenaries, from worship services to large convenings.The conference theme that year was "Where Should Friends Be Pioneering Now?"Robert A. Martin Jr. and several others decided to organize an impromptu workshop on bisexuality at the gathering. They placed an announcement of the time and place in the conference daily bulletin. To their surprise, more than 130 people showed up, so many that they overflowed into several other meeting rooms. The group met for two days and then wrote and adopted a statement by consensus.Their statement became known as The Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality. It is believed to be the first statement made about bisexuality by any United States religious or political group in history. It may have also been the first public declaration of the bisexual movement - of bisexual people organizing themselves - and was named after the city in which it was written and adopted, Ithaca NY. The Statement was later published concurrently in Friends Journal: Quaker Thought and Life Today and in LGBT magazine The Advocate in 1972.Martin had initially used the pseudonym Stephen Donaldson during his early gay rights organizing, and later the pseudonym Donny the Punk when writing extensively about punk rock and various social groups and subcultures. He also founded the first gay student group in the country at Columbia University. The Ithaca statement has a preamble and puts forward four questions:Feeling that the concerns raised should be further explored by our Monthly and Yearly Meetings, this group agreed to present these queries to Friends everywhere:Are Friends open to examining in our Meetings facets of sexuality, including bisexuality, with openness and loving understanding? Are Friends aware that Friends are suffering in our Meetings because they are not exclusively heterosexual? That Friends have felt oppressed and excluded, often without conscious intent; have felt inhibited from speaking Truth as they experience it? That Quaker instituions have threatened their employees with loss of jobs should their orientation become known? Are Friends, with their long tradition of concern for social justice, aware of the massive and inescapable bigorty in this area directed and perpetuated by virtually all United States institutions, to wit: all branches of government; churches; schools; employers; landlords; medicar, bar and other professional associations; insurance companies; news media; and countless others? Are Friends aware of their own tendency to falsely assume that any interest in the same sex necessarily indicates an exclusively homosexual orientation; and to further falsely assume that interest in the opposite sex necesarily indicated an exclusively heterosexual orientation?
HIV/AIDS Memorial Daffodil Gardens, Ithaca College
Each year for more than eight years, IC's Action for AIDS (formerly the IC AIDS Working Group) gathered on campus to plant bulbs to honor the memory of a beloved member of the local community, Cleve Thomas. Thomas was a local HIV/AIDS activist. Through their efforts, more than 10,000 spring-flowering daffodil bulbs now bloom on campus. The annual planting was established in 2001, following Thomas' death. The tradition honors his vision of blooming daffodils as a symbol of hope and renewal. Each spring, these sunny yellow bulbs create a truly spectacular display across campus.These commemorative garden areas can be found massed here and in several main areas on campus, including the right-hand hill of the back entrance as you leave campus; along the bank between the Fitness Center and Hood/Hilliard Halls; and around the pond beside the access road that leads to the Public Safety/General Services and Facilities complex.
Ithaca College Center for LGBT Education, Outreach & Services, established 2001
The LGBTQ history of IC begins long before the campus LGBT Center was created. Records show that there was a gay student group as early as December 1971. The group is described in a September 1972 Ithacan article. The article discusses the IC Gay Liberation Front group and its desire to become an official student organization. Some original IC Gay Liberration Front documents from that period were accidentally re-discovered by an IC staff member in institutional research. They had fallen behind a filing cabinet and were found in 2006. The documents included a typed agenda with meeting minutes written on it, noting that 11 men and 1 woman attended their December 1971 meeting.Eventually, the student group that is now Prism was officially recognized (called Gala at that time, then GAY-la, then BiGayLa). And then, more than 20 years later, an effort began to create the campus LGBT Center.Marty Brownstein, a retired IC professor, commented: "Gay life was pretty vibrant for 25 to 30 years before IC’s LGBT Center was established.”In November 1999, a committee was formed to explore the idea to establish a resource center on campus dedicated to the needs of the LGBT community and their straight allies. This initial meeting of interested students, faculty, and staff was held to assess needs and determine courses of action. The committee concluded that the center was a vital need, and that such a resource center “would be invaluable in promoting a climate of understanding, support and celebration of diversity and would provide a sage environment for LGBT-identified students in which to learn, live and grow.”The committee drafted a proposal that was presented to the Acting Vice President of Student Affairs/Campus Life in the spring of that year. The committee also solicited endorsements of the proposal from student organizations, academic departments and administrative offices.Vital in this effort were heterosexual allies who advocated that a Center would indeed serve the needs of all students, of all sexual and gender identities, and create a positive environment for all.The Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved funds at their February 2001 meeting to provide minimum operating expenses and fund a part-time coordinator for academic year 2001-2002.The Ithaca College Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services opened the doors of its LGBT Resource Room, staffed by a cadre of student volunteers on November 12, 2001, exactly two years and one day after the initial committee meeting.The Center continues to work for everyone on campus. Homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and heterosexism hurt people regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Challenging and confronting oppression is vital in a learning environment.As founding director Luca Maurer put it, “LGBTQ students don’t just bring their LGBTQ selves to campus, they bring their whole selves. Transphobia, biphobia, homophobia are all amplified and exponentially compounded by oppression in all its forms. Most especially pervasive, structural racism, as well as misogyny, classism, xenophobia, islamophobia, anti-semitism, anti-immigrant sentiments. Our efforts must recognize and dismantle oppression in all its forms. LGBTQ liberation must be intersectional or it will not be liberation at all.""The LGBT Center is here to welcome and affirm students. We not only accept them but expect them, with programs, resources, supports and services to foster the academic success and personal growth of LGBTQ students, and provide opportunities for the campus community to learn more about LGBTQ people and themes. The work that I do is all designed to foster student success and to communicate and put into action simple but essential truths: You are valid. You are valued. You are loved. This will always be your home."Maurer continued, "Revolutionary organizing and action requires strategy, collaboration and solidarity with foundations rooted in interconnectedness, humility, empathy, compassion and love. When we actively welcome and affirm one another and bring our whole selves into a space, we begin to change the world. For some this may seem like a small act, for others it is revolutionary." Special thanks to Michael Mandel ‘00 for providing the history of the creation of IC's LGBT Center.
