The struggle for LGBTQ+ rights has inspired headlines since the 1960s. Efforts to have homosexuality removed from official lists of crimes and mental illnesses; the rebellion against police repression at the Stonewall Inn; the AIDS epidemic and the unforgettable protests and media campaigns of ACT UP and the activist artists in Gran Fury; the antigay murders of Matthew Shepard and others; the Supreme Court ruling giving same-sex couples the right to marry—these are some of the historic events that spring to mind. Researchers interested in digging deeper into LGBTQ+ history will find a rich repository of archival material in the George Washington University’s Special Collections Research Center in Gelman Library.
For almost 50 years, reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. has covered news stories about the LGBTQ+ community in Washington, D.C., and beyond for the Washington Blade, generally considered the nation’s best gay newspaper. Boxes and more boxes of Chibbaro’s files—about 180 linear feet of interview transcripts, clippings and notes recorded on paper or on cassette tape—are part of GW’s archives. Jen King, collections coordinator and manuscripts librarian, negotiated the donation agreement with Chibbaro.
“I see a lot of different uses for this collection because it covers such a wide range of topics,” King said. “These topics include politics and crime.Students could use the collection to research D.C. history or the history of the LGBT community. A journalism student could use this collection to study how a reporter constructs an article based on the interviews they’ve done. Lots of people could use it for lots of reasons, and it complements other collections that we have.”
There are many LGBT resources in GW’s collections, including photographs documenting lesbian life by JEB (Joan E. Biren). There are materials about LGBT life at GW as well as records from the Whitman-Walker Clinic (now Whitman-Walker Health) and its former executive director, Jim Graham, later a D.C. Council member. Records of the AIDS Action Foundation from 1984–2006 and many other materials are in GW’s collections.
From left, film producer Pate Felts, Jen King, director Patrick Sammon and film producer Charles Francis gathered for a screening of Sammon's new documentary in the GW Special Collections Research Center in Gelman Library. (William Atkins/GW Today)
The Chibbaro archives play a role in the new short documentary, “Lou’s Legacy: A Reporter’s Life at the Washington Blade,” scheduled to make its broadcast premiere on PBS during Pride Month in June. A world premiere screening of the film, roughly half an hour in length, will be at the MLK Library auditorium in D.C. on May 29, followed by a panel discussion with Chibbaro and others, including the film’s director, Patrick Sammon.
In his prize-winning documentary, “Cured,” Sammon detailed the efforts that led the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in 1973. In “Lou’s Legacy,” he planned to sketch Chibbaro’s history and to follow him as he worked on a story. As the film went into production, a backlash against drag was making headlines, along with the post-COVID return to performing of D.C. drag legend “Ella Fitzgerald” (Donnell Robinson, who will be joining the panel at MLK Library).
"Ella Fitzgerald" (Donnell Robinson) returned to the stage at Capital Pride of 2023 after three years away from performing because of COVID. Ella has entertained audiences since 1975. (Photo by Michael Key © Washington Blade)
“There was the opportunity to film with Lou and Donnell Robinson together,” Sammon said, “and that’s probably my favorite part of the film, in part because you see Lou at work as a journalist. Donnell is such an amazing person, and his personality comes through in such an amazing way. To be able to include two D.C. legends in the film is really interesting and compelling to me.”
The Washington Blade is the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the United States. Its first issue, in 1969, was a mimeographed sheet. Chibbaro began freelancing for it in 1976, when Jimmy Carter was running for president. At first, he used a pseudonymous byline, Lou Romano, because he had another job; about eight years later, he became a full-time writer. Next year, he’ll celebrate half a century of keeping the LGBTQ+ community informed. [Full disclosure: The author of this article is a former arts editor of the Blade.]
In the early days, Chibbaro’s job posed special challenges. Victims of assault, or even slayings, might not be identified in “mainstream” reports as gay or lesbian, reflecting the general reluctance to discuss homosexuality. Knowing it was important for the safety of their community to report the relevant facts, Chibbaro and his editors defied critics who urged discretion.
ACT UP members protested in front of the White House to demand more action from President George H.W. Bush and other political leaders to combat HIV/AIDS. Some demonstrators threw the ashes of their loved ones over the White House fence. (Photo by Doug Hinckle © Washington Blade)
Later, during the AIDS pandemic, the Blade’s coverage was similarly frank, as its obituary section swelled horrifically. Once again, staffers faced pushback, this time from business owners who feared such coverage would affect their businesses.
