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From Twilight to Sunshine: Maryland LGBTQ+ History

Join Ben Egerman, an Enoch Pratt Free Library librarian, as he presents the fascinating history of Maryland’s LGBTQ+ community, tracing stories, lived experiences, and the ongoing journey toward visibility and rights.

Before language existed to identify persons whose gender expression and/or sexuality were non-conforming, nineteenth and early twentieth century local newspapers offered tantalizing clues that all was not straight and narrow.  A few decades later, the late 1920s and early 1930s previewed the openness of recent times before giving way to a darker, more perilous era for LGBTQ+ people in the 1950s. After reviewing these twilight years, this program will look at the beginnings of the current movement toward LGBTQ+ visibility and rights.