Rod Serling Emmy Awards, Ithaca College
Some of Rod Serling's Emmy awards are on the main floor of the Park School of Communications near the Park Auditorium.
Home of Cleve Thomas, 112 Hudson Street, Apt B
Playwright, actor and director Cleve Thomas worked with the New York Shakespeare Festival, Negro Ensemble Company, the Public Theatre and La Mama Experimental Theatre Company in New York City. He founded youth groups in Ithaca, Albany, and New York City. He also founded the Red Room Consortium.Mikel Moss, who grew up in Ithaca, remembers "Cleve was a mentor to a whole bunch of us gay kids and we spent many an hour at his house listening to music, hearing stories about him and his famous Broadway friends. Lots of folks came and went from that small apartment."Thomas was also an HIV/AIDS activist, generously sharing his experience as a person living with AIDS with high school and college students in the area.He was a regular speaker for IC's "Living With AIDS" panel presentations. The Living With AIDS panel was an annual part of campus life beginning in 1987.He often said, "HIV thrives through ignorance and a lack of compassion," and that without his good friends, he would not have lived as long. "I didn't die because I am a recipient of love, compassion and caring."Thomas passed away February 16, 2001, only ten days after participating in his final "Living with AIDS" panel presentation at IC. He was 50 years old.Following his death, the Ithaca College AIDS Working Group established an annual campus daffodil planting in his memory. More than 2000 bulbs are planted each year, because Thomas' vision of the spring blooming of daffodils was a symbol of hope and renewal. Each spring, these sunny yellow bulbs create a truly spectacular display across campus. Pat Cornell, physician assistant in Hammond Center and chair of the AIDS Working Group during this time said "Cleve was a much-loved and respected local AIDS activist and educator. He loved our students dearly, and challenged them to become involved in their community, and taught them about HIV and AIDS." Thomas frequently urged his mentees “Always bring something to the table. Even if it's just a smile and an encouraging nod. You never know when that may be just enough for someone.”
AIDS Work first office, basement of Henry St. John Building, corner of Clinton and S. Geneva Sts
Founded in 1984, AIDS Work was the first local organization to serve the needs of people who are HIV positive. AIDS Work provided education and safer sex supplies and was committed to all components of their tagline "HIV Advocacy, Information & Support." George Ferrari recalls, "When I was working as a Residence Director at Cornell around 1985, Gannett Health Services began HTLV3 [former name of HIV] testing. So as a result, it was the first time local people were getting positive test results. We knew that existing models for serving HIV positive people - all these programs were in metropolitan areas - just weren't going to work here."When this work began, it was called the Tompkins County AIDS Task Force, and was funded by a grant from the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (Care) Act.The initial work of the organization that became AIDS Work started with a buddy program and an end of life program. Public education and direct services were also developed. The first fiscal sponsor was Hospicare, and the second was Planned Parenthood of Tompkins County. Participants - Ferrari noted "we called them participants, not patients" - traveled to Upstate Medical in Syracuse for primary care at the time, because there were not yet medical services available in or near Ithaca.At the time the next nearest AIDS services organization, Southern Tier AIDS Program, was located in Johnson City. But the model STAP was using did not match the philosophy and needs of the people working in Ithaca. So in Ithaca a new 501c3 organization was created, which became AIDS Work.AIDS Work's first office was in the basement of the Henry St. John building, which they shared with the Displaced Homemaker's office (now the Women's Opportunity Center). AIDS Work set up a hotline.Ferrari recalled, "Stephen Tropiano was a Residence Director at Ithaca College and had just moved to LA. He called us in the office one day in 1991 (he was sort of the 'AIDS Task Force Western Office') and said there was 'going to be some big news," and that we should be prepared for a lot of calls. The next day, basketball legend Magic Johnson held a press conference to share the news that he had tested HIV positive. Ferrari and AIDS Work were also instrumental in starting the needle exchange program in Ithaca. At the time, the closest needle exchanges were in Rochester and New York City. Needles were still illegal to possess without a doctor's prescription. Through meetings with county legislators, the county sheriff, district attorney, chief of police, head of the hospital, and the Bang's (Ambulance) family this initiative took shape. STAP was interested in branching out into Ithaca because of this needle exchange program.Ferrari recalls "One of the first people to die was a man named Wayne, whose nickname was "Jingle Jock" because he always had bells in his jock strap that would jingle as he walked. We worked with MJ Herson to arrange Wayne's service. During calling hours at the funeral home, Wayne was laid out in full leather, with Diana Ross playing in the background."He also emphasized that their approach was to connect with people where they are. This was not really the focus of other AIDS services organizations at that time. So materials like stickers with information about safer sex were created. They ended up being affixed to many bathroom walls around the area. Ferrari also co-hosted the local public access television program HIV TV during the late 1980s and early 1990s.AIDS Work later grew and moved to an office on the second floor of the DeWitt Mall building, above Moosewood Restaurant. It later merged with Southern Tier AIDS Program, with locations in Ithaca, Elmira, Binghamton, and Johnson City.Ferrari said "Why did I do it? I felt it was part of my responsibility. Ithaca and Ithacans have a can-do spirit that never settles for the status quo. To have this be locally controlled was very important to all of us."
