AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Congressional Cemetery here in Washington dates back to 1807, making it one of the city's oldest burial grounds. It's also home to perhaps the only community-created LGBTQ+ section in the world, a resting place for a number of trailblazers. Matt Blitz takes us there.
MATT BLITZ: It's a misty Saturday, early summer morning in southeast D.C.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL TOLLING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Church bell.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah.
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BLITZ: We're at Congressional Cemetery, so-called because it used to be the burial ground for congressmen who died while in office. Oblong-shaped stone markers and squat sandstone blocks line the walkway of the old cemetery, which is owned by a local parish. Among the thousands of gravestones, a group of about 20 visitors are quietly contemplating the arc of history.
JEFF ROLLINS: Having a same-sex couple in a stone was a really bold thing to do in the '80s and '90s.
BLITZ: That's docent Jeff Rollins, who's leading us through what some affectionately call Gay Corner, a small section of the 35-acre cemetery that is the eternal resting place for some of the most important figures in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. There's Barbara Gittings - the mother of the modern gay rights movement - Rhodes scholar Alain Locke, and the first publicly out member of the military, Leonard Matlovich.
ROLLINS: He enlisted to fight in the Vietnam War. He served three tours of duty. He got the Bronze Medal and the Purple Heart, and he was a very exemplary soldier.
BLITZ: In 1975, Matlovich came out dramatically on Time magazine's cover with the headline "I'm A Homosexual." He was honorably discharged from the Air Force, and it's because of Matlovich that this section came to be. The Vietnam War veteran chose Congressional Cemetery due to the proximity to his home and as a symbolic alternative to Arlington National Cemetery. He purposely selected a spot near FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who was notorious for targeting those he suspected to be gay. And in the five decades since, dozens of individuals have chosen to be buried right near Matlovich. Many of the gravestones are dotted with symbols of LGBTQ+ pride, from rainbow flags to upside-down pink triangles. A.J. Orlikoff is Congressional Cemetery's executive director.
A J ORLIKOFF: You can quite literally chart the evolution of what being gay meant in America through the gravestones that are here.
BLITZ: But for some, walking among the stones is more than just a stroll through the past. It's a window into today. D.C. residents Allison and Caleb Hoke are celebrating their five-year wedding anniversary. Allison says they came on this tour as a way to celebrate their love but also to gain some perspective.
ALLISON HOKE: I think that's kind of what's really striking me is just how much we have changed and grown as a community in such a short amount of time and how much we have continued to fight and how it's still happening.
BLITZ: In recent months, the Trump administration has issued a series of executive orders targeting this community, particularly those who identify as transgender and nonbinary. It has put many on edge. Jeff Rollins has led this tour for eight years, but this is the first time he's done it since the federal government issued these recent orders.
ROLLINS: We're seeing some of the similar language and attacks that were used on the LGBT community back then that we haven't seen in a while.
BLITZ: Allison Hoke keeps reflecting on the choice Leonard Matlovich and others made to be buried here, in the nation's capital, among their community and with pride.
HOKE: It's a way to kind of reach across time to people in the future and say, like, there are people here who existed. They were like you. And I just feel like that's really beautiful.
BLITZ: Allison hopes 50 years in the future, people will be able to stand in this spot, in this cemetery, and breathe a sigh of relief because they don't have to fight anymore for their rights.
For NPR News, I'm Matt Blitz.
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