Note: This post includes words that were once commonly used but are now derogatory, as well as outdated acronyms for the queer community. These words are used as they were represented in newspapers or archival documents for the sake of historical accuracy and to reflect how language has evolved.
When I set out to compose a framework of the queer history of Indianapolis, in terms of visibility I was pretty much expecting to find a black hole. It’s a well-known sorrow within the LGBTQ+ community that the historical record of our ancestors is imperfect, incomplete, and often never documented in the first place. Consequently, queer themes are largely underrepresented in local archives and historical writing—especially regarding BIPOC, women, and gender-diverse folks.
So, I was captivated to discover that Indy’s queer roots began growing publicly visible as early as the 1930s!
This was the golden age of Indiana Avenue, which had established itself as the Black entertainment district in Indianapolis. The bustling street was already a main thoroughfare for a segregated Indy’s Black community, but the performers made it a destination for non-residents. As more Southern Black migrants moved to the city after World War I, Indy’s jazz scene exploded. And where there was jazz, there often were drag queens.
Historian Sherrie Tucker argues that jazz allowed for queer stories to be told through the spirit of Black expression. Her research shows how queer female performers were also popular, with many producing hit records.
The Jazz Age dovetailed with the “Pansy Craze,” a period of increased LGBTQ+ visibility in pop culture from the late 1920s to early 1930s. (It was extremely hard to find any resources about pre-20th century queer life in Indianapolis – message me if you have any.) Drag queens – known then as “pansy performers” – surged in popularity, not only in queer meccas like New York and Los Angeles but in Indianapolis.
In 1933, one of these drag shows advertised in the Indianapolis Recorder that it was the first show performed by openly gay Black entertainers in Indianapolis. According to the Recorder, “for the first time in the 112 years since a group of pioneers settled here, Indianapolis has caught up with New York, Chicago, Washington, Atlantic City and Paris. Believe it or not Indianapolis has had its first ‘fairy’ public stage show and dance.”
Indianapolis was entering the big leagues by finally offering public queer entertainment. The “pansy ball” was a success—two thousand people attended while another thousand waited outside to get in. But, the police response was also considerable. By controlling the behavior of the Black community to conform to white norms, queer visibility was also limited.
“The Avenue offered a home for non-binary performers and artists in a deeply segregated Indianapolis cultural life,” Sam Lane writes in a Master’s Thesis on the Black queer history of the Avenue.
Indiana Avenue’s Black drag queens really did cement Indy’s queer visibility. Before the craze of the ‘30s and ‘40s, drag queens (who in the past were called female impersonators), could be found on the Avenue as far back as the late 1800s in traveling minstrel shows. Before that, the queer history of the city is spotty, and much of it was likely never recorded. We have these Black queer Hoosiers to thank for building the foundations of a visible queer community in the Circle City.
An advertisement for the Log Cabin Supper Club in the May 27, 1944 issue of the Indianapolis Recorder includes “female impersonators” in its lineup. Source: Indy Star
A photo from the October 18, 1969 issue of the Indianapolis Recorder shows performers lining the steps of the Indiana War Memorial to advertise the approaching “1969 Female Impersonator’s Ball” near Indiana Avenue. Source: Indy Star
The Avenue wasn’t the only hotspot for queer life. The icon of the city, Monument Circle, was its own icon as a popular gathering spot for “gay men and lesbians” in the early 1980s. These queer meet-ups were not only under the shadow of the monument—but also police surveillance. The Circle would eventually be the site of queer joy celebrating the 10th year of Indy’s Pride events in 1990.
A flyer promoting the first Celebration on the Circle LGBT pride event in Indianapolis on June 30, 1990, sponsored by Justice, Inc. Source: Mirror Indy.
A button from the first Celebration on the Circle event celebrating LGBT pride on June 30, 1990. Source: Mirror Indy.
LGBTQ+ Pride not only began in protest at Stonewall, but also had roots in defiance in Indianapolis in response to the city’s failure to observe Gay Pride Week in 1980. (Many major cities had been commemorating the Stonewall Riots with celebrations during the last week of June since 1969.)
A group of activists sponsored Indy’s first Gay Pride event in June 1981 – a semi-private dinner at the Essex Hotel. Some guests wore masks to conceal their identities. Later that year, those activists would officially form Justice, Inc. as the umbrella organization of Hoosier gay and lesbian groups. The organization focused on addressing public attitudes towards these communities and advocating for anti-discrimination legislation.
Justice Inc. at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, 1987 Credit: Indiana State Library
The 1980s bloomed into an era of advocacy and public queer visibility. In 1982, the Greater Indianapolis Gay Business Association (GIGBA) hosted a Labor Day Picnic as a LGBT (the acronym used at the time) community event. Over 500 people attended, making it the largest queer public event in the early ‘80s. The next year, the picnic swelled to over a thousand in attendance, continuing to grow each year until the event ended in the early ‘90s.
In 1984, the Alley Cat Lounge and Disco began hosting weekly drag shows. The same year, Mayor William Hudnut issued a proclamation declaring it was city policy “not to discriminate against gays.” (Whether this was followed in practice is another matter, but this marks one of Indy’s first queer anti-discrimination public stances.)
