See 200 years of Kentucky’s LGBTQ+ history on display this summer

Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.

The history of the LGBTQ+ community in Kentucky goes back further than most people think.

In fact, Josh Porter, assistant executive director at the Faulkner Morgan Archive, said there are records of LGBTQ+ relationships going back to before Kentucky was even a state.

“We have references to the 1700s in one of our panels,” Porter said. “The earliest story we have is of two men from Western Kentucky, Robert Craddock and Peter Tardiveau, who fought in the Revolutionary War and then were buried right beside each other.”

That story is one of several highlighted in “Queer, Here, & Everywhere: The Roots of Kentucky’s LGBTQ History,” an exhibit from the Faulkner Morgan Archive that will be on display starting May 24.

The two men served together in the Virginia Continental Army in 1775 and remained close friends until their deaths in the 1830s, Porter said. After the war, the two men retired to Craddock’s estate, The Hermitage, in Bowling Green, where they lived together for more than 35 years as companions.

Upon their deaths the two men were buried next to each other with a headstone engraved with the words “Comrades in Arms.” In 1922, a monument to honor the couple was erected in Fairview Cemetery.

Part of 250Lex, the city’s year-long celebration of the founding of Lexington in 1775, the exhibit showcases the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Lexington and Kentucky. May is Diversity Month for 250Lex, and the exhibit is one of many displays and events that will celebrate the wide diversity of Lexington’s population.

“This exhibit is about 250 years of LGBTQ history in Kentucky,” Porter said.

The exhibit’s organizers, Faulkner Morgan Archive, hope that it will help bring a bit more understanding of the LGBTQ+ community’s importance to Lexington’s culture. The archive was started in 2014 as a way to preserve the state’s LGBTQ+ history.

Named after Kentucky artists Henry Faulkner and Robert Morgan, the archive encompasses more than 15,000 items and 250 hours of oral histories covering more than two centuries of LGBTQ+ life in Kentucky.

“From Sweet Evening Breeze’s drag performances in the 1920s to the passage of the Fairness Ordinance in 1999, this exhibit celebrates the resilience and contributions of the queer community,” organizers said. “By shedding light on these often overlooked narratives, we hope to foster a greater sense of belonging for LGBTQ individuals in Lexington while also promoting understanding and appreciation among the broader population.”

Porter said the exhibit is especially necessary now, as the LBGTQ+ community and diversity are facing increasing backlash. Because Faulkner Morgan Archives receives no government funding, it is able to focus on illuminating the LGBTQ+ community without fear of backlash.

“We are particularly lucky and rare in how we function… we are completely independent of state or federal funding and we are not associated with any large institution, like a university,” he said.

“We have the privilege to be very visible in this moment when other people are kind of forced to follow new rules, and shy away from diversity terms,” Porter said. “Our mission has always been to share Kentucky’s LGBTQ history, not just to preserve it and save it. So, for us, the important part is making queer Kentuckians and queer Kentucky very visible and reminding people that Kentucky has been queer since the 1700s.”

The exhibit will open on the third floor of the Central Library branch of the Lexington Public Library on May 24, and will run through June 26. After that, the exhibit will go on display during the Lexington Pride Festival on June 28 on Oliver Lewis Way.

Porter said there will be an opening reception for the exhibit from 5 to 8 p.m. on May 30 at the library. The reception and the exhibit are free and open to the public, Porter said.

“We are excited for the fact that anyone will be able to see this exhibit even if they hate it,” he said. “Anyone that walks into the library and walks up to the 3rd floor in the month of June will see that exhibit. I’m very excited to see what the response is like. We’ve had very strong support from the Lexington community.”

Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the Faulkner Morgan Archive.

This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 4:00 AM.