Queer History of Durham

Bruce Derbin owned Blueberry Hill and intentionally created this space as a gay bar, reflecting the shift that occurred in the 1970s across the United States after the Stonewall Riots. Stonewall galvanized the LGBTQ+ community to make their presence known, while also still residing mostly in specific safe spaces like gay bars to protect themselves and enjoy the company of other queer individuals. 

Blueberry Hill also acted as a meeting space for the Carolina Gay Association. The Carolina Gay Association was a UNC-Chapel Hill organization, the first of its kind at UNC-Chapel Hill and one of the first in the state of North Carolina. They were active throughout the 1970s and 1980s, advocating for gay rights in the Chapel Hill and Durham area. Many gay bars and organizations transcended the Durham area into the Triangle, demonstrating the greater presence of the LGBTQ+ community and their networks in this region. The Carolina Gay Association was a majority white organization, demonstrating the racial divide between many LGBTQ+ organizations and the overall community throughout the late twentieth century.

One of the crucial aspects of the visibility of queer life in the Triangle is the universities nearby. Many queer people and activists were brought to Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh because of the universities, as supported by the many testimonies we will hear today. 

The Clown’s Inn was opened sometime in the 1970s by Tommy Thompson, a former lover of prominent gay Durham bar owner Herb Rigsbee. It was first listed in the Damron Guides in 1980 and was believed to have been popular throughout this decade. 

The Damron Travel Guides were guides created by Bob Damron to identify gay-oriented spaces, especially for traveling men. These guides also came with classifications for traveling queer men to cater to their visits. The Damron Guides mostly highlighted stops for gay, white men, but noted places that had Black and female audiences. 

As indicated by the name, this bar was clown-themed. Some believe that this was because of the popularity of the song “Send in the Clowns” at this time, while others think it was because Thompson was a former clown and that the decorations were from his collection.  The Clown’s Inn was one of the most popular gay bars at the time, as it was one of the few in the area. It was a basement bar similar to Duke’s Tavern in the Washington Duke Hotel, which we will talk about soon. 

While this was deemed a gay bar, it has been cited that there was a large lesbian population who came to this venue. In an oral history with Sam Hull, a gay Durhamite, he says that this was more of a mixed bar than any he had seen in the past in the Durham/Chapel Hill area, from his experience. The Clown’s Inn had a pool table and pinball, popular attractions at gay bars, noted in oral histories and included in listings in the Damron Travel Guide. 

Stormie Daie is one of the prominent drag queens in the Durham community, coming from the House of Coxx. Stormie has a background in science, receiving their B.S. in Ecological and Environmental Science at Elon University. She uses her education in science and expertise with youth education to host “Science with Stormie” and is the local charter leader for Drag Queen Story Hour. Drag Queen Story Hour became a central target in a culture war in 2023, with conservatives throughout the United States attempting to implement anti-drag legislation, all of which have luckily been overturned or were never implemented.  

This painting is part of a greater collection entitled “The Black Lit Library,” created by local artist Claire Alexander. Claire is described as “ a Diaspora child, abolitionist feminist storyteller and student of ecologies who weaves autobiographical reflections with ancestral wisdom. Through mixed media paintings and street art, she infuses detailed portraits with notions of struggles and strength that exist at the intersection of environmental, gender and racial justice.” (Self-Discovery in the Story Circle, Sarah P. Duke Gardens) This is evidenced in her painting of Stormie Daie, which includes themes relating to Black pride and Black Diaspora” and “makes space for queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and people of color to imagine ourselves, in all of our complexities and expansiveness, as belonging to the world.” The painting included magnolia leaves and oatstraw from Good Soil Gardens and Earthseed Land Collective, two local lands “stewarded by BIPOC” individuals. There is also evidence of Stormie’s science education background in the details. Alexander includes themes relating to AfroCarolina, a term coined by folklorist and public historian Michelle Lanier, relating to the heritage and experiences of the African Diaspora in the Carolinas.  

For more information, check here.   

Cedar Chest was an organization for lesbians of color, started by Janice “Jaye” Vaughn in 1994. Inspired by the Umoja group, a group of queer Black professionals in Durham, Vaughn wanted to create a lesbian organization to address the lack of women in Umoja. The organization’s name, ‘Cedar Chest,’ was inspired by a cedar chest her grandmother passed down to the women in the family who were to get married, filled with many gifts and goods. Vaughn used the cedar chest as a metaphor for the organization. In the promotional flyer, she said, “I am ready, as I hope you are, to establish in our small community a cedar chest of hope for lesbians of color. This chest is full of energy, love, hope, charity, trust, and confidentiality. This is not an outing process or a political club. This is a place to share and support one another. The activities we do will be done at group meetings for us, be it literature, job networking, or any topic we need to share. To become a Cedar Chest Club member, all we ask is that everything be kept confidential.”

