Browse Items (12 total)

This photograph, taken in 1963, depicts Senator Charley Johns (center), for whom the Johns Committee was named, speaking with Dr. B.R.Tilley and A.E. Mikell, both public school leaders, about plans to identify and remove homosexual individuals from…

In this advertisement, the Palace Club sought to attract gay patrons to its "only all gay after hour tradition" on the weekends. This advertisement was put out after the club's move in 1981 to 3400 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, Florida.The Palace…

This portrait depicts Ann Landers (real name Esther Pauline Lederer), a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Landers's column was influential within the LGBTQ+ community for many years for her opinions on the community and other related topics.

This photograph depicts Walt Disney (left), Florida Governor Haydon Burns (center), and Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy Disney (right) at a press conference in late 1965. Walt Disney World opened just six years later in 1971. Its opening marked an…

This photograph is of the Parliament House Motor Lodge welcome sign in 1975. The sign reads "It[']s a nice day. Smile."The Parliament House Motor Lodge, originally established in 1962, was purchased by Mike Hodge and Bill Miller after the Orlando…

Originally formed in 1976 as the Gay Student Association (GSA) at Florida Technological University (later UCF), Equal at UCF provides LGBTQ+ students with a safe space without fear of discrimination.

This image depicts Las Novedades, a historic restaurant in Ybor City, Florida, established in 1890. In 1976, Bill Miller of the Parliament House purchased the restaurant and converted it into El Goya Lounge, a gay bar. The bar was open for less than…

This advertisement is for the bar Hank's. The bar ran happy hour every day of the week from noon to 8pm.

Hank's originally opened in 1977 under Wally Wood, one of the members of the Gay and Lesbian Gang. It closed sometime in the following years,…

This advertisement wishes the best to the 1977 entrants into the Miss Florida Female Impersonators Pageant. This pageant took place before the El Goya burned down in November 1977.

This postcard depicts an artist's rendition of the San Juan Hotel in downtown Orlando. Originally established in the late 1880s, the San Juan was purchased and converted into the Grand Central, a gay resort, in the late 1970s. In 1979, part of the…

In 1978, Gay Social Services was founded. The following year, the organization inaugurated Gay Skate Night at the Semoran Skateway in Casselberry, Florida, as shown by this advertisement. Gay Skate Nights brought together many LGBTQ+ individuals of…

This newsletter from Gay Social Services details how successful that their gay peer information and counseling hotline became and anticipated its expansion from four to seven nights a week just two months after beginning in March 1979. The hotline…