Julius Eastman boyhood home, 302 S Plain St
Pianist, composer and performer Julius Eastman grew up here with his mother Frances and brother Gerry. Eastman was one of the first to utilize minimalism in popular music. He also frequently gave his work provocative titles, including Gay Guerrilla. “What I am trying to achieve is to be what I am to the fullest,” he said in a 1976 interview. “Black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, a homosexual to the fullest.”As a boy, Eastman sang in the St. John's Episcopal Church choir, and later in the Boynton Junior High Glee Club. Without any previous lessons, he sat down at the family's piano when he was nine or ten years old and played a piece by Beethoven from a music book they had just purchased.He attended Ithaca College and transferred to the Curtis Institute of Music, debuting in 1966 at The Town Hall in New York City. He also coordinated the Brooklyn Philharmonic's outreach-oriented Community Concert Series with other composers of color. He was regularly touring the US and internationally by 1980. Eastman was also an accomplished lyricist, dancer and vocalist. He performed in jazz groups with his brother Gerry, who played with groups like the Count Basie Orchestra.His mother, Frances Eastman, moved to Ithaca in the 1940s. She herself was an important local figure. She was the first woman of color to serve as supervisor of medical records at the local hospital, and served as a board member of the Southside Community Center. She was honored by Ithaca Common Council for her advocacy, with the J. Diann Sams Annual African American History Month Resolution, a recognition given each year to an Ithaca community member “of great esteem and stellar leadership.” Alderperson Michelle Barry noted her “unwavering commitment to social justice” and she was described by Mayor Carolyn Peterson as an important advocate for the Southside community.
Home of Harry Partch, 1943, 329 W. Seneca St.
Composer and music theorist Harry Partch spent the spring and summer of 1943 living at 329 West Seneca Street. Here he worked on his composition U.S. Highball. U.S. Highball was selected by the Library of Congress's National Recording Preservation Board as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."Partch was aware from an early age that he was gay. Before coming to Ithaca, Partch had been in a romantic relationship with Ramón Navarro while living in Los Angeles. Navarro began acting in silent films, and went on to become a leading man of stage, screen, and television. Partch called himself "a philosophic music-man seduced into carpentry." The musical tuning system he devised divided the octave into forty three different pitches. Along with this he also created a new notational system, and invented a wide variety of new musical instruments capable of playing his compositions.Today the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music holds the Harry Partch Estate Archive, including Partch's personal papers, musical scores, films, tapes and photographs documenting his career as a composer, writer, and producer. In 1974, Partch was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Percussive Arts Society, which promotes percussion education, research, performance and appreciation.
Southern Tier AIDS Program, 314 W State Street
AIDS Work merged with Southern Tier AIDS Program during the 1990s. STAP has had several Ithaca locations, and recently relocated to 314 West State Street. It offers HIV testing, services, resources, education, and a needle exchange program.This was the former location of the local Planned Parenthood office for several decades, until its move to its new location in 2014.
Smedleys Book Shop, 307 West State Street
Smedley’s Bookstore was named after journalist and feminist Agnes Smedley, one of the most prolific women spies of the twentieth century. Smedley acted as a triple agent for the Indian nationalists, the Chinese Communists and for Russia.Smedlye’s Bookstore began as a Marxist feminist bookshop in 1976, collectively owned and operated by Harriet Alpert, Kate Dunn and Camille Tischler. Alpert also edited "We Are Everywhere," an anthology of writings about lesbian motherhood published in 1988.The store was originally on East Buffalo Street across from Dewitt Park. Zee Zahava bought the store from them in 1981 and transformed it into a “feminist bookstore, no longer really Marxist, said Zahava”. It stayed in that location - 119 East Buffalo for a few years, then in 1984 moved to this address, on 307 West State Street. The store remained there until it closed in August 1994. Smedley’s hosted readings by Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Cheryl Clarke, Olga Broumas and many more. Zahava recalls that these already famous writers would be invited to speak at Cornell, “and then they would come down to Smedley’s and not expect to be paid, or maybe we’d pass the hat. I was very honored and proud to be at the bookstore...the bookstore plunged me into the heart of the community and it was quite lovely.”Roey Thorpe lived in Ithaca and worked at Smedley's. She says "I remember Smedley's as a hub for Ithaca's feminist community, that brought together people from off campus and on campus. I worked there in the mid-1990s, and saw it grow from a bookstore to a home for a community of writers who attended workshops that Irene Zahava developed and led. It was a lovely, warm environment for people who loved books, wanted to support feminist writing, and were looking for community." Thorpe became the first out elected official in Tompkins County, and went on to a career in strategic support and leadership for social justice advocacy organizations and funders, holding positions in organizations including the Empire State Pride Agenda, Basic Rights Oregon, and the Equality Federation. Zahava commented, "Working at Smedley’s Bookshop was like living in the very heart of Ithaca's women’s community. I was in contact with so many, many people and I got to hear their ideas and learn about their passions. I put books (and cassette tapes, and later CDs) directly into people’s hands, knowing that they would be pleased with what they were about to read or to listen to. It was an exciting time — the 1980s and early ‘90s." Zahava shared a photo of the interior of the store, "This is my mother, Eve, wearing a "So Many Books, So Little Time" T-shirt, standing in front of the Lesbian Books bookcase." She estimates the photo is from sometime before 1994, taken at the West State Street location.