To ensure this confidentiality, the Cedar Chest Club met at Vaughn’s apartment. This is also indicative of a greater pattern of gathering for people of color and women in the queer community. Many people of color utilized their living spaces as sites for gathering, navigating barriers such as segregation, racism, and an increased threat of destruction of their spaces. Women and people of color also faced greater barriers in gathering at public avenues due to economic limitations. The Cedar Chest Club is a great example of why many sites related to women and/or people of color are not as visible, and even less documented and historically protected than sites associated with white, gay, cisgender men.  

This building housed Competition, a gay bar which opened in 1991. Advertising in The Front Page, a gay and lesbian newspaper published in Raleigh, the same year, Competition boasted a “patio deck, outside bar, Bar-B-Q pit, Volleyball court (with sand), homey atmosphere, private parties.” 

This location would continue to hold its queer standing, coming under different ownership, names, and themes throughout the years, including Visions and All About Eve. There was a brief pause in its queer affiliations when it became a hip-hop themed club, Club Bedrock. Shortly after, the bar was bought by Theresa Harris and renamed Steel Blue, returning to its queer beginnings. Steel Blue was originally located along US 70 but was relocated to 711 Rigsbee. It then became The Bar...Durham, owned by queer couple, Renee and Roe, from 2011 to 2021. The couple decided to name it “The Bar” because, despite its continuous rebranding, it remained a queer staple and was referred to as “The Bar” throughout its queer tenure and ever-changing name/ownership. Today, it is still owned by Renee and is now rebranded to The Pickleback 2.

Durhamites Ginger Travis and Carol Place founded Travis Place in 1983, a mail-order underwear catalogue with the tagline “Natural fibers for women, from women.” Travis Place was one of Durham’s first three businesses to openly identify as lesbian-owned, along with Ladyslipper Music and Francesca’s Dessert Caffé. Francesca’s was originally opened in Perry St. (off of Ninth St.) in 1985, next to Travis Place’s first warehouse.  Their second warehouse was located at 708 Rigsbee Avenue

Travis Place was started at home by friends. But by the time they had moved to this warehouse in 1990, they had just passed $1 million in gross annual sales and had 27 employees.  

After the closure of Duke’s Tavern due to the destruction of the Washington Duke Hotel, which we will discuss shortly, owner Herb Rigsbee created Herb’s Bar/Lounge. Herb’s Bar was listed in the Damron Travel Guides starting in 1978, a few years after Duke’s Tavern was demolished. In the Travel Guides, Herb’s Bar/Lounge is classified as a “cruisy” area, meaning gay men would frequent this spot for sex. It is also listed as “some OC” and “SM.” OC was designated “older crowd,” “while “SM” stands for “some motorcycle and leather.” According to the Mapping the Gay Guides website, a digital history project that has mapped the locations listed in the Damron Guides, “American motorcycle culture began in the 1940s and 1950s, and gay motorcycle clubs gained in popularity around the same time. Some participants in the culture found refuge in these roaming motorcycle communities as a replacement for meeting spots for bars (which could be unsafe, especially with constant police raids). Gay leather culture also allowed some gay men to embrace a masculine gay identity, one in opposition to the stereotyped femininity of “fairy” gay men.”

Interestingly, Herb’s Bar/Lounge is only listed on Damron’s Travel Guides from 1978-1979. In 1983, Herb’s Swing Club was listed in a new location (706 ½ 9th Street). Herb’s Swing Club is only listed in the Damron Travel Guides for 1983. You can find the listings of Herb's Bar/Lounge here, on the "Mapping the Gay Guides" website. "Mapping the Gay Guides," is a digital archive of the places listed in the Damron Travel Guides.

The Carolina Theatre is one of Durham's most iconic sites. It is an almost 100-year-old structure that has been the site of protests, entertainment, and education. The Carolina Theatre has had its fair share of discrimination in the past, segregating Black attendees from the white section closer to the stage. This led to the round-robin protest in 1961 by Black Durhamites, which eventually culminated in the desegregation of the theatre.  

