This project was created for History 390, in an attempt to answer the following reserach question: "What role did Washington D.C. play in the development of the early LGBT Rights movement in America as a whole, and who were the key individuals who made lasting contributions to the fight for equal rights?"
In my attempts to anwser this question, I found a great deal of resources. I basically began by googling LGBT Rights, and going from there. I redefined my research question several times throughout working on this project, mainly in an attempt to narrow my topic into something more specific. LGBT Rghts in Washington D.C. is a really broad topic, and it is through narrowing my topic that I truly discovered why D.C. was important. I think that the first resource I found was the Rainbow History Project archive. From there, I discovered Frank Kameny, and everything that he did. From there, I narrowed my research topic, and crafted it so that it would accurately incorporate his contribution. Once I knew what I was looking for, it made it easier to narrow my searches. My sources all spirder-webbed off of each other, and I feel that I got a very comprehensive look at the movement from many sides.
This project was chllaenging in the aspect that it had many portions to it, and in that my topic was still braod enough that it was hard to feel like I was incorpating everything. I will never be able to add enough items to this project, because there are so many primary sources from this period of time. Another issue that I found challenging was making sure that alll of the elements came together, but the essay really did help with that.
I learned so much more from this project than I ever expected to. I uncovered an entirely new side of LGBT history, ebcause I have never even heard of the Lavender Scare or Frank Kameny before conducting this research. I did not know that most of the LGBT movement can be traced back to DC and back to one man.