Home of First Peer-Led Transgender Support Group, former STAP office, 110 N Geneva St
A former Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) office was also the meeting place of the first peer-led transgender support group in Ithaca, in 1995. Later, meetings alternated between this office and Hal's Deli formerly at 115 North Aurora Street. This provided group members the option to attend more private or more public settings, as well as to provide social opportunities. The group also made funding available for anyone wishing to attend meetings at Hal's, so that money was not a barrier to participating. A peer-led transgender support group has existed in Ithaca continuously since that time. The peer facilitators and locations have changed since the original group came together, but the supportive and welcoming atmosphere endures.
Common Ground Dance Club original location, 1978 - 1988, 132-134 W. State Street
Common Ground was founded in 1978 by Doug Miller and Kris Marshall. By chance, they came upon the original State Street location while on their way to the laundromat. Their vision was to create a haven where everyone was welcome. “The whole purpose behind naming it ‘Common Ground’ was to bring in all different types of people from all different walks of life,” Miller said. “Gay, straight, bisexual, old, young, men, women, anything, all different types of occupations, students as well as townspeople — all in one place to have a fun time.”Another member of the community, George Ferrari, recalls, "Another bar called Cactus Jack's was right next door. Sometimes patrons ended up accidentally in the Common Ground when they meant to be at Cactus Jack's, or vice versa. Someone always kindly took those wayward customers back to the bar that they intended."It’s original location was here in downtown Ithaca, but on June 30, 1988 the bar was completely destroyed by a day-long fire. The entire building was condemned the next morning, and later demolished. The Common Ground lost everything, including record albums, equipment, business records, and beverages.The fire was discovered at 6 am, and it took all day and more than 70 firefighters to control the blaze. Plumes of smoke rose up into the sky hundreds of feet. The fire quickly spread throughout the building, up several floors and to the roof, where it spread to the roof of an adjoining building. The second building sustained minor damage.That night, patrons held a candlelight vigil outside the bar. They looked on as parts of the brick building were demolished by a wrecking crew. The crew was attempting to make sure the fire was out, and removing dangerous pieces that could create a hazard if they fell to the ground.The cause of the fire was determined to be a burning mattress in a room on the third floor. But there was also an unexplained ten foot hole in the dance floor of the Common Ground when firefighters arrived, and the basement underneath the bar was engulfed in flames. Despite several theories as to how this could happen, the Fire Chief at the time found this unusual. Many members of the community then and still today believe the actual cause of the fire was arson.After the fire, Common Ground relocated just past Ithaca College on Comfort Road in Danby. With a DJ, spacious dance floor, big screen TV and extensive music library, it hosted club nights, drag shows, and live entertainment.But Common Ground also served as a de facto community center for the area, holding weekend barbecues on the patio for individuals, couples and families of all ages, an annual Super Bowl Party, and frequent benefits for local LGBTQ organizations and community members in need. It also hosted regular meetings of groups like a Pinochle club, a group for LGBTQ elders, a parenting group, and the Tompkins County LGBT Democratic club, among others. Clay - “Just one name, like Cher or Madonna” - who worked as a bartender at Common Ground for 25 years, loved the homey, family atmosphere. “People still consider this their home,” he said in 2008, when the bar changed ownership and the name changed to Oasis.Said Miller of his legacy in creating this important community space, as the bar changed hands,"We cater to everyone. It's pretty much 50/50, men and women. Gay, lesbian and straight with the age group from 18 to 70. Well, it's the Common Ground."
