Penny Campbell

This is our first of two stops in East Nashville. Here we are at the home of Penny Campbell, an LGBTQ activist who left an indelible mark on Tennessee history. More on that in a moment. Penny was born in 1953 to Brenda and Rev. Will Campbell, a civil rights activist and preacher. While at Vanderbilt Divinity School in the 1980s, when discrimination and hostility kept many in the LGBTQ community in the closet, Penny was out and outspoken. She rallied fellow students to join the fight against the racism, sexism, and homophobia at Vanderbilt. In 1987, she helped organize Tennessee's delegation to the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which was held at the height of the AIDS crisis. At the time, there was no effective medical treatment and members of the LGBTQ community experienced widespread discrimination and condemnation.

In 1988, Campbell organized three important public events in Nashville. In March, she led other students to protest the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic, which was held at Vanderbilt. Activists nationwide were concerned that this new commission did not have a membership that was reflective of the population of people with the disease. In June, she helped organize Nashville's first “Pride Parade.” There had been lesbian and gay pride celebrations in Nashville prior to 1988, but they had been low-profile affairs. Learn more about the 1988 Pride Parade later in the tour at Fannie Mae Dees Park. Then in October, she organized 10 same-sex couples to apply for marriage licenses from the city of Nashville. They also requested the state attorney general issue an opinion affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry under the state constitution. Though these applications and requests were denied, it was an important stand to take.

Campbell’s most lasting legacy came in 1993. She was the lead plaintiff—and only named female plaintiff—in the case Campbell v. Sundquist. In an historic decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned Tennessee's "Homosexual Practices Act” which criminalized sexual behavior by same-sex couples. Similar laws remained in some other states until they were struck down across the nation by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, which referenced Campbell. Penny passed away in 2014, and a historical marker was dedicated here in her honor in 2017.

From McEwen Avenue, turn RIGHT onto North Seventeenth Street then in about half a mile turn RIGHT onto Woodland Street. Lipstick Lounge will be just ahead on your left, at 1400 Woodland Street. There is street parking available on Woodland or you can park behind the building.