LGBTQ History
A research guide with resources for the Pacific Northwest
LGBTQIA History in Boise
Video from Cheryl Oestreicher about LGBTQ history in Boise, presented through the Idaho Humanities Council
Idaho LGBT History Post-Stonewall
An overview of recent (Post-Stonewall) Idaho LGBTQ history, separated by timeline and topic
Locating Queer Possibilities: LGBTQ+ Folks Negotiating Community and Belonging in Idaho, 1969-2011
Thesis by Rachel Taylor. Through archival research including newspaper editorials written by queer folks and their allies, and oral histories collected from Idahoans throughout the state, this thesis explores how queer Idahoans have negotiated their relationship to the Gem State. Queer Idahoans built community based on their beliefs about place, comparing their communities at city, regional, and state levels to how they imagined queer people lived elsewhere.
Books and Articles
Boag, Peter. "Peeping Toms and Tearooms in 1920s Boise: A Case Study on the Emergence and Suppression of Gay Male Community." Northwest Gay and Lesbian Historian, Summer/Fall 1996.
Thompson, Mark. Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. 1994.
Contains an interview with Clyde Hall, a gay Native American activist from Fort Hall, Idaho, pp. 116-130. A follow-up to Hall's Idaho memoir, "Children of Grandmother Moon" (written as "M. Owlfeather") contained in Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.
Schaeffer, Claude E. "The Kutenai Female Berdache: Courier, Guide, Prophetess, and Warrior." Ethnohistory 12 (1965): 193-236.
Quinn, D. Michael. Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1996. History of homosexuality in Utah.
Boag, Peter. Same-sex affairs: constructing and controlling homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2003.
Shilts, Randy. Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1993.
An account of lesbians at Mountain Home Air Force Base, 1970.
For more on gays and lesbians in the U.S military, see Larry LaRocco Papers, 1982-1994 - Series 1 - Box 20, Folders 7-9
Brian J. Bergquist Papers, 1968-1998
Dallas Chase Papers, 1991-2004
Collection on Gay Life in Boise, Idaho, 1978-2022
Dean Worbois Papers, 1982-2022
Triangle Connection Records, 1989-2011
Spontaneous Productions Records, 1997-2007
Anthropology and Ethnography Collection, 1993-2004
Box 2, 17-18, 19-20; Box 6, Folder 5
Life History Anthropology Project Collection, 1996-2004
Box 1, Folders 11-12 “Angela D. Openly gay in Boise, raised by adoptive parents” ; Box 2, Folder 6 “D.C., "coming out" as a lesbian, discusses life as a secretly gay LDS ("Mormon") housewife”
Norman Shapiro Artist Books, 1967-2008
Box 2, “Vintage 1950's Lesbian Sex”
Boise Hotline Inc. Records, 1971-1993
Box 1, Folder 58, “Gay and Lesbian Talkline proposal.
Idaho LGBTQ Oral History Project
IdahoQueered Proud Histories from the Gem State - University of Idaho
Small Manuscripts and Subject Files, 1878-2018 - “Boys of Boise" coverage, excerpts from Seattle Gay News”
Gerassi, John. The Boys of Boise: Furor, Vice and Folly in an American City. New York: Macmillan. 2001.
"Crush the Monster": Homosexuality and Moral Panic in 1950s Idaho.
Boise’s Hidden Queer History Still Has Echoes Today - Podcast
The Gay Scandal That Led to the Table Rock Cross - Podcast
Katz, Jonathan Ned. Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. New York: Meridian. 1985.
Contains a psychiatric report on Lucille Hart (patient "H") dated 1918-1920 (pp. 258-279) and an anonymous interview conducted in 1973 with a man convicted in the Boys of Boise case.
Collection on Gay Life in Boise, Idaho, 1978-2022
Hopkins, Jim. "The Boy Most Likely To Succeed." [Boys of Boise] Idaho Statesman. October 15, 1995.
Etlinger, Charles. "An Enduring Lesson: Homosexual Purge of '55 Yields to Tolerance Today-- But Fears Still Remain." Idaho Statesman. December 15, 1985.
Etlinger, Charles. "Attitudes Changed Since 'Boys of Boise' Scandal." Idaho Statesman. Dec 21, 1975.
The Fall of '55 - Documentary on the Boys of Boise case
Collections
Brian J. Bergquist Papers, 1968-1998
Cole LeFavour/Nicole LeFavour Papers, 1978-2020
Collection on Gay Life in Boise, Idaho, 1978-2022
The Community Center Records, 1983-2003
Dallas Chase Papers, 1991-2004
Your Family, Friends, and Neighbors Records, 1989-2006
Books
Schow, Wayne. Remembering Brad: on the Loss of a Son to AIDS. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995. Journal of an Idaho AIDS victim with commentary by his father.
