SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento was a lot different for LGBTQ+ communities 50 years ago.

Openly gay bars weren’t allowed in the city, and for years, many of those establishments hid in parts of West Sacramento. During the time of the Stonewall riots in 1979, the bar Upstairs/Downstairs was raided by police on 1225 K Street, destroying the bar’s beer and wine stock.

But within the same year, Sacramento would hold its first Pride parade. Sacramento residents would march from Way Station at 14th and I streets to J street, finishing the day at Capitol Park, according to the Sacramento LGBT Community Center. And for generations, there were activists fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Sacramento.

It’s stories like these, and the everyday of Sacramento residents, that the LGBTQ+ Historic Experience Project is seeking to document.

“There were a lot of significant people that lived here, worked here and fought for the rights that we now have and take fore granted, but we have to make sure that we recognize those things,” said Henry Feuss, the project’s co-director. “(We) have to keep fighting and make those rights fly backwards.”

The LGBTQ+ Historic Experience Project is a grant-funded initiative to document Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ history. In collaboration with the Lavender Library, a volunteer-run library focused on LGBTQ+ literature, the project is collecting oral history interviews, documents and photos from Sacramento residents for research purposes.

“We recognize not all stories are included in this document, so we need your help to fill in the gaps,” the website states.

Mauricio Torres Jr., the co-vice president of the Lavender Library, said the team is trying to make the final product more inclusive of transgender voices and communities of color.

“We know that, throughout history, a lot of queer movement and activism have been by trans people and people of color,” Torres Jr. said “So, if those stories also occurred in Sacramento, we want to make sure that we’re doing our part to undercover them.”

The project has recently released its first draft of its historic context statement and is seeking public comment and input on the project. The historic context statement will serve as a foundation to identify “significant individuals, key events, buildings and sites” associated with the city’s LGBTQ+ community, the document states.

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