At Congrsnal Cemetery, a Solemn Tribute to Gay Servicemembers | DCist

Contents:

• LOVE AND ATH: THE LEGACY OF CONGRSNAL CEMETERY’S ‘GAY CORNER’
• CONGRSNAL CEMETERY'S 'GAY CORNER' IS A MIDDLE FGER TO J. EDGAR HOOVERCONGRSNAL CEMETERY'S 'GAY CORNER' IS A MIDDLE FGER TO J. EDGAR HOOVER
• FIRST: GAY MILARY MEMORIAL D.C. CONGRSNAL CEMETERY'S 'GAY CORNER'

LOVE AND ATH: THE LEGACY OF CONGRSNAL CEMETERY’S ‘GAY CORNER’

In a quiet neighborhood of Southeast Washgton, Leonard Matlovich has been a persistent advote for gay rights sce the 1980s. Instead, he — or rather his tombstone — n be found Congrsnal Cemetery, which claims to be the world’s only graveyard wh an LGBTQ, why is Matlovich buried here — a bulic, 35-acre stretch of land near the Anastia River and RFK Stadium — and why did “Gay Corner, ” as some refer to , velop unr the cherry tre near his 6-by-8-foot grane grave marker? Part of the answer is a 10-send walk away: the fenced- grave of the untry’s most notor homophobe, J.

CONGRSNAL CEMETERY'S 'GAY CORNER' IS A MIDDLE FGER TO J. EDGAR HOOVERCONGRSNAL CEMETERY'S 'GAY CORNER' IS A MIDDLE FGER TO J. EDGAR HOOVER

“It was kd of a middle fger to Hoover, ” says Pl Williams, the cemetery’s much of the mid-20th century, Hoover’s FBI bugged, harassed and attacked gays wh the same vrlic vilence that the agency ed to go after civil rights lears, antiwar activists, alleged munists and others emed “viant” threats to the natn.

FIRST: GAY MILARY MEMORIAL D.C. CONGRSNAL CEMETERY'S 'GAY CORNER'

Hoover himself was, of urse, believed to be gay — and Tolson was thought (though never proved) to have been his romantic partner — but don’t expect to hear about that if you vis the cemetery. A Public Vlt was ed to hold the bodi of Prints John Qucy Adams, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, among others, until they were buried elsewhere the story behd Matlovich’s after-ath prott has s roots the mid-1970s, when he met the early gay rights activist Frankl Kameny — who 1957 had been fired om the Army Map Service for beg gay. A 1974 Air Force Tim story reported that Kameny wanted to challenge the legaly of the ary’s ban on openly gay men.

He was lookg for “someone wh a flawls rerd who the ary don’t already know is gay, and who is ready to fight as a tt se, ” rells Michael Bedwell, a iend of Matlovich’s and adviser to a project on gay history. That fall, Matlovich moved to G Street SE, across om the then-ndown cemetery, and he disvered that Walt Whman’s lover, Peter Doyle, was buried 1984, two years before Matlovich was diagnosed wh AIDS, he and Bedwell vised Père Lachaise Cemetery Paris, where Osr Wil’s grave is a popular gay statn.

“This brought home the ia that gays need hero to intify wh, ” Bedwell says. For Matlovich, Congrsnal Cemetery had “gay ronance bee of Doyle”; he bought two plots near Hoover as a last lgh of sorts, explas Bedwell.

” Above those words are two pk triangl, an upward-potg one symbolizg gay rights and an upsi-down one that gay prisoners were forced to wear Nazi ncentratn the left of his grave is a most memorial to Kameny that reads “Gay is Good, ” a then-heretil slogan that the activist ed 1968. Kameny is not actually buried at Congrsnal, but many other gay men and women are. About 60 have been terred Gay Corner, and 100 more have bought plots, acrdg to Williams.

Kay Lahen was buried this sprg next to her partner, activist Barbara Gtgs, sometim referred to as the mother of the gay rights movement.

Lbian rights anizatn, 1958 and led the fight to force the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn to classify homosexualy as a mental illns. William Boyce Mueller, a founr of Fotten Suts — which fought the ban on gays the Boy Suts (the anizatn his grandfather tablished) — is buried close by unr a broad magnolia. An obelisk stalled 2017 honors Anto, an enslaved young man who was Roman emperor Hadrian’s lover and has been lled a “gay god.