{"id":319,"date":"2020-09-15T16:59:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T16:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/?p=319"},"modified":"2020-10-01T18:50:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T18:50:10","slug":"how-lgbt-folks-spent-summer-vacations-in-the-1990s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/2020\/09\/15\/how-lgbt-folks-spent-summer-vacations-in-the-1990s\/","title":{"rendered":"How LGBTQ+ Folks Spent Summer Vacations in the 1990s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mel Frizzell, Special Collections Assistant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"spiritofnorfolkcruise-july1990\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a continuation of my blog posts referencing Our Own Community Press<\/a><\/em>, a Virginia LGBTQ+ community newspaper which ran from 1976 to 1998. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Fall semester starting, I thought about the timeless \u201cWhat I did on my summer vacation\u201d essay that so many of us were asked to write upon returning to school.  With so many summer activities and vacations cancelled this summer due to the current pandemic, I thought I would highlight what LGBT folks did for summer vacations in the 1990s.  While many LGBT folks did the same things as everyone else \u2013 such as visiting the beach, going on cruises, or enjoying theme parks \u2013 there are LGBT specific things that are mentioned or advertised in Our Own Community Press so I thought I would highlight some of these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One did not need to travel far to find summer activities such as sports, recreational clubs, conferences and gatherings, festivals, or other events catering to the LGBT community.  Local LGBT sports teams, clubs, and activities included the Lambda Wheelers, an LGBT bicycling group; the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Softball Association; volleyball tournaments at Stockley Gardens and Northside Park in Norfolk; and the Mid-Atlantic Bowling League.  Other recreational activities included canoeing, hiking, rollerblading, women\u2019s golf, and even skydiving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"lambdawheelers-ad-july1990\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Local summer benefits included pool parties sponsored by the Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce (TACT) and the AIDSCARE Sunset Sprint Music Festival held at Ocean View Beach Park in June 1997.  Some LGBT folks attended the biannual Stockley Gardens Art Festival held each May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local cruises on the Elizabeth River were popular.  The Mandamus Society, an LGBT social group, held an annual cruise on the Carrie-B during the 90s.  At least one year, there was an LGBT cruise on the Spirit of Norfolk too.  While \u201cGay Days\u201d at Busch Gardens had not yet become a thing, the first \u201cGay Days\u201d at King\u2019s Dominion was held in July 1997.  \u201cGay Days\u201d at Disney World in Florida began in the summer of 1991. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beach vacations were also quite popular.  Virginia Beach had its very own \u201cGay Beach Resort.\u201d  The Coral Sand Motel located on Pacific Avenue catered to LGBT clientele.  The Outer Banks provided nearby beach getaways for LGBT folks.   Rehoboth Beach in Delaware was also a popular choice.  The Mandamus Society and Dignity, an LGBT Catholic group, both planned trips there in the 1990s.  Our Own contains advertisements for Rehoboth Beach Resorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"coralsandmotel-may1992\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LGBT conferences and gatherings ranged from the serious to the fun.  Many catered to diverse populations within the LGBT community.  Serious conferences included the annual Lesbian and Gay Health Conference and AIDS Forum; the Southeast Lesbian \/ Gay Conference in July 1991; the International Lesbian & Gay Conference in Acapulco in 1991; and a Lesbian Writer\u2019s conference in 1992. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun favorites included many women\u2019s festivals and gatherings such as the Richmond Women\u2019s Festival in 1990; the Roanoke Valley Women\u2019s Festival in 1991, an annual East Coast Lesbian Festival; and WomenFest in Key West, FL in 1997.  Regular women\u2019s festivals were held at Twin Oaks campground in Luisa, Virginia and the INTOUCH women\u2019s campground in Kent\u2019s Store, Virginia.  Music festivals were especially popular among Lesbians.  These festivals included the Northeast Women\u2019s Musical Retreat; the annual Virginia Women\u2019s Music Festival held at INTOUCH; and the annual Rhythm Fest Women\u2019s Music, Art, and Politics Festival held at Lookout Mountain in Georgia.  Some men held camping gatherings too.  These include the annual Gay Spirit Visions Conference in Highlands, NC and a men\u2019s gathering held at Twin Oaks in 1993.  