LEE — Did you know the first couple in Lee to apply for a same-sex marriage license was married in 2004, just two weeks after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts?

Or that the First Congregational Church of Lee, a historic town institution, pledged to be “open and affirming” to all gender identities and sexualities in 2013?

Those were just some of the stories highlighted during the “Secret LGBTQ+ History of Lee Walking Tour,” held Saturday as part of the town’s Pride celebration.

Lee's second annual Pride Festival was held at Park Square on Saturday.

Joshua Bloom, a member of the Lee Historical Society and a Berkshire Pride volunteer, said he created the tour to highlight an under-discussed aspect of local history as part of the second annual Lee Pride Festival, where dozens of local businesses and organizations gathered in Park Square on Saturday for a Pride market, a drag story hour — led by local drag performers Bella Santarella and Poppy DaBubbly — and live music.

After a year-long deep dive into the town’s history, using sources from newspaper clippings to interviews with local residents, Bloom designed a 90-minute walking tour spanning Lee’s Main Street. With stops at municipal buildings, the public library, local businesses and more, the tour explored the full spectrum of LGBTQ+ experience in Lee, from painful memories of discrimination to uplifting stories of community resilience and joy.

“I think that the way to enliven this history is to show it to people,” Bloom said.

A Pride flag on Lee's Main Street. The town held its second annual Pride Festival on Saturday.

So many people signed up for the initial tour that Bloom added a second, earlier session, which also drew more than a dozen participants.

But it took many years for that level of acceptance to reach the town. Back when the Town Hall building still served as Lee District Court, it was a place where, in the 20th century, men could be criminally prosecuted for having sex with other men.

Some of those anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments lingered. Bloom said Berkshire Pride organizers founded the Lee Pride Festival last year after a spike in anti-LGBTQ+ incidents, including instances of hateful language and several local businesses having their Pride flags removed or damaged.

“Out of these multiple incidents, a positive thing happened,” he said.

Lee's second annual Pride Festival was held at Park Square on Saturday.

In light of the social and legal consequences facing LGBTQ+ people throughout history, Bloom said he focused his research on “queer whispers” — expressions of identity that were coded or kept under wraps to avoid scrutiny.

“I thought this was a story that hasn’t been told,” he said of the tour's focus on LGBTQ+ history.

Other topics included the town's response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, as well as the local activism that built support networks for queer people and their loved ones during the last decades of the 20th century.

The tour also featured a stop at the Lee Public Library to view a Jacob’s Pillow exhibit curated by Bloom, which explores the queer artists, dancers and other figures associated with the famed dance center. The exhibit will be on display until June 29.