Members of the Abington community pack council chambers to oppose or support passage of a local non-discrimination ordinance, photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Times Chronