Rainbow Connections
Follow LGBTQ+ History Around the House
Follow LGBTQ+ history through the Filoli House. As you wander through the rooms, look out for each item below and learn more about their significance.
The Birthplace of Vogue
“Drag Balls” or “House Balls” give drag, queer, and gender-nonconforming performers a platform for self expression and community building.
To be seen without being seen
Often, members of the LGBTQ+ community don self-identifiers so others of the community can recognize them.
Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore
In the 1970s, a member of LGBTQ+ community was often referred to as a “Friend of Dorothy.”
An early depiction of lesbian love
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall is widely regarded as an important early work on lesbianism within society.
A famous author carried these on the day of his arrest
When famous Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was arrested for being gay in 1890s London, he was seen wearing a green carnation and carrying a yellow book.
Bringing women out of drawing rooms and into board rooms
The women’s suffrage movement of the early twentieth century fought for women’s voting rights in the United States.
The favorite flower of the quintessential lesbian love poet
Violets have been associated with lesbian love since the sixth century, thanks to the work of the Greek poet Sappho from the isle of Lesbos.
The birth of the hash brownie
In 1954, Alice B. Toklas, the longtime partner of author Getrude Stein, published a cookbook that included a certain scandalous recipe.