Ithaca City Hall and Mayor’s office, 108 E Green St
Ithaca is nationally known as a welcoming community for LGBTQ people. But this was not always the case. The current community is the result of decades of activism by LGBTQ residents, dating back to a time when being “out” in our community was far less accepted than it is now. In some instances, it was very risky or even downright dangerous. In 1984, the City of Ithaca was one of the first municipalities in the United States to pass a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. New York State did not pass the sexual orientation nondiscrimination act (SONDA) until 2002. SONDA did not include gender identity and expression, unlike the City and County laws, which provide protection for transgender persons. The law that does so, the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act (GENDA), was not passed in New York State until 2019.In 1990 Ithaca also adopted a law that gave same-sex couples the right to register with the city as domestic partners. This registration was largely symbolic, but provided proof of domestic partnership for the increasing number of employers who extended health insurance benefits to same-sex partners, including the City of Ithaca, Cornell University, Tompkins County, the Ithaca City School District and others.Current Mayor Svante Myrick’s support for LGBTQ people includes signing proclamations declaring National Coming Out Day, International Day of Transgender Visibility, and International Pronouns Day, as well as working locally and nationally to advance equity and inclusion. In 2017 Myrick had the Pride Flag first raised over this building, saying, "I've ordered the Pride Flag to fly above City Hall. It will remain there the entire month of June in recognition of LGBT history month - as an appreciation of the immeasurable impact the LGBT community has had on Ithaca, and as a reminder of the horrors caused by unchecked discrimination."Mariette Geldenhuys shared some of Ithaca's history of marriage equality with the Tompkins County History Center, "In 1995, when I was City Attorney for the City of Ithaca, a gay couple sought a marriage license at the City Clerk’s office and sued the City when the application was denied. In consultation with national organizations working for LGBT civil rights, we reached out to the couple and asked them not to pursue legal action because we were convinced that the time was not right to bring this challenge to the courts. They proceeded anyway. The City was supportive of the couple’s claim but wanted to avoid a negative ruling on the issue of same-sex marriage. The local Supreme Court ruled against the couple, stating that same-sex couples did not have the right to marry. The couple then appealed to the Appellate Division, Third Department, in Storrs v. Holcomb."Geldenhuys continued, "The oral argument on the case was a horrendous experience. I had to use every ounce of self-restraint not to express my dismay at the conduct of the presiding judge -- the marks of my fingernails are probably still in the counsel’s table in that courtroom. At one point, the presiding judge said: “What are they going to want to do next -- marry an animal?” He grinned and looked around at his colleagues on the bench, none of whom said a word. The only bright spot was that the court dismissed the case on the basis that the State should have been included as a necessary party and did not rule on the merits of the same-sex marriage claim, so we achieved our goal of avoiding a negative precedent.'"For the remainder of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, advocacy continued on the State level to try to get SONDA passed. There was very little legislative support for LGBT issues in the New York State Senate. Even as other states moved towards consideration of civil unions and domestic partnerships, the legal outlook for LGBT people in New York remained bleak.In 2004, the issue of same-sex marriage burst onto the scene again in Ithaca, following the issuance of marriage licenses by mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco, California and Jason West in New Paltz, New York. Same-sex couples in Ithaca urged then-mayor Carolyn Peterson to follow suit and issue marriage licenses. In consultation with Marty Luster, the City Attorney at the time, the City decided on a different strategy: the Mayor let same-sex couples know that the City was supportive of their claim for marriage rights but that the city clerk was constrained by the directive of the State Department of Health not to issue the marriage licenses. She encouraged couples to apply for marriage licenses, which would be denied, and promised the City’s support if the couples then sued the City and the State for a court order that same-sex couples should be granted the right to marry. See the photo of Mayor Carolyn Peterson thanking community supporters, 2004.This is how the “Ithaca 50” lawsuit came about. Couples who wanted to sue needed legal representation. Three of us volunteered to represent them pro bono: Elizabeth Bixler, Richard Stumbar, and I. The attorneys met with potential plaintiffs, explained what would be involved, and set a deadline for couples to come forward. This inclusive, democratic way of selecting plaintiffs is unique among all the same sex marriage court cases. Usually, LGBT advocacy organizations carefully select a handful of couples to be the plaintiffs. In other instances, lawyers represented an individual couple in a marriage equality or related claim. To my knowledge, the “Ithaca 50”, consisting of twenty-five same-sex couples, was by far the largest group of plaintiffs in any marriage equality case. Jason Seymour and Jason Hungerford took the lead in organizing the group."Previous Mayor Carolyn Peterson (2004 - 2011) voiced overwhelming support for marriage equality. On March 1, 2004 the newly elected mayor held a press conference to announce a new policy on this issue. Before a standing-room-only crowd in City Hall Council Chambers, Peterson announced that same-sex marriage license applications would be accepted by the City Clerk's office and forwarded to the State Health Department for individual review. The Health Department has authority over issuance of marriage licenses in New York State, and does not allow them to be issued to same-sex couples, so this provided the opportunity for couples to sue when the licenses were not approved. City Attorney Marty Luster also explained how the city would support the couples: "If there is a lawsuit brought by (anyone) who is denied a license by the state of New York, the city will join with you in the lawsuit in seeking to overturn that decision." In addition, Peterson announced that the city would immediately begin to recognize all same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions.Mayor Peterson performed many same sex marriages after same sex marriage was legalized in New York State by the Legislature in 2011. As Mariette Geldenhuys explained, "This allowed same-sex couples in New York to marry, but their marriages were still not recognized on the Federal level due to the Defense of Marriage Act. The portion of DOMA which prohibited federal recognition was struck down by the United States Supreme Court in Windsor v. United States in 2013. The Windsor decision led to a proliferation of marriage rights cases in state and federal courts, eventually culminating in Obergefell v. Hodges, decided in June 2015, which finally extended marriage rights to same-sex couples everywhere in the United States. To the outside observer, it may look like marriage equality was won very quickly, based on the fast pace of change since the Windsor decision in 2013. However, the Windsor and Obergefell cases were the culmination of decades of activism, legal advocacy and relentless hard work by LGBT people and lawyers working for LGBT civil rights over many decades. Tompkins County holds a prominent place in this history."
