User:Omitt22/LGBT history in New York

LGBT history in New York additions (draft)

In 1990, Queer Nation was founded by sixty LGBT individuals in New York City as a response to violent acts of homophobia and transphobia in New York streets. The organization's introduction into the LGBT rights scene involved acts aiming to promote queer positivity, visibility, and breaking beyond heteronormative social barriers. Throughout 1990, Queer Nation organized multiple protests in response to acts of violence against LGBT individuals. In addition, some began as a result of social pressures and prejudices against accepting and representing LGBT individuals. Many of these protests were characterized by the use of different slogans aiming to highlight the permanence of queer identity, and its presence within the population of the city. Following its eventful founding year, Queer Nation expanded its reach throughout the rest of the early 1990s nationwide, including Atlanta, Portland, San Francisco, and Denver.

Beginning in 1992, a number of efforts began in New York City to preserve historically important LGBT sites. This initiative started with Andrew S. Dolkart, author of Guide to New York City Landmarks, who brought several historic LGBT locations into the guide for the very first time. The preservation committee working behind the scenes to make these inclusions possible began to bring the unique styles and characteristics of certain landmarks into the public eye. Some of these features can be traced back to queer social developments in the late 1800s. Significant LGBT landmarks were slow to be recognized in light of a lack of a structured and proper organization of efforts to do so. Despite this, the foundation created by these early efforts in the 1990s would allow for New York City to eventually become a leader in preserving and recognizing historic LGBT landmarks.

From 1993 - 1994, work took place on an old public school, known as Rivington House, that had initially been operated as a public school after its construction in 1898. In 1995, the work was complete and the Rivington House was re-opened with the purpose of serving as a care facility for New Yorkers infected with AIDS. As this was still during a time when treatments for AIDS were not advanced enough to provide long-term outcomes for patients, the facility was oriented towards providing end-of-life care for its patients. Rivington House was granted an initial budget of $33 million to support its 219-bed capacity and its small outpatient center. It was the largest treatment center of its kind for AIDS patients in the entire United States. During the care facility's first year of operation, the mortality rate for its patients stood at 50% and the average stay was approximately two weeks. By 1997, new advancements in the treatment of AIDS reduced the mortality rate to 30% and increased the longevity of patients committed to the facility up to 120 days on average. (Source links: https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/rivington-house/)