Women\u2019s and men\u2019s gatherings sometimes highlighted LGBT-affirming alternative spiritual beliefs including New Age, Pagan, and Earth-based spirituality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film festivals were also popular among LGBT folks.  Among these were the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival the summer of 1997 and Outfest, an annual gay and lesbian film festival held in Los Angeles.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many conferences highlighted the diversity among LGBT folks \u2013 the Golden Threads Lesbian Celebration for Lesbians over age 50 in 1990; the National Gay Young Adults Conference also in 1990; a 1990 gathering of North and South American Native American LGBT folks; a 1996 conference and AIDS institute for gay men of color; and an annual \u201cWomen Celebrating Our Diversity\u201d Gathering at Twin Oaks Campground.   Gay geeks weren\u2019t left out as the Gaylaxicon science fiction convention, which was founded in 1988, continued throughout the 1990s and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"women-multicultural-gathering-july1991\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other big events of the 1990s included the Gay Games, an Olympic style event for LGBT athletes.  The Gay Games started in 1982 and continues to this day.  In the 1990s, the event was held in 1990, 1994, and 1998.  Many LGBT folks also attended the 1996 International Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA.  The Atlantic States Gay Rodeo is mentioned in Our Own articles for 1996 and 1997.  Many LGBT folks attended the GALA performing arts festival held in Tampa, FL in 1996.  Maya Angelou was a keynote speaker at the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1990s were a great time for LGBT vacation packages.  In the 1990s the travel industry took note of a perceived \u201cdisposable income\u201d within the LGBT community.  The idea is that many LGBT professional couples have extra income that isn\u2019t going toward raising children that they can spend on leisure instead.  While this myth persists even today, and there are many affluent people in the LGBT community, there are also many LGBT folks who aren\u2019t especially wealthy or have dependents \u2013 LGBT parents (notably Lesbian mothers), LGBT folks from low income communities, and LGBT folks who have met with job discrimination.  During the 1990s the LGBT travel industry flourished.  Companies such as Toto Tours and Alyson Adventures offered tours, cruises, and destinations specifically for LGBT travelers.  Sometimes there were separate women\u2019s and men\u2019s vacations, and other times the events were mixed.  Local travel agencies such as Moore Travel (Norfolk), UNIGLOBE ITA Travel (Norfolk), and Four Seasons Travel (Williamsburg) arranged LGBT vacation packages.  Bed and breakfasts and private resorts catering to LGBT folks offered options for those looking for smaller, low-key vacations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"hotgayspots-may1993\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LGBT travel magazines and guides promoted the LGBT travel industry.  Such publications included magazines like Our World<\/em> and Out and About<\/em>; global guides such as Damron\u2019s <\/em>many guides, Ferrari\u2019s Places of Interest: Worldwide Gay & Lesbian Guide<\/em>, and Women Going Places 1993\/94: A Women\u2019s Complete Guide to International Travel<\/em>; and city specific guides like Betty & Pansy\u2019s Severe Queer Review of San Francisco<\/em> and Washington, D.C.: An Alternative Guide For Those Who Don\u2019t Necessarily Travel the Straight and Narrow. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, while most of us are hoping that 2021 will be a better time than 2020 for joining in recreational activities or going on vacations, we can always look back at what folks did for fun in the 1990s.  Perhaps looking through the articles, advertisements, and event listings in Our Own will provide you with nostalgia for the days when we could go out without masks and social distancing.  Better yet, it might give you an idea for something to do when this pandemic is over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archived issues of Our Own Community Press are available digitally at: https:\/\/dc.lib.odu.edu\/digital\/collection\/ourown<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mel Frizzell, Special Collections Assistant This is a continuation of my blog posts referencing Our Own Community Press, a Virginia LGBTQ+ community newspaper which ran from 1976 to 1998.  With the Fall semester starting, I thought about the timeless … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3954,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[24,85,51,87],"tags":[96,60,95,84],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3954"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}