ROCHESTER, N.Y. — In the heart of the University of Rochester campus lies a collection of LGBTQ+ history dating back to the 1970s.

"This classified advertisement in the Campus Times newspaper, that’s the student newspaper, and there’s a small advertisement and it says 'take heart brothers, gay lib is coming!,' " said Melissa Mead, the John M. And Barbara Keil University archivist and Rochester collections librarian.

What You Need To Know

  • The first issue of The Empty Closet was published in January of 1971

  • It provided important information for the University of Rochester and the Rochester LGBTQ+ community

  • Documentation of Rochester’s LGBTQ+ community continued for 49 years, but The Empty Closet has paused because of the pandemic

  • The Out Alliance says The Empty Closet should be back sometime in 2022

This was the first indication of what was to come eight months later for the Gay Liberation Front in Rochester, a publication known as The Empty Closet.

The first issue of The Empty Closet was published in January of 1971.

While the newspaper was published on campus, it provided important information for the university and the Rochester LGBTQ+ community.

“If you didn’t do certain activities, you might not know all of what was happening in Rochester among LGBTQ folks,” Out Alliance Volunteer Bruce Woolley said.

“In the early days of the movement, communication was limited to print,” Out Alliance Historian Evelyn Bailey said. “There were no computers, there were no cellphones. And so if you wanted to know what was happening with the Gay Liberation Front in Rochester, you had to have a newspaper.”

Bailey said the publication documented everything from the AIDS crisis, discrimination, gay rights and marriage equality.

“The Empty Closet documented those movements and captured the passion, the emptiness, the challenge to continue and to keep fighting for justice and equality for all,” Bailey said.

Bailey was a reader of the newspaper and said it made her more aware of the issues, violence, discrimination and the need for people to get involved in the movement.

“The culture, the history and the documentation are critical to the existence of any community,” Bailey said. “Without the documentation, you don’t exist. Without the documentation, you cannot hope to have a seat at the table to make decisions about life for the community wherever you are.”

Documentation of Rochester’s LGBTQ+ community continued for 49 years, but The Empty Closet has paused because of the pandemic.

“The Empty Closet, until June of 2020, was the longest continuously published gay newspaper in New York state,” Bailey said. “And at that time second in the country to The Washington Blade.”

2021 marked the 50th anniversary of The Empty Closet, but its voice for the LGBTQ+ community in Rochester remains silent for now.

“There’s a voice that’s lacking in the community,” Bailey said. “That voice will come back.”

The Out Alliance says The Empty Closet should be back sometime in 2022.