“For young queer people in particular, I think it's a different world today,” Sammon said. “Obviously, HIV/AIDS is still a threat, but it was a much different story before the drug cocktail arrived. Equally obviously, there are still threats of violence against our community. I'm not diminishing the threats, particularly facing trans people, but I think this documentary is a time capsule view of a different world.”
History in the archives
Chibbaro’s archives came to GW in two installments, King said. The first, in 2008, was arranged by the Washington Blade; later, in 2020, a much larger segment came from Chibbaro’s home. With the help of Charles Francis and Pate Felts, co-founders in 2011 of a new incarnation of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., many additional boxes, totaling more than 300 in all, were delivered to the Special Collections Research Center. They contain thousands of pages and hundreds of hours of taped interviews.
Lou Chibbaro, at right, inspects boxes of his archival material in the stacks of the GW Special Collections Research Center. (Patrick Sammon)
“These boxes were stacked ceiling high in a bike room, in a basement, in a closet, in Lou’s storage areas,” said Felts, who also serves as CFO for the Mattachine Society. The group was originally formed in 1950 in Los Angeles and branches later formed in other cities. In D.C., it was headed by the late Frank Kameny, a celebrated activist in the campaigns to have homosexuality removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders and to persuade leaders in the federal government that LGBT employees are not a threat. Inspired by the Black Power slogan, “Black is beautiful,” Kameny coined the phrase, “Gay is good.”
Despite the progress made in recent decades, one of the local Mattachine chapter’s guiding beliefs is that there is still a great deal of LGBTQ+ history to be researched in archival material. (King confirmed that there is continuing growth in scholarship produced using archival collections within the broad area of LGBTQ+ history.) Francis and Felts served as co-producers of “Lou’s Legacy,” bringing Sammon on board as director.
“Gelman Library is a character in the film,” said Francis, the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.’s president.
A small portion of the material in the Chibbaro archives isn’t available yet in order to respect the confidentiality of his sources.
“If a certain portion of an interview was not for attribution,” King said, “we would redact that portion and put the original in a parallel file, and in 50 years we’ll reunite them. If the source wanted to remain entirely confidential, we redacted their name. So the interview is there; you just can't see their name for 50 years. And if a source said something was off the record, that’s also removed for 50 years. And that’s to honor the restriction that person put on Lou.”
Chibbaro covered many local crime stories, and he also went to Laramie, Wyoming, to cover the trial of Matthew Shepard’s killer. There’s a moving scene in the film showing Chibbaro at the fence where Shepard was tied, beaten and left to die.
“There were two men charged in the murder,” Chibbaro said. “The first one entered a guilty plea, so there was no trial. The second one, Aaron McKinney, did not. It was one of the most emotional trials I ever covered, in many years of covering the crime beat. The trial brought out all of the emotional aspects of the incident, but it became even more dramatic when Matthew Shepard's father, Dennis, testified after the jury found McKinney guilty of first-degree murder. Wyoming has a death sentence, and Dennis Shepard testified that the family asked that McKinney not be given the death sentence, but instead given life in prison without the chance of parole. He said, ‘Mr. McKinney, you took my son's life, but we're going to spare your life.’ There wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom.”
Many homicide cases that Chibbaro covered were never solved. Sammon said he hopes material in the archives might lead to an eventual solution in at least some of these cases.
“I would love for some students, maybe in a criminal justice class, to dig into this material and go back to some of these law enforcement agencies,” Sammon said. “There are a lot of cold case opportunities—unsolved murder cases that Lou covered over the years.”
Lou Chibbaro (left) interviews Donnell Robinson, aka Ella Fitzgerald, for a 2023 Washington Blade story. Robinson discussed the ongoing backlash against drag performers. (Photo by Patrick Sammon)
Chibbaro is no stranger to prizes—he has received various awards for his reporting over the years—and he adds the new documentary about him to his list of honors.
“I thought they did a pretty good job on it,” Chibbaro said. “And I'm certainly honored that they deemed it important to focus this on myself.”
“Lou's Legacy: A Reporter's Life at the Washington Blade” will be broadcast in June on MPT and WETA, two PBS stations in the Washington, D.C., area. The WETA broadcasts are scheduled for June 21 at 8 p.m. and June 23 at 9:30 p.m. Beginning on June 21, the film will be streaming on PBS.org. Register at this link for the premiere screening at MLK Library on May 29 at 6:30 p.m.
