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Montgomery County was the site of several conferences and festivals serving the LGBTQ+ community since the 1960s. With its proximity to Washington, D.C. and abundant open space, Montgomery County offers regional and national groups ideal sites to host larger events outside of the big city. Local groups have also hosted their own events in the county, such as the annual Montgomery Pride.
Montgomery County was the site of several conferences and festivals serving the LGBTQ+ community since the 1960s. With its proximity to Washington, D.C. and abundant open space, Montgomery County offers regional and national groups ideal sites to host larger events outside of the big city. Local groups have also hosted their own events in the county, such as the annual Montgomery Pride.
Aerial view of Sandy Spring Friends School today
1968 Women's Liberation Conference
1968 Women's Liberation Conference
The Sandy Spring Friends School, a college preparatory Quaker school in Montgomery County, was the site of a small Women's Liberation Conference in August 1968. While only about twenty people attended the event, it brought together members of the women's movement, including early Lesbian activists, from across the United States. The Sandy Spring Women's Liberation Conference was also the precursor to later feminist gatherings, as conference organizer Marilyn Webb recalled in a 2021 interview:
"With the help of a few other women in what was then called D.C. Women’s Liberation I contacted women from these various groups and managed to set up what was the first national radical feminist conference. It was held in Sandy Springs, Maryland. It was a small but important group, including women leaders from groups in Boston, Chicago, Gainesville, Baltimore, and Washington. Out of that first meeting we decided to organize a far larger conference, held the following Thanksgiving weekend at a YMCA camp in a town outside of Chicago called Lake Villa."
"With the help of a few other women in what was then called D.C. Women’s Liberation I contacted women from these various groups and managed to set up what was the first national radical feminist conference. It was held in Sandy Springs, Maryland. It was a small but important group, including women leaders from groups in Boston, Chicago, Gainesville, Baltimore, and Washington. Out of that first meeting we decided to organize a far larger conference, held the following Thanksgiving weekend at a YMCA camp in a town outside of Chicago called Lake Villa."
Womansphere
Womansphere
Womansphere was a women's art and music festival held at Glen Echo Park in Montgomery County. The first Womansphere was held on October 18-20, 1974 and featured workshops and performances by women artists. The festival was sponsored by the National Park Service and the Girl Scouts of the Rockwood National Center. A second Womansphere was held the following year on August 15-17. Womansphere appealed to the local and regional lesbian community, and was advertised in Lavender Woman, a lesbian newsletter.
Ad for the 1974 Womansphere Festival (The Washington Post, 10/13/1974)
Program from the 1984 Sisterfire festival (Rainbow History Digital Collections)
Sisterfire
Sisterfire
Sisterfire was an annual festival featuring music, crafts, and workshops led by women. Organized by the DC-based production company Roadwork, the first Sisterfire took place at Takoma Park Junior High School on June 26, 1982. The festival soon expanded to a two-day celebration of women's culture, and had become so popular that in 1987 it moved out of Montgomery County to the Upper Marlboro Equestrian Park. Held until 1989, the festival was a mainstay for many of the area's LGBTQ+ women, offering them the opportunity to perform as well as enjoy the activities in a safe and uplifting environment.
Montgomery Pride
Montgomery Pride
Montgomery County's first Pride celebration was held June 26, 1993 at Parklawn Park in Rockville and attended by more than 200 people: "a capacity crowd" for the venue. Organized by the Montgomery County Gay and Lesbian Interests Consortium (GLIC), Montgomery's Pride event was considered as a more low-key and family-friendly event compared to the lively parades that were held in Washington DC and Baltimore. After taking place in several different venues for its first few years, Montgomery Pride was moved to Lake Needwood Park in 1996, and to the campus of Montgomery College in 1999. Read coverage from the Washington Blade about the June 1999 Montgomery Pride celebration below.
Above: ad for the 1995 iteration of Montgomery Pride (The Washington Blade, 4/21/95)
Top left: article from July 2, 1993 reporting on the success of Montgomery County's first Pride event. (Washington Blade)
These are probably just a few of the LGBTQ+ events in Montgomery County's history. Beyond advertisements and brief mentions in local newspapers, we currently lack detailed information about their stories and meaning for the community.
Do you have memories or photos of these festivals or others in Montgomery County? We want to hear from you!
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