We want to know more about LGBTQ history in Columbus. We need your help.

In a warehouse in downtown Columbus sits old yellow envelopes inside alphabetized drawers. They are filled with news stories written by Columbus’ daily newspapers over the years.

It’s there where I found two folders labeled “homosexuals.” It follows the city’s LGBT+ history during a brief period from the late 1980s and early 1990s — and it shows a lack of coverage of the community.

We want to know more about Columbus’ LGBT history, and we need your help.

Much of what was found in the archives were news stories written by national outlets about New York or San Francisco or Atlanta.

There are stories, too, that show Columbus’ view on national trends. Fort Benning officials said they’d carry out President Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy about LGBT military service members. Two Columbus physicians were upset by the American Medical Association’s 1993 vote to ban discrimination against gay doctors. Southern Baptist pastors in Columbus said the denomination should not accept “homosexuals” but that the clergy should try to “help” them in 1992.

Local coverage also mentioned Auburn University’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance. In 1994, someone was stealing the group’s Adopt-A-Mile Sign between Dean Road and South College Street in the city of Auburn.

Perhaps the most telling: a series written by the Ledger-Enquirer about George, an AIDS-stricken husband and father of three. George, who identified as bisexual, said he contracted the disease while cheating on his wife with a man. The diagnosis caused his health and, for a time his marriage, to deteriorate.

George told the paper about Columbus’ homosexual and bisexual community, calling it “larger and more active than most residents realize.” Adult bookstores, parks, and other public places were popular meeting spots where gay men would meet to have sex.

But little in our archives mention this community’s history beyond this. Where were the bars? The Velvet Room opened in 2017 but has since closed. The Mad Hatter, while not explicitly a gay bar, featured drag shows for a time. But there’s not much else mentioned.

Where were the safe havens? Maybe I missed some envelopes. Maybe I missed some stories. Maybe some of those stories are lost to time.

But we want to hear what you know or you remember. Share your stories with us. Email Nick Wooten at nwooten@ledger-enquirer.com to share your stories. Please include your name, age, where you lived then, where you live now (if it’s different) and tell us about your experience with the community. If you’ve got pictures, share them with us.

Ledger-Enquirer archives were used in this report.