Bringing Westchester’s LGBTQ+ History Out of the Shadows

By Nolan Locke

On April 16, in the Humanities Lecture Hall, students and faculty alike gathered to learn about Westchester's deep and often overlooked history with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) communities.

This seminar was given by Purchase alumni, Allee Manning, who graduated in 2014 with double majors in journalism and gender studies. Manning is the founder of Westchester LGBTQ+ History Project, an independently run website with the goal of bringing awareness to LGBTQ+ history in the Westchester region.

Allee Manning highlighting important cases in Westchester LGBTQ+ history. (Photo by Nolan Locke)

Manning has been able to take on this large project in part due to funding provided by the Richard & Marylee Salomon Fund for Journalists, a program founded by journalism Professor Andrew Salomon in honor of his parents.

The main goal of the foundation is to provide the funding required for alumni to be able to pursue independent journalism projects.

“I founded the Westchester LGBTQ+ History Project two years ago,” said Manning, “with the integral assistance received from the Richard & Marylee Salomon fund. Outreach is a lot more expensive than people realize, so this funding has allowed me to do things like create flyers, maintain our domain and website and so much more. It’s helped me get the word out far and wide.”

Manning came up for with the idea for the LGBTQ+ History Project after a conversation with a friend. “I found out from a friend in the area that Sylvia Rivera had lived and worked in Tarrytown for a period of time following her activism in New York City,” said Manning. "I had no idea about that. Having this newfound knowledge made me really curious about LGBTQ+ history here in Westchester. As I kept turning over leaves and finding more and more, I realized it warranted a bigger project, one that I was really surprised to find didn't already exist.”

To Manning, it is extremely crucial to cover this history, especially now more than ever. “What’s happening today is like the equivalent of digital book burning," said Manning. "So being able to have something that is fully independent, as this project is, that makes history accessible to people.”

Manning finds it extremely important for her to be able to document the history of a community that has often found itself left out and marginalized. This is something which particularly resonated with Salomon.

“I love a story which talks about something that has been hidden or obscured. And if you look at Allees' project itself, you see, this is a community that was shunned into the shadows and purposefully ignored, and so Allees' work tries to reverse all of that,” said Salomon. He also added, “She is filling in a gap of our collective understanding here in Westchester, and I, just as a journalist and someone who is an avid reader and audience member, love stories like that.”

When asked why the board decided to award the grant funding to the Manning, journalism Professor Virginia Breen—who was also a member of the panel responsible for determining how the funds should be distributed—said, “The vitality, the contributions, and the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community in Westchester have been a kind of hidden history. If we don’t preserve it now, even more of it will be lost, whether it’s generations dying off or documents being lost to time. Preventing this loss just seemed essential.”

Students and faculty alike gather to in the Humanities Lecture Hall. (Photo by Nolan Locke)

Manning hopes her work is able to impact those in her community. “What I really hope that this does is give people who engage with the material a sense of empowerment,” said Manning. “I hope that there are lessons that can be learned from our LGBTQ ancestors.”