About Queer Wisconsin
Our mission
An archive of the people, places, bars, businesses, organizations, and events that shaped LGBTQ+ history across Wisconsin.
A searchable, structured archive of people, places, bars, organizations, events, and media — built to preserve facts, memories, and the love woven through Wisconsin queer history. We document bars, businesses, people, organizations, events, and places across the state with neutral, factual writing and clear citations to source material.
This project exists so Wisconsin queer history is not only remembered in scattered PDFs, private albums, and fading newspaper pages — but also searchable, linkable, and open to careful community contribution. We are not a newsroom and not a replacement for living organizations; we are a structured archive of what can be documented with care.
Who runs Queer Wisconsin
Queer Wisconsin is an independent archive project designed and maintained by Billie Hawkins / Soniq Designs. Custom built for the Queer Wisconsin history project. Day-to-day publishing is moderated through the site’s admin tools: contributions are reviewed before they go live, and privacy or takedown requests are handled by hand.
Contact for archive questions and permissions: admin@queerwisconsin.org.
Editorial standards
- Rewrite, don’t paste. Source research is adapted into field data and original summary prose. We do not mirror other sites page-for-page.
- Cite clearly. Entries list sources with titles, URLs when available, and retrieval dates. See What we cite and why.
- Say when we don’t know. Thin evidence stays thin in the text — “little else is known” is better than invented certainty.
- Respect living people. Sensitivity flags can suppress addresses, media, or contact fields; legal hold can hide an entry while staff review a concern. Details: privacy policy.
- Human review. Public contributions and research suggestions are moderated before publish.
Practical reading tips live in our guides & primers, including city overviews and how to use this archive.
Our partner in Wisconsin LGBTQ history
Independent. Inspired. Relentless.
The Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project is an active, volunteer-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Don Schwamb in 1994. The Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project documents, preserves, elevates and celebrates Wisconsin's hidden histories — reconnecting the state with its lost heritage to inspire a more inclusive future.
Where to go for what: WLHP is the place for News, articles, walking tours, exhibits, podcasts, ongoing research, and community events that keep Wisconsin's LGBTQ story moving forward.. Queer Wisconsin is a separate, independent archive — searchable records, citations, and community contributions built to preserve Wisconsin queer history.
WLHP is an active, volunteer-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Visit their site for the latest news, blog posts, tours, and ways to support their work.
We are grateful for WLHP's decades of research and wholeheartedly support their work. For current news, events, and ways to contribute to their nonprofit, please visit wislgbthistory.com.
- wislgbthistory.com — news, blog, tours, and current events
- About the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project — mission, team, and ways to support
- archive.wislgbthistory.com — original research pages cited throughout this archive
Queer Wisconsin is an independent archive project, built with deep respect and gratitude for the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project. Much of our foundational research draws on decades of their volunteer work, shared under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. We cheer on WLHP's mission and wish them every continued success.
How to contribute
Know a correction, a memory, a photo, or a missing entry? Sign in to contribute. Submissions are reviewed before anything is published.
You can also suggest edits from any entry page. We welcome names, dates, addresses, and scanned ephemera with permission to share. Full walkthrough: How to contribute.
Credits
Website design and software: Billie Hawkins, Soniq Designs . Custom built for the Queer Wisconsin history project.
Historical facts and images adapted from the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project (Don Schwamb), licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Many entry sources link to the WLHP research archive at archive.wislgbthistory.com.
Archive prose on this site is rewritten into neutral field data; we do not republish source text verbatim.
Contact
Questions about the archive or permissions: admin@queerwisconsin.org