The Carolina Theatre has been home to an annual queer film festival since 1995. This festival started as “A Salute to Pride,” and was renamed as the North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival the next year. They rebranded again in 2019 as the OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival. 

Chuck Wheeler is the current festival manager and was included on Out’s Out100 2024 list, which celebrated “2024’s most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people,” including other prominent queer icons like Cynthia Erivo, Trixie Mattel, and T.S. Madison. OUTSOUTH is currently the second biggest queer film festival in the southeast, a feat that is indicative of the queer community’s impact in the Triangle. Queer filmmaker Cierra Thompson says that the film festival acts not only as a place to display art, but a gathering space to share ideas and network for future projects that will change the American film industry.  

In 1986, the Durham Public Library granted the Lesbian and Gay Pride ‘86 Committee and the Lesbian and Gay Health Project use of their three community-oriented display cases for June. The organizations used the cases to display materials about LGBT+ lives, poetry, AIDS and health concerns, posters, and more. This exhibit sparked enormous controversy within the city, from county officials, local news stations, religious leaders, and more. Opponents formed a group called the “Durham Coalition for Decency,” advocating for its removal.  

Soon after, working with Durham’s Gay Pride Committee, Mayor Wib Gulley signed an anti-discrimination proclamation specifically supporting LGBT+ peoples’ rights for safety and participation in public life. This was part of the plans to run the city’s first-ever Pride march. The backlash was immediate, with forces trying to recall Mayor Gulley. As strong as the backlash was, many members of the Durham community rallied in support of Mayor Gulley, including many local religious leaders. In the end, organizers couldn’t gather enough signatures to force a recall election, and Mayor Gulley remained as mayor. On June 28th 1986, the Triangle Lesbian and Gay Alliance held Durham’s first pride march, themed “Out Today, Out to Stay.” Nearly 1,000 people marched from Ninth Street to the Reservoir on Hillsborough Road.  

In 1981, a protest happened here that helped define the course of Durham’s LGBT+ activism. In April of that year, on the banks of the Little River near Johnston Mills Road, Ronald “Sunny” Antonevitch was killed in a hate crime. In response to the violence, 125 people rallied here, on April 17th, 1981, to make a united stand in support of the LGBT+ community.  

One of the organizers of the rally was a man named Carl Wittman, who came to Durham from San Francisco with his partner, Allan Troxler. Wittman was an activist, having written a text called “The Gay Manifesto” calling for gay liberation. Carl and Allan were also involved in civil rights protests in the 1960s and in the anti-war movement. Within Durham, Carl advocated for better environmental protections through the group Citizens for Safer East Durham. In addition to all his political work, Wittman and Troxler were country dancers and helped bring a gender-free style of country dance-calling to Durham. Together, they founded the Sun Assembly English Country Dancers, which still hosts dances in Durham. 

Located in the basement of the former Washington Duke/Jack Tar Hotel was the Washington Duke Hotel Bar, also known as The Duke Tavern or Dukes of Durham. While not exclusively a gay bar, it was at one point owned by a gay man, Herb Rigsbee, and was open to queer patrons, namely gay men.  It was also one of the few places in the Triangle area where members of the LGBTQ+ community could meet.

In an oral history from June 2001, Bill Hull, a gay Durhamite, talked about the tavern as one of the first “gay bars” he visited. Before turning 18, Hull would wait outside the bar and meet people. When he turned 18, he finally went into the tavern. 

The bar is unique, as it was identified as having a larger queer audience in the 1960s, a time when gay life was largely celebrated in private spaces. However, the bar was still not exclusively LGBTQ+. It is listed as a “mixed” site in the Damron Gay Travel Guides*, meaning it was an identified space for both gay and straight audiences. It is the only location that remains throughout the 1965-1970s in the Damron travel guides, indicating that it was one of the few known gathering spots for the LGBTQ+ community. 

The Damron Guides were often promoted to white men, so this may have been indicative of a majority white space, especially since it wasn’t listed as having a large audience of people of color in the Damron Guides. It’s interesting to consider just how “safe” a public, open space was for queer patrons in the 1960s. Did the queer patrons still have to hide their identities, or was there trust between them and the straight clientele?  

With the destruction of the hotel came the destruction of the bar. Rigsbee then went on to open Herb’s Bar and Lounge.

