South Carolina LGBTQ Archives

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In 2013, the College Reads! committee chose "Fun Home," a memoir by Alison Bechdel about growing up as a closeted le***an and her complicated relationship with her father, as its annual read.

South Carolina lawmakers disapproved of the choice of book, saying that it was "promoting the gay and le***an lifestyle." As a result, the College
lost $52,000 of funding for the year, the same cost as the program.

In protest of the attempted censorship, the original cast of the Fun Home musical and the author performed two shows in an off-campus theater.

Special Collections has two copies signed by the author and original musical cast.

***an

125 Bull Street

The Avery Research Center has the papers of Joseph Towles & Colin Turnbull. Turnbull, an anthropologist, met Towles while working at the American Museum of Natural History. They exchanged wedding vows in 1960, living openly in an in*******al, gay relationship.

66 George Street

Randolph Hall takes its name from Harrison Randolph (1871-1954), who, as President of the College from 1897-1942, oversaw the institution’s transition from a totally male school to one with women, the addition of Bachelor of Science degrees, a physical education department, and many other improvements, all the while maintaining a standard of academic excellence.

Randolph was a complicated man. Married, he carried on romantic and apparently physical relationships with men, but it is unlikely that he defined himself as gay, hiding or “closeting” this part of himself, even while leaving a documentary trail that leaves no doubt regarding these “trysts”, as he called his meetings with his “beloved” fellows.

Did he want these notes to survive? Other gay people of his generation did the same thing, hiding parts of their emotional and sexual selves while alive, but leaving behind diaries they wanted others to read, so we in the future could benefit by seeing the lives they led.

Marion Square

Dedicated in 1999, the Holocaust memorial in Marion Square is perhaps the only one in the city of Charleston to pay tribute to gay people. It uses the word “homosexual” in its panel describing those selected for destruction by the N***s.

East Bay & Laurens Streets

John Laurens served alongside Alexander Hamilton under George Washington. Hamilton’s letters suggest a close relationship, writing "I wish, my dear Laurens, that it might be in my power, by action, rather than words, to convince you that I love you."

56 Society Street

Dawn Langley Simmons, one of the first openly trans women in SC, lived here. Simmons married a Black man during segregation, sparking an international furor. She wrote 3 autobiographies, each with conflicting information about her fascinating life.

38 Chalmers

Charleston Museum director Laura Bragg (1881 – 1978) lived in this house. In her salon, gay and straight people mixed. Bragg has been linked romantically with several women but the nature of their relationships remain open to debate.


***an

89 East Bay Street

Writer Harry Hervey lived in Charleston in the mid-1920s openly with his lover, Carleton Hildreth. Although he used coded language to cloak a ho******ic meaning and subtext, he was often more explicit than many other closeted writers of his day.

150 Cannon Street

In 1978, drag queen Bryan Seabrook was the first African American to win the Miss Gay Charleston contest. As Africa, he performed in support of AIDS and other charities, and appeared on the cover of at least two magazines in southern-belle-like attire.

2 Murray Blvd

This public garden, dating from antebellum times and displaying much of the history of the city, has reflected many changes in various eras. Before the Civil War, it was the province only of white residents. During Reconstruction, most of its visitors were Black Charlestonians.

When Jim Crow laws were enforced, African Americans could bring white children there, but often were not allowed on benches, except on various holidays. In the late 20th century, as civil rights issues were debated, the park and the battery sea wall became a congregating point for Black families on Sunday afternoons. It’s not known when gay men began using the battery for a cruising spot, but it functioned as such for a large part of the mid part of the 20th century.

100 Meeting Street

Charleston-born architect Robert Mills (1781-1855) designed this structure in 1822 and it was constructed between 1822-26. Known as the Fireproof Building, it was the first such structure purposely built in the United States, designed to hold, and protect public records; in 1943 part of the building became the home of the South Carolina Historical Society (SCHS), founded in 1855. The society now occupies the entire building (with a museum open to the public) and is the state’s oldest and largest private repository of books, letters, journals, maps, drawings, and photographs. Dedicated to preserving all aspects of SC’s past, the archives, of course, includes several LGBTQ collections, documenting locals like Laura M. Bragg (see 38 Chalmers Street), visitors like Prentiss Taylor (see 17 Chalmers Street) and allies such as Josephine Pinckney (see 36 Chalmers Street). Other collections include the Anne King Gregorie papers.

Born in Savannah, GA, Gregorie (1887-1960) was the first woman to receive a doctorate in history from the University of South Carolina. She and her long-term partner feminist Flora Belle Surles (1887-1971) lived and worked together, helping to save the state’s history, while adding their own to the story.

The archives are rich with documents reflective of the intimate lives of past and current Carolinians. There are letters describing Ned Jennings (see 62 Broad Street), copies of early Charleston gay newsletters, and much more.

An 1861 letter in Allston Family Papers, for instance, dramatizes past fears and attitudes to what was considered improper behavior. In a letter to his younger brother Charles in boarding school in McCormack, SC. Benjamin Allston wrote:
“Where is your own bed? Have you not one? I would ask Mr. Porcher to allow you to use your own mattress, even if you have to put it upon the floor.” Benjamin warned, “If you cannot affect this, well you must submit, but be very careful Charley, boys in sleeping together sometimes teach each other very bad habits….” Benjamin warned of insanity “from the practice of habits learnt in boyhood.”