Firebrand Books, second floor of the Home Dairy building, 141 The Commons
Firebrand Books was founded in 1984 by Nancy Bereano as an independent book publisher of feminist and lesbian fiction and nonfiction.As editor and publisher, Bereano centered work by authors whose work had been marginalized.While in her late thirties, Bereano knew she wanted to create a lesbian press. Bereano said, "I couldn't bear not doing the work. Lesbians haven't published anything yet! Lesbians were not considered legitimate people who could produce literature. Many women were dying to read this type of stuff as it was culturally flourishing for the lesbian community. She viewed the lesbian presses around the globe as a cultural liberation for lesbians. The work was very politically and culturally exciting."In 1988, Bereano published Dorothy Allison’s multi-award winning book Trash, a collection of short stories that focused on themes of working class people, sexuality, violence, and hope. Between 1984 and 1999, Firebrand published and distributed 105 titles including the entire "Dykes to Watch Out For" series by Alison Bechdel, poetry by Audre Lorde, Minnie Bruce Pratt, and Cheryl Clarke. They also published short stories, novels, and nonfiction from authors including Ruthann Robson, Lesléa Newman, Mab Segrest, Leslie Feinberg and Judith Katz.Bereano says "It was the greatest 15 years of my life! Every piece pushed my abilities and talents and it demanded a great deal for me. It really tested me, taught me an enormous amount the growth of the lesbian movement. It was a very intellectually fertile environment." Bereano was recognized by the Lambda Literary Awards with their Publisher’s Service Award in 1996.
Ithaca Is Love Photo - Trolley Circle, center of The Commons near 171 E State Street
Site of the Ithaca Is Love photo, in support of Orlando Florida residents and those affected by the Pulse Nightclub shooting during the summer of 2016. Ithaca Is Love was led by City of Ithaca alderperson Deb Mohlenhoff and members of the local LGBTQ community. They came together in the wake of the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting and had no official affiliation with one another. But they shared the common goal of wanting to focus on LGBTQ people in Ithaca, those who might feel unsupported during this time of mourning, and to build a greater sense of LGBTQ community.Over the course of several weeks, Ithaca Is Love coordinated a community photo with over 600 participants, all wearing shirts in different colors of the rainbow - purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red - to form a human rainbow. Gilbert Baker created the original Pride Flag in 1978 as a symbol of the LGBTQ community, with each color having specific significance: life (red), healing (orange), sunlight (yellow), nature (green), harmony/peace (blue), and spirit (purple/violet).An aerial photo from atop the Center Ithaca building on the Commons was taken by photographer Sheryl Sinkow.The photograph, along with a letter were sent from the following people and organizations:City of Ithaca mayor Svante Myrick to City of Orlando mayor. Tompkins Chamber of Commerce to the Orlando chamber of commerce Downtown Ithaca to the Pulse nightclub owner Tompkins Visitor's Center to the Orlando CVB Ithaca Police and Ithaca Fire departments to Orlando Emergency Services. President of Tompkins Cortland Community College to president of Valencia College.Brian Patchcoski, director of Cornell’s LGBT Resource Center at the time, said of this initiative “I don’t think we always have the opportunity to be visible. Yes, Ithaca has a great history of LGBT inclusion, but I think in terms of visibility and support and recognizing those who have laid a foundation for the growth that we’ve done around equality, we don’t get the time and space to celebrate that.”
Gay People's Center, upstairs around 306 E State Street, 1970s
The Gay People’s Center was in an upstairs office above a candy store, near what is now Viva Taqueria. The Center had a crisis phone line, meeting spaces available, and held occasional socials. Several elders recall the Gay People’s Center as primarily by and for LGBTQ local residents ("townies"), while both Ithaca College and Cornell had their own distinct and usually separate LGBTQ communities at that time.Retired Ithaca College professor Marty Brownstein recalls “There was a flourishing lesbian and gay life at that time, but it was closeted. There was a very courageous community of LGBTQ students on campus and in the community that supported each other."
Protests and Boycott at Nite Court Restaurant, 215 N Aurora St
On July 7, 1976, the owner of Nite Court Restaurant abruptly turned off the music and turned up the lights. Then he told patrons he had a policy forbidding same sex couples from dancing together or touching each other in the establishment. The reaction was swift.Within a couple of days, the LGBTQ community began picketing outside in protest of owner Louis Cataldo’s policy prohibiting same sex couples from dancing. Cataldo claimed it would be bad for business because most of his customers would find it “disgusting.”Street protests and counter protests went on for more than six months. Chants of “Nite Court on Trial!” rang out as police responded to the protests. Marty Brownstein, a Politics professor at Ithaca College at the time, recalls “Things got pretty tense, and semi-violent. This all happened as I was coming out. It was part of my coming out and this was my community.” Brownstein became centrally involved in the conflict, and later served as a mediator between the owner and the LGBTQ community.A boycott was launched. After contentious campus conversations, the IC Senior Class canceled an event at Cataldo’s establishment, which they had been in the midst of planning. The senior class treasurer explained they canceled “because there seemed a general consensus that people would not go to this party if it were held at Nite Court…that this was the wrong thing to do.”Stories covering the conflict appeared regularly on the front pages of the student newspapers at Ithaca College, Cornell, and TC3. One Ithacan editorial noted “there is a gross lack of awareness at Ithaca College with regard to race and human sexuality, and the time has come to address this lack of awareness and initiate programs to correct it. Other schools are way ahead of us in this area, and have developed some interesting programs which Ithaca College should consider.” An Ithacan reporter wrote: “Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the party incident is the one that makes a comment about Ithaca College students: if Nite Court was discriminating against women, blacks, or Jews, having a party there would be the last thing anyone would think of doing.” Several gay students shared their experiences of having been kicked out of Nite Court earlier for simply having their arm around their date or for touching their shoulder. After the New York State Department of Human Rights ruled that there was probable cause that Nite Court had engaged in unlawful discrimination, an agreement was reached in February 1977 and the protests and boycott ended.
