Queer Places:
1205 17th St, Portsmouth, OH 45662
331 W 88th St, New York, NY 10024
University of Minnesota, 231 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 and 1117 University Dr, Duluth, MN 55812
Greyhound Bus Station, 238 E Short St, Lexington, KY 40507
102 Chelan Dr, Lexington, KY 40503
Hillcrest Memorial Park Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, USA

Vernon Litson Ishmael (February 22, 1918 – October 9, 1961) was a tenor soloist and concerts-lectures representative of several Midwestern universities. In August of 1961, the men’s room at Lexington’s Greyhound Bus Station became the site of another “police crackdown on perverts,” where ten men were arrested for soliciting an undercover policeman. One of those men—Vernon Ishmael, a music teacher at Shackleton’s Music Store on Main Street—committed suicide the day after his arrest. Ishmael’s brother, an artist named Woodrow "Woodi" Ishmael who lived in New York, sued the Lexington Police over his brother’s entrapment and suicide. It remains unclear how or if the lawsuit was resolved.

Vernon Litson Ishmael was born on 22 February 1918, in Portsmouth, Wayne Township, Scioto, Ohio, the son of Bruce Litson Ishmael,and Jessie Wadkins. He lived in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, in 1935 and Manhattan, New York City, New York, in 1940. He registered for military service in 1941. He later studied at the Metropolitan School of Music in Chicago.

He served on the staff of the Department of Concerts and Lectures at the University of Minnesota, was voice and piano instructor at the Shackleton's Music Studios and served as choir director of Hunter Presbyterian Church.

On August 24, 1961, two men were sentenced to jail terms, a third dismissed and a charge against another continued when vice cases in connection with homosexuality at the Lexington’s Greyhound Bus Station were railed in court. Hereford W. Nikirk of Danville was sentenced to 30 days in jail after Detective Sgt. Al Jenkins testified the man made an indecent proposal to him at the entranceway of the men's rest room at the bus station. Hardin Hubble, of 7th and Limestone Street, was sentenced to 10 days in jail. Police said he was seen loitering in the bus station on several occasions, but made no indecent proposals to officers. A charge of loitering against Vernon Ishmael was continued to September 28, 1961 (later moved to October 18, 1961), after police said he was unable to appear because he was a patient at Good Samaritan Hospital. A charge of loitering against Raymond Webb, of 1049 Hudson Drive, was dismissed. Two other cases against Webb had been continued to allow the man to seek medical aid. The dismissal of the charge against Webb was the first failure to obtain a conviction in connection with the clean-up. Detective Tim Scully Sr and Detective Ivan Hanner stopped Webb and arrested him for loitering even though he made no indecent proposals, police said.

Ishmael died on 9 October 1961, in Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky, at the age of 43, and was buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park, Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky.

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