Historical Marker Honoring Lesbian Torn Down in Dayton, Ohio. Was It a Hate Crime?

by Brandon Miller · 2010-07-13 07:08:00 UTC
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In 1900, there weren't many people writing controversial love poems and thinking about gay rights. They were more likely focusing on things like emerging technologies (ooh, a typewriter!) and not getting tuberculosis. Stuff like that. So when I hear about early LGBT rights being championed by brave souls at the turn of the 20th century, two things go through my mind. First, are you crazy? And second, thank you.

To refute my first thought, Natalie Clifford Barney wasn't crazy. A lesbian author, she was born in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1870s and lived most of her life in Paris. In 1900, she published her first book of lesbian love poems, Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes. Her work deals with themes of feminism, pacifism and paganism.

Seeing as Dayton, Ohio, isn't really the birthplace of too many famous folk (though a quick web search shows that the yummy Rob Lowe grew up there and that's good enough for me!), Barney's honoring was a big deal. The Ohio Historical Society and Ohio gay rights activists lobbied hard to have her recognized (despite the fact that she lived most of her life in Paris) and a marker went up in Cooper Park on October 25, 2009.

And then the marker came down — with a large crack in it at the hand (or hands) of vandals.

“It’s a hate crime because why would someone tear it down and not take it,” said John Gantt, executive director of the Greater Dayton LGBT Center. “They just left it there and no other sign was damaged.” The police have not yet determined if this was indeed a hate crime or a random act of vandalism, but the gay and lesbian community of Dayton feels the attack on the aluminum marker was a deliberate strike against them.

In any case, I am optimistic that at least some good can come of this situation. The publicity from the vandalism is spreading notice of a very brave and insightful woman of whom I am now a fan. "My queerness is not a vice, is not deliberate, and harms no one," she once said. Marker or no marker, I'll say this: you go girl. And I won't judge you if you want to haunt the vandals.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Brandon Miller is a freelance writer and editor from Toronto, Ontario.
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