Monthly LGBTQ Coffeehouses at the Unitarian Church, 1990s - 2000s, 306. N Aurora St
The Ithaca LGBTQ Task Force held monthly coffeehouses in the Unitarian Church for many years. The gatherings served some of the social and educational needs of the community.For 32 years, the Ithaca LGBT Task Force encouraged awareness of issues affecting LGBT people by conducting public meetings, informational programs, artistic events, and social activities to work towards the elimination of prejudice and discrimination and to improve relationships and understanding among and between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual people. The group operated a phone line, newsletter, listserv, and later an email address and webpage, though it never had a dedicated physical location.The Ithaca Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Task Force Board of Directors decided to dissolve in December 2017.The group received a Tompkins County Human Rights Award for spearheading passage of the Tompkins County Fair Practice Law (Local Law C) to ensure our community's civil rights and was instrumental in helping to organize "The Ithaca 50", the largest marriage equality lawsuit in the country.
Tompkins County Courthouse, Second Parent Adoptions and Marriage Equality, 320 N. Tioga St
Tompkins County was one of the first counties in New York State where the Family and Surrogate’s Court judges granted second-parent adoptions to the partners of legal parents in same-sex relationships. A second-parent or co-parent adoption allows a second parent to adopt their partner's child without the first parent losing any parental rights. In this way, the child comes to have two legal parents. It can be an important legal procedure for LGBT parents.This right was formally recognized in 1995 by the New York Court of Appeals in Matter of Jacob, 86 N.Y.2d 651.Several early marriage equality cases involving Ithaca residents were also heard here during the 1990s and early 2000s. The Ithaca City Hall and Mayor's Office location on this tour provides additional information about the roles of the city and county in establishing marriage equality.
Tompkins County Legislature, 121 E Court Street, Local Law C & Pride Proclamation
The Tompkins County Legislature passed Local Law C in 1991, that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. Additional info on this historic development can be found at the Ithaca High School, Kulp Auditorium site on this tour.In 2004, the law was revised to include gender identity and gender expression in addition to sexual orientation. This law provides protections to residents based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in the areas of housing, commercial space, lending, employment, education, and places of public accommodation. Also on this site in June 2017, the legislature passed its first ever LGBTQ Pride Month Proclamation.Entrance to Legislative Chambers is at the back of the building facing Dewitt Park. Chambers are located on 2nd Floor with access by stairs or elevator
Kurt Cobain's ashes, Former Site of Namgyal Monastery, 412 N. Aurora St
Musician Kurt Cobain of the grunge alternative rock band Nirvana died by suicide in 1994. Cobain's well known songs include Smells Like Teen Spirit and Lithium, which resonated with millions of listeners. In one of Nirvana’s most beloved tracks All Apologies, Cobain tells us "Everyone is gay." He often told people to not buy his music if they were homophobic, and actively worked to dispel homophobia and to support LGBT rights. In a 1993 interview with The Advocate, Cobain said he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual." Amy Dickinson wrote for Esquire after Cobain's death, "Cobain was first brought to Ithaca in the summer by his widow, Courtney Love, and packed with her wedding dress in a small knapsack shaped like a teddy bear." Courtney Love conferred with monks from Namgyal Ithaca several times, culminating in a trip to Ithaca along with some of Cobain's cremains. Love prayed and chanted with the monks as part of a ritual consecration of the ashes. Dickinson continues, "The teddy bear was opened, and the monks emptied the ashes and the wedding dress onto a table...As they shook out the dress, some of the ashes drifted up into the air. "We inhaled a little bit of Kurt that day," says someone who was there. The ashes were brushed into a container and put onto the altar at the monastery."Some of Cobain's ashes were left with the monks here to complete the consecration process. Then they were formed into tsatsas, Buddhist images made of clay. A Tibetan Buddhist artisan crafted a small nirvana stupa shrine to house them.Ithaca has served as the Dalai Lama’s American base for many years. Formally known as the North American Seat of the Personal Monastery of the Dalai Lama, Namgyal Ithaca was founded in 1992 as a branch of the main Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India."Wearing a dress shows I can be as feminine as I want," Cobain told the LA Times. "I'm a heterosexual... big deal. But if I was a homosexual, it wouldn't matter either." He also admitted to spray-painting cars with "God is gay."Cobain said "See I’ve always wanted male friends that I could be real intimate with and talk about important things with and be as affectionate with that person as I would be with a girl. Throughout my life, I’ve always been really close with girls and made friends with girls. So I thought I would try to be gay for a while, but I’m just more sexually attracted to women. But I’m really glad that I found a few gay friends, because it totally saved me from becoming a monk or something. I mean, I’m definitely gay in spirit, and I probably could be bisexual. But I’m married, and I’m more attracted to Courtney [Love] than I ever have been toward a person, so there’s no point in trying to sow my oats at this point. If I wouldn’t have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual life-style. But I just find her totally attractive in all ways."Namgyal Ithaca’s central mission is to provide students with the chance to study authentic Tibetan Buddhism in a monastic setting. Its new, expanded location is just past Ithaca College.
