Stepping Out: the Portland, Maine Queer History Trail

The queer history trail project was made possible by a grant from The Maine Humanities Council and funding from the University of Southern Maine. It was created by University of Southern Maine Professor Wendy Chapkis (Sociology and Women & Gender Studies) and USM Librarians Mary F. Holt (Digital Projects Manager) and Megan MacGregor (Instruction and Outreach), with the assistance of student researchers including Ty Bolduc, Lael Daigle, Oliver Eaton, Tye Lynch, and Gabriel Paulin, and as well as members of the 2016-2024 “Qualitative Research Methods/Applied LGBTQ History” course at USM. Further support was provided by independent researcher Elizabeth Lowell and Portland Public Library Portland Room librarian and archivist Abraham Schechter. We are grateful for assistance from Susie R. Bock, Jill Piekut Roy, and Jo Ann Bianchi of the University of Southern Maine Libraries and from the University of Maine VEMI Lab, especially Ersilda Cako, RJ Perry, Grant Beals, and Ashley Forbes. For audio assistance, we are grateful to Jessica Lockhart (Program Director, WMPG FM). Photos used in this project include work by photographers Annette Dragon, W. Jo Moser, Robert Diamante, and Steven Bridges. Much of the interview material included in these narratives comes from the Querying the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/ and has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

We are still actively collecting our history. If you have additions or corrections to the history trail, please email them to steppingoutportland@gmail.com

If you have material you would like to donate to the LGBTQ+ Collection, please contact Susie R. Bock at the University of Southern Maine Special Collections usm.specialcollections@maine.edu