Our Mission Statement

The Association for Historical Accuracy was established as an information gatherer, and disseminator, to uncover and correct the historical records and misperceptions pertaining to gay/lesbian/homosexual individuals whether they be anonymous or known. Its main focus is the lives of gay/lesbian/homosexual individuals of the past.

Unlike other minority discrimination, such as those based on religious or racial components, discrimination based on sexual orientation was rarely, if ever, reported on by those who were the victims of that discrimination. Unlike other categories of discrimination, those who were discriminated against for their sexual orientation could not go to their families, communities, or institutions of worship, for safe harbor. While other discriminated classes suffered terribly by what society inflicted upon them, they did not suffer that discrimination from their own families, communities, law enforcement, or places of worship. Unfortunately for those who were discriminated against for their sexual orientation their first experience of discrimination came from their own families and places of worship. Later it would come from law enforcement. Though other discriminated classes suffered greatly in our society, only gay/lesbian/homosexuals were seen as having made a choice - a choice that was designated criminal. These individuals were in fact charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison, for their minority status. It is those unique circumstances regarding this particular kind of discrimination towards gay/lesbian/homosexual citizens that created a complete void of accurate historical reporting about their lives. Self-reporting, contemporaneously, about their lives opened them up to the very real risk of prison, loss of family love and support, and loss of jobs and careers.

It is our mission to reach back into history and find the first hand accounts of the lives of these individuals and preserve, and share when appropriate, their stories of their lives. It is our mission to replace third party reporting and opinions with first hand information and facts.

In the US, up until 2003, it was illegal to be gay/lesbian/homosexual in the privacy of your own home in 14 US states, Puerto Rico, and the US military. Up until 2020 is was 100% legal to fire someone from their job for the sole reason of them being gay/lesbian/homosexual. Those are the conditions that made self-reporting by gay/lesbian/homosexual individuals about their own lives dangerous and negatively consequential. It is a common misperception that these individuals lived secret lives because they were ashamed. In fact, they were often quite content in their private lives. Their secrecy was a necessity to protect them from unjust laws, unemployment, loss of family, and a society that perceived them as an abomination in God's eyes. They were forced to live secret lives in order to avoid the loss of everything that makes a life worth living: love, financial security, and respect.

The mission of the Association for Historical Accuracy is to reach back into history and find the first-hand accounts of the lives of these individuals and preserve, and share when appropriate, their stories of their lives. It is our mission to replace third party reporting and opinions with first-hand information and facts.