Lessons in LGBTQ History

As a reminder, we launched the public section of Capturing Rainbows’ new website 2 1/2 days ago and the feedback has been enthusiastic. Have you checked it out yet? When you do, please let me know what you think via direct message or in public comments here. To be clear, the page currently displays the accumulated content our members crafted and posted to Capturing Rainbows’ private Facebook group over the last 9 months, excluding work by several contributors who weren’t able or willing for their stories to be publicly shared at this time. A team of web developers is working on the “members only” section of the site, which should be ready to launch in the next few weeks. A more complicated endeavor, the private page will ask you to register as a member and set up an individual profile (with photo and relevant personal info). You’ll be asked to acknowledge the usual terms & conditions and attest to being 18 or older before you can access the content (as a reminder, it will allow racier content than prudish Instagram or Facebook do). On the page, you’ll see ALL the content posted by other members to the private and public sections of the site. And you’ll be able to post your own stories, photos, and videos and comment on others’ posts. When you click on another member’s profile, you’ll be able to see his/her photo, personal info, AND all posts by that member. We encourage interaction among members. In fact, even when you check out the current public section, we hope you’ll be comfortable sharing your reaction there. Our objective is to start developing the sort of community on Capturing Rainbows that has arisen here, but writ large so that every member can be both a contributor AND a commenter. We hope you embrace the site and we look forward to your participation. Today’s photo is a close-up of Maurice van der Pohl, a straight Canadian backpacker, which I took in St. Maarten in the Caribbean on my vacation there in December 1977. Some may recall that I seduced his (ostensibly straight) traveling companion on the beach there late at night while we were both inebriated, which led to a torrid 5-day affair between us. #35mm

A post shared by Mike Balaban (@bammer47) on Jun 13, 2018 at 6:56am PDT

A note from the founders of Capturing Rainbows, which sounds like it's off to a great start!

Read about handsome Mark HERE.

Capturing Rainbows Looks to Document Our Collective LGBTQ History

Am very excited about the launch of CAPTURING RAINBOWS, a place to collect and share LGBTQ stories, history and memories. The site is a joint effort by Tom Walker and my pal Mike Balaban, whose Bammer47 Instagram account frequently link to. What makes Capturing Rainbows different is that it has fewer boundaries -- the guys are "looking for your memories, ranging from small moments to longer narratives, as well as old photos that might be of interest to others" -- and escapes any word limits or photo standards that other social media outlets sometimes enforce. Check out the guys' mission statement below and then dig in HERE.

ABOUT CAPTURING RAINBOWS: As LGBT people, most of us know about the large pivotal moments that have shaped our gay history. But, what is often left out of the history books are the small moments that have also given color and form to our community—stories about how we brought ourselves out of the shadows; and stories about our families which were most often bound, not by blood, but by camaraderie, friendship and love. From Greenwich Village and the Castro, to Fire Island and Provincetown, and a thousand places in between, we have created loving homes, safe havens, and cultural crucibles for LGBT people and their friends.

It is so easy to let these memories, about LGBT life that have made being open possible, fade away. They only re-emerge when we reminisce about the past with friends, but they are never written down and will never be known by younger generations of LGBT people.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: We are looking for your memories, ranging from small moments to longer narratives, as well as old photos that might be of interest to others. Whenever possible, please add the full names of the people you are talking about, unless you think it is a story that they wouldn’t want shared. It that case, a first name is fine. Ultimately we hope that our stories might connect old friends, be great reading, and invite comments and discussion.

It is our hope that, through Capturing Rainbows, we can collect and share—in pictures and words—the LGBT experience over the past few decades—before these memories slip away—to create a tapestry of stories that will become an indelible chapter in all history books. And perhaps along the way, we can reconnect with old acquaintances, and make a few new friends.

Mike Balaban and Tom Walker