Sit in and Boycott at Morrie’s Bar, 409 Eddy St, October 1970
Morrie’s Bar may have been the site of the first gay student sit-in demonstration in the country. (Beemyn, 2003). Cornell’s Student Homophile League, the second gay rights group to organize at a US university, was established in 1968. At that time there were few places where gay or lesbian people could safely be out, other than at parties in private homes.At that time a restaurant more than a half hour away served as an underground gay bar one night a week. Gay people had to arrive on Saturday nights before 11 pm and present as if they were heterosexual. After the restaurant closed, and all the heterosexual patrons went home, the proprietors allowed the gay customers still there to remain until the early hours of the morning. Students understandably did not like this arrangement and went in search of local safe places to socialize.The Alt Heidelberg bar in Collegetown had been a popular hangout, but it was completely destroyed by fire in 1968. The cause of the fire was never determined. Gay people then began to visit the Royal Palm at 209 Dryden Road, but the owners and other customers harassed them.In 1969 when they heard a new bar was about to open in Collegetown, a few students decided that rather than wait for an actual gay bar to be established, that they could pick a public place and make it gay by simply showing up. They reasoned – what does it take to make a gay bar? A bar full of gay people. They called everyone they knew and told them a new gay bar was opening, and when Morrie’s opened it was full of gay people.For about a year the bulk of customers at Morrie’s were gay, with Tuesday and Thursday nights being unofficial “gay nights.” Despite this, gay patrons could not be too open, and the bar’s owner Morris Angell never acknowledged his gay customer base. He did not want the bar to become known as a spot where gay people congregated; in turn the LGBT community tacitly agreed to avoid any public mention of Morrie’s in order to preserve their access to this space.But in October 1970 a writer for the Cornell Sun described Morrie’s as a place to see “fag aesthetics.” The night that piece was published, Angell ejected several members of the Gay Liberation Front (who had recently changed their name from the Student Homophile League) and told them never to come back because “their kind’ were not welcome in his bar. He was irate that the piece had been published identifying his bar as a gathering place for gay people.The next day, the student group held a sit-in inside the bar while hundreds of supporters demonstrated outside. More than fifty people sat inside and refused to move or buy drinks. When the police responded to the owner’s call for help, Captain Raymond Price told him “you can’t insult these people. You can’t just refuse to serve them.” Angell promised to stop discriminating and the protesters left. However, Angell devised new tactics to harass gay customers, such as refusing to serve anyone he thought might be gay. The Gay Liberation Front organized a boycott, and asked the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to revoke their liquor license. Suffering from a major loss of revenue from both gay people and heterosexual patrons who stopped coming because they feared being labelled as gay due to the bar’s reputation, the boycott ended in March 1971 when Angell issued a written apology.Beemyn. (2003). The Silence Is Broken: A History of the First Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual College Student Groups. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 12(2), 205-223.
The Human Sexuality Collection in Kroch Library, 216 East Avenue, Cornell University
The Human Sexuality Collection in Cornell University's Kroch Library seeks to preserve and make accessible primary sources that document historical shifts in the social construction of sexuality, with a focus on U.S. lesbian and gay history and the politics of pornography. The collection includes materials from the first transgender themed conference held in Ithaca (in 1996), and the archive of the national organization Human Rights Campaign. It also includes a substantial collection of lesbian pulp fiction from the 1950s and 1960s, and memorabilia from LGBTQ rights campaigns like buttons, posters, and protest signs. Researchers come from all over the world to use this vast and important resource.Curator Brenda Marston said " Everyone belongs in history. What motivates me in this work is the power of being seen and as a part of history, as well as a part of everyday life."
Wendy Carlos and Robert Moog collaboration, Cornell University Library
Robert Moog, who studied at Cornell, was an engineer and pioneer of electronic music. He invented the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesizer, that continues to be a major influence in popular music. His personal archive of notes, plans, drawings, recordings are housed in the Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.Moog met Wendy Carlos in the 1960s. She is a recording engineer, musician and composer who also happens to be a transgender woman. Carlos was also building electronic music devices, and Moog credits her with making numerous improvements to his work. Moog’s factory was in nearby Trumansburg, and the first commercially available model was promoted with a free demonstration record produced and composed by Carlos. Shortly after, Wendy Carlos produced “Switched-On Bach, ”an unexpected hit record that stayed on the Billboard Top 40 list for 4 months. The album featured the songs of Johann Sebastian Bach, played on a Moog synthesizer. It won three Grammies and sold over a million copies. Carlos later used a Moog synthensizer to write the score for the Stanley Kubrick film “A Clockwork Orange.”Later, she named a new puppy that joined her family B-r-r-itannia – saying the “Brr…” was for the cold wind in Ithaca.
Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose, mid 1900s - 1932, Cornell University
Though neither referred to themselves with any contemporary sexual identity words we use today, Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose were partners in academic scholarship as well as in life. Their relationship was so well-known that they were frequently collectively referred to as “Miss Van Rose."The two created and then cochaired the Department of Home Economics at Cornell. They were leaders in establishing the field of home economics (now called Family and Consumer Sciences), and their department became the New York State College of Home Economics in 1925, making it the first of its kind in the United States. Later it was renamed The Cornell University College of Human Ecology.They lived together for about 25 years, until Van Rensselaer passed away in 1932.
Fall Creek House Restaurant, 302 Lake Street
The Ithaca Women's Softball League has provided a recreational environment for women from 15 to 60+ years old since 1975. Games take place at Cass Park, and league meetings were held here at the Fall Creek House from the early 1990s.Women's softball leagues in Ithaca and throughout the country have long been a haven and a point of social connection for lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender women, for athletes as well as spectators.
