We will always pick pride over shame. We want to make sure no story is left untold. No one should ever feel invisible again.
One of Milwaukee’s first cross-dressers was arrested in 1899. In 1912, a female brothel owner opened up her elegant, 42-room home on East State Street as a gathering spot for gay men. In the 1960s, a lesbian bar called the Wildwood Tavern operated at 13th Street and Walnut Avenue.
That is just some of the city’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender history told at an exhibition called “Raising the Flag: Milwaukee’s History of Pride,” on display this month at Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Create Gallery.
The exhibit, which runs through November 3 at MATC’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus, room 172, showcases the people, businesses and events that have shaped the LGBTQ+ community in Milwaukee and the state.
The items and information in the display were found and curated by the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project, which has been documenting and preserving the heritage of local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people since 1994.
“History can shape our identities, but much of these identities have been buried, erased and ignored,” said Ricardo Wynn, who works for the Milwaukee County Office of Equity and serves on the board for the history project. “That can make people feel alone, angry and ashamed. It is time to reclaim our history.”
On Friday, October 18, 2024, representatives from the college and the project helped reclaim that history, celebrate the exhibit and honor LGBTQ+ History Month.
“We should celebrate both what we have in common and our differences,” MATC President Anthony Cruz, Ed.D., said at the event. “Doing that can only make us stronger. Belonging and mattering are extremely important to us.”
The exhibit features the largest display of digital history about the Wisconsin LGBTQ community ever assembled in one room, said Michael Sitte, Ph.D., dean of the college’s Creative Arts, Design & Media Pathway.
“The Create Gallery is a special place where all are welcome,” Dr. Sitte said at the event. “Our goal is to transform the empty walls into exhibits that will stimulate thought-provoking conversations.”
See more photos from the event
Also at the gallery event, the college’s Pride Alliance, an affinity group that serves the college’s LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and administration and their allies, presented the Pride flag that flew at the college in recognition of Pride Month to the college’s library archives.
The Pride flag was raised on June 10, 2024, for the first time in the college’s history and was deemed a significant piece of MATC history.
“That flag represents the struggle,” said Phillip King, Ed.D., MATC’s executive director of student success. “The struggle is very real when people want to talk about themselves.”
The public flag raising, exhibits and gallery events are making it easier for LGBTQ+ community members to feel a sense of belonging and be open about who they are, Wynn said. They will not fade away like the Wildwood Tavern, which now serves as a bus garage for the Milwaukee County Transit System.
“We will always pick pride over shame,” Wynn said. “We want to make sure no story is left untold. No one should ever feel invisible again.”
The Create Gallery at MATC is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