1985 edition of I KNOW YOU KNOW, a lesbian national publication based in Indianapolis for five years. This describes “bonding” (what we now know as marriage) between a lesbian couple based in Indy and the ceremony they held. Source: @queercirclecity Instagram.
1987 was a huge year in Indianapolis queer history. The Damien Center was founded to combat the local AIDS crisis and support the LGBT community. It is Indiana’s oldest AIDS facility. The center hosted meetings for LGBT youth and also housed the “gay and lesbian switchboard” for a period of time. (Before the internet, this was the only way people could get information on how to get tested or where to meet other queer people.)
In the same year, the Quaker church announced a policy change to allow gay marriage, undercutting the 1982 Indiana Yearly meeting agreement that condemned same-sex marriage. Indianapolis’s Quaker Friends Meeting House joined a network of affirming congregations throughout the ‘80s, planning AIDS awareness marches and welcomed LGBT worshippers. It has been designated as a historical safe space landmark for the queer community.
Indiana Youth Group (IYG) was also founded in 1987, and continues to serve as an independent social and support hub for LGBTQ+ youth.
Booth at Pride Week Picnic, New Works News, August 1989. Source: The Indiana History Blog.
1987 ain’t over yet! The year also saw the formation of IXE, or the Indiana Crossdresser Society. This organization served gender non-conforming Hoosiers by providing social forums and offering resources to individuals struggling with gender identity. The group also challenged instances of discrimination within and outside of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Indiana History Blog writes, “for gender non-conforming Hoosiers, the pursuit of kinship and shared identity was often fruitless, if not outright dangerous. Before the connectivity of the internet and the advocacy of organizations like Indiana Youth Group and GenderNexus, many were bereft of social opportunities and emotional support.”
IXE joined with Justice, Inc. to fight the exclusion of gender non-conforming individuals and increase acceptance—both in the broader city community as well as within the LGBTQ+ community itself. IXE then-vice president Sharon Allan detailed the trials faced by crossdressers and drag queens, noting that they “are currently experiencing problems which the gay community faced years ago.”
As the ‘80s moved into the ‘90s, IXE advocacy efforts made a sizable impact in elevating gender-diverse visibility and rights.
A flyer promoting attendance to the annual LGBT pride event held at the Indianapolis Sports Center on June 26, 1988. Source: Mirror Indy.
Indy Pride came out of the closet (so to speak) in 1988. On June 26 of that year, Justice, Inc. expanded its annual Pride celebration and hosted a festival at the former Indianapolis Sports Center. This was the first time that a queer event wasn’t held in a restaurant, bar, or pub, and the first time Pride was hosted in a public space where the queer community was out and visible.
“Many people think of the east and west coasts as centers of LGBT culture; however, Indianapolis demonstrates a rich queer history in the middle of the United States.” –National Trust for Historic Preservation
On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Indianapolis was the first city to announce a widespread LGBTQ+ heritage project to excavate and preserve Indy’s queer history.
The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Committee (IHPC) announced a formal resolution in 2019 to include LGBTQ+ history in the city’s official preservation initiatives—including LGBTQ+ historically significant building surveys, interviews with local queer residents, and collections of photos.
According to Meg Purnsley at IHPC, their goals were to identify which buildings had historic LGBT importance and to make people aware of the unrecognized LGBT history in buildings throughout Indianapolis. She mentions that many buildings in downtown Indianapolis have long been safe spots for LGBT people, and these individuals later lived in or invested in these havens.
“We owe members of the LGBT community for their preservation efforts because there was an interest in those neighborhoods, people still playing a role in preserving and living in those sites,” she said.
While I have pages and pages of notes on Indianapolis’s queer history, it is impossible to do our LGBTQ+ historical record justice in one post. For this reason, I chose to highlight these bright spots on our timeline.
Writing this post sparked an urgency in me – the events in this timeline weren’t that long ago. Especially for those groups that are underrepresented, we have to preserve as much of our history as we can before Indy’s LGBTQ+ stories pass on with the people who lived them. I’d love to make this an ongoing series. See anything left out of Indianapolis’s queer record? We’d love to interview you and share your stories! Message us at cilyaghq@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram (@cil.yag).
Although I sometimes wish I was actually an historian, regrettably I don’t have the proper training (or any, for that matter). Support the professionals whose works informed this post:
Indiana History Blog
Indy Star
Special thanks to:
Stephen M. Lane’s 2018 Master’s Thesis for Indiana University “The Female Impersonators of Indiana Avenue: Race, Sexuality, Gender Expression and the Black Entertainment Industry”
“When Did Jazz Go Straight?: A Queer Question for Jazz Studies” by Sherrie Tucker
Tori Updike has served on the CILYAG Board of Directors since it was originally formed. In her day job at a local SaaS start-up, she supports communities in regulating access to clean drinking water. Outside the 9-to-5, she can be found speed-reading for her next book club meeting, rock climbing (badly) at North Mass, or binging the latest sapphic TV series. She is a Type 7, ENFJ, Gemini stellium—a certified yapper who is overcaffeinated and excited to be here! As an Indianapolis native who identifies as sapphic and cisgender, Tori is proud to call this city home, and she looks forward to investing in CILYAG's mission to build community for Indiana's queer young adults.
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