The North Carolina Lambda Youth Network worked out of one of the offices in the 115 Market St building. The North Carolina Lambed Youth Network was formed in July of 1996, as a youth-led leadership organization for LGBT+ youth. The program hosted a variety of events workshops, including ones for LGBT+ youth of color, a multigenerational working group advocating safer schooling for LGBT+ youth, and more. 

What does Lambda mean?

The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality edited by Wayne R. Dynes (Garland Press: New York, 1990) defines Lambda as:

"In the early 1970s, in the wake of the Stonewall Rebellion, New York City's Gay Activists Alliance selected the Greek letter lambda, which member Tom Doerr suggested from its scientific use to designate kinetic potential, as its emblem. (Curiously, in some ancient Greek graffiti the capital lambda appears with the meaning fellate, representing the first letter of either lambazein or laikazein.) Because of its militant associations, the lambda symbol has spread throughout the world. It sometimes appears in the form of an amulet hung round the neck as a subtle sign of recognition which can pass among unknowing heterosexuals as a mere ornament. Such emblems may reflect a tendency among homosexuals toward tribalization as a distinct segment of society, one conceived as a quasi-ethnic group."

More Man Than You'll Ever Be by Joseph P. Goodwin (Indiana University Press:Bloomington, 1989), on page 26 defines Lamba as: 

The lowercase Greek letter lambda carries several meanings. First of all, it represents scales, and thus balance. The Greeks considered balance to be the constant adjustment necessary to keep opposing forces from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg of the lambda represents the action required to reach and maintain a balance. To the Spartans, the lambda meant unity. They felt that society should never infringe on anyone's individuality and freedom. The Romans adopted the letter to represent "the light of knowledge shed into the darkness of ignorance." Finally, in physics the symbol designates and energy change. Thus the lambda, with all its meanings, is an especially apt symbol for the gay liberation movement, which energetically seeks a balance in society and which strives through enlightenment to secure equal rights for homosexual people.

Boxer’s Ringside opened in 2000 under the ownership of Michael Penny. Penny is well-known within the gay community in Durham, having survived a homophobic attack at Little River that took the life of Ronald Antonevitch, and for his ownership and participation at gay bars throughout the 1970s-2000s. He comes from the Penny family of the Penny Furniture Company. He also owned and operated Boxer’s, part of the namesake for Boxer’s Ringside, which was located on NC 15-501. This building was shaped like a flying saucer. When Boxer’s closed down, Penny opened Boxer’s Ringside. 

Penny states that Boxer’s Ringside was, “...a gay bar for straight people.” Penny didn’t intend to make Boxer’s Ringside an exclusive gay club, which alienated some of his gay audience from the original Boxer’s. The original Boxer’s was more of a dance club, whereas Boxer’s Ringside prioritized having local music acts, a notable transition between the two. 

Boxer’s Ringside worked with the Durham Association of Downtown Arts, which sought to promote local artists. They identified raising rates for artist studios and performance venues amidst growing urban renewal in the area and hoped that Boxer’s Ringside could help with this issue. Sadly, Boxer’s Ringside closed in the late 2000s, one of the many sites associated with gay/queer history that has faced this issue.

42nd Street opened in 1979 by owner Bruce Derbin, the same owner of Blueberry Hill. In 1983, it was renamed to the Power Company and was one of the most popular gay bars in the area. The location was previously a Rayless Department Store and was transformed with disco balls, dance floors, and pinball machines. In a blog post about the bar, Carlos Martín Gaebler, a Spanish graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill, discussed his love for 42nd Street, saying, “This iconic disco was a non-segregated space where gay men and lesbians, black and white patrons, old and young, homos and straights, even Dukies and Tar Heels, haha, shared a good time together in brotherly spirit. It was a club for equality like I have never seen since. I was a gay kid in my early twenties who had just come out of the closet after years of unbearable loneliness. I had been a victim of humiliation and bullying during my adolescence. At 42nd Street I did not need to fight off bullies because I was among boys like me, and I felt protected. That place was like family to us.” He also comments on the spectacular music, drag shows, and dancers at the venue.

The Power Company lasted until 2001. The club had a multi-level layout with multiple bars, bright decor, and an energetic crowd. In a 2020 article in Duke Chronicle, author Tessa Delgo notes, “the Power Company is most saliently remembered as a place where its frequenters, predominantly young members of the LGBTQ+ community, felt welcomed— often for the first time in their lives.” It was known for its diverse demographics, non-segregated, and open to all people of different ages, ethnicities, races, and sexualities, indicative of shifting changes within the LGBTQ+ community for more inclusivity. This did not prevent the closing of the bar in 2001, its reasoning reeking of racist undertones. Increased police visits for cited noise complaints, which are believed to have stemmed from shifting demographics of the attendees at the bar, were a major factor in its closing. A murder also took place outside the bar, adding fuel to the fire.

On June 27, 1981, 300 people gathered at the Five Points Plaza and marched up Chapel Hill Street, around the courthouse, and back down Main Street.  Formed in the shadow of extreme violence, the community bound together in this moment to stand up for their rights. The community was motivated to speak up due to the homophobic hate crime that took the life of Ronald "Sonny" Antonevitch and the murders of five Black activists at a Communist Workers Party rally by Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Debbie Swanner, co-founder of Durham's Radical Feminist Organizing Committee, and David Ransom were two of the organizers for the event. Other organizers include lesbian activist and writer, Mab Segrest, and gay activist and artist, Allan Troxler, who spoke more on the event in a News and Observer article.

 The Young Women’s Christian Association (now the YWCA) was one of the first mainstream organizations in Durham to actively open itself to lesbians. The building was a gathering place for many local lesbian feminists. Within this building, lesbian feminist Durhamites formed the Durham Women’s Health Collective, a group that produced a newsletter and provided varied workshops and training sessions to women in Durham. 

The Durham chapter of the YWCA was established in 1920, but the building was demolished in 1970. The organization moved to 809 Proctor St., and the Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists met at this location throughout the 1980s. Many queer events were held at the new location, including women’s dances and the Black Gay and Lesbian Art Festival. 

In 1922, the Harriet Tubman YWCA opened on Umstead St. in Hayti, which was also an important gathering-place for women’s and civil rights activists in Durham. The Harriet Tubman YWCA also functioned as a gathering place for the Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists. 

This building housed a branch of the War Resisters’ League, where local activist, co-founder of the Triangle Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays and  Southerners on New Ground, Mandy Carter, used to work. 

This building was also a printing location of Femininary, originally published as The Feminist Newsletter. Revived in 1973 after a few years on hiatus, the newsletter began incorporating more references to lesbian-feminism. Starting with their Spring 1978 issue, Feminary decided to become, in their words, “a feminist journal of the South emphasizing the lesbian vision.” The publishers wrote that “as a lesbian collective, we could only talk knowledgeably about lesbian community.” The issues had essays, poetry, news, interviews, events, and more. 

The 1973 revival was kick-started by Nancy Blood, Elizabeth Knolten, Leslie Brogan, and Leslie Kahn. The 1978 shift and onwards was largely published under the leadership of Minnie Bruce Pratt, Cris South, Susan Ballinger, and Mab Segrest.

You can find issues of the magazine at the Durham Library North Carolina Collection and at the Rubenstein Rare Book Library at Duke. 

Pauli Murray (1910-1985) was an influential queer, civil rights, and women’s activist. Murray would use “he/she” pronouns to describe themselves in messages to family. Gender neutral and neo-pronouns were not nearly as prevalent or used in the same way they are used today, and therefore, it is hard to determine what pronouns to use to refer to Murray. The Pauli Murray Center uses he, she, and they interchangeably to reference Murray, which will also be done throughout this post, along with just the use of his name. 

Murray’s gender identity is unique in that they identified with both masculine and feminine characteristics, but acknowledged that, as a femme-presenting person, they faced considerably more challenges than a white woman or black man. Murray was married to a man, but also had numerous relationships with women. To explain his identity, Murray did not use the term lesbian, but rather saw his role in relationships with women as a man who attracted bisexual women. When saying bisexual, Murray was referring to himself as a man with female partners attracted to his masculinity, demonstrating the fluidity with which Murray understood their queer identity.  

This specific mural is entitled “Pauli Murray Roots and Soul,” made by Brett Cook. It is one of five Pauli Murray murals located throughout Durham. Each of these murals includes quotes and/or imagery of Murray that resonate with their lasting impact.

Murray’s influence on the civil rights, women’s, and LGBTQ+ movements in the United States throughout the twentieth century cannot be overstated. She actively worked towards desegregation, unpacking racism in law, and promoting the recognition of Black women’s contributions to the activist movements during this time. She helped organize Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Organization for Women (NOW), although she left NOW due to the organization's failure to adequately represent working-class women and women of color. For more resources on Murray’s activism and life, I recommend the Pauli Murray Center’s resource page.