Dallas Chase Papers, 1991-2004
Brian J. Bergquist Papers, 1968-1998
No On One Coalition Records, 1992-1994
Your Family, Friends, and Neighbors Records, 1989-2006
Anti-Gay Idaho - A History of Proposition 1 - Podcast
No on 1 Campaign - OutHistory
Michael J. Blain Collection on Idaho Proposition 1, 1993-1997
Suzanne McCorkle Papers, 1981-2014
Jane Foraker-Thompson Papers, 1975-1994 - Box 1 Folder 42 “Anti-Gay Violence and Victimization Report”
Our Private Idaho (video). Directed by Clare Muller and Daniel Gallagher. London: Devil's Avocado. 1998. [The anti-gay initiative and No, on One Campaign, 1994]
Kamikaze Summer (video). Directed by Chris Collins. San Francisco: Hawk Hill Films. 1996.
Interviews with gay and anti-gay activists in Idaho, Oregon, and Colorado.
Anti-Gay rights: Assessing Voter Initiatives. Edited by Stephanie L. Witt and Suzanne McCorkle. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. 1997.
Pursley, Sara. "Gay Politics in the Heartland: With the Lesbian Avengers in Idaho." The Nation 260 January 23, 1995, pp 90-94.
Gay activism in North Idaho during the No on One campaign, 1994.
Evancho, Robert R. The Boise Gay Community in 1993: A Subculture Under Siege. Masters thesis, Boise State University. 1993.
Publications
Virta, Alan. "Finding Community in the Mitchell Hotel." Boise @ One Five Zero. Boise City Department of Arts and History. 2013. pp. 65-68.
Boise's first gay bar.
Sweet Land of Liberty: Moscow Pullman Gay Community (video). Produced by Mike Kirk. Moscow: KUID-TV. 1977.
Interviews with gays and lesbians living on the Palouse.
Barclay, Donald. "Coming Out in Boise." University News [Boise State Univ] April 22, 1981.
Marcus, Eric. Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945-1990. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 1992.
Contains an interview with Morris Foote about his life as a gay man in Boise, Idaho (pp. 314-318)
Worbois, Dean. Gay Bars in Boise. Barn Door Publishing, 2021.
Your Family, Friends, and Neighbors Records, 1989-2006
Boxes 11-16, 31
Brian J. Bergquist Papers, 1968-1998
Box 5, Folders 2-4
Dallas Chase Papers, 1991-2004
Box 2, Folder 17 and Tapes 1 and 3; Box 3, Folders 1 and 3
Collection on Gay Life in Boise, Idaho, 1978-2022
Boxes 4 and 6, 5 and 7 have memorabilia and a VHS tape, Oversized drawer 9 has a banner
Donna Harwood / Lion's Pride Papers, 1980s-2015
Box 1, Folder “Pride Foundation”
Cole LeFavour/Nicole LeFavour Papers, 1978-2020
Box 3, LGBTQIA+ Activism, 1994-2020
Idaho Pride from 1989-2023
Article about the history of pride and also a list of all the LGBTQ collections that the Special Collections and Archives has in their collection
Dean Worbois Papers, 1982-2022
“The Bible and the Homosexual”
Donna Harwood / Lion's Pride Papers, 1980s-2015
Life History Anthropology Project Collection, 1996-2004
Box 2, Folder 6 “D.C., "coming out" as a lesbian, discusses life as a secretly gay LDS ("Mormon") housewife
Episcopal Diocese of Idaho Records, 1867-1988
Series 20: Miscellaneous, Box 66, Folder 28 “Gay Rights/Homosexuality”
Books
Quinn, D. Michael. Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1996. History of homosexuality in Utah.
Spanbauer, Tom. The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon: A Novel. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. 1991. The story of a bisexual or gay Indian boy in the fictional town of Excellent, Idaho, at the turn of the century. The author incorporates the Idaho legends of Peg Leg Annie, Chief Nampa, Dr. Ah Fong, and Craters of the Moon into his narrative. The first of several Idaho gay-related novels by Spanbauer.
Dennett, Nolan. Place of Shelter. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1994. A coming-of-age novel set in Warren, Idaho. The author is a professional dancer and a former Fulbright scholar.
Newman, Mike. Secret Buddies. San Francisco: GLB Publishers. 1992. High jinks among the firefighters in the Bitterroot Mountains.
Hart, Alan. The Undaunted. New York: W.W. Norton. 1936. A novel about medical research. One of the subplots (the story of Sandy Farquhar) reflects Hart's experience as a young physician forced to move from town to town because of rumor and gossip over his sexuality. The author lived in Boise in the late 1930s and early 1940s [See also entries under Katz, above]
Haynes, Matthew R.K. Moving Towards Home. London: Minerva. 1999. Novel by an Idaho author about a gay teen, set mainly in Elko, Nevada.
Opyr, Joan. Idaho Code. St. Paul: Bywater Books. 2006. Murder mystery set in a fictionalized Moscow, Idaho, during the 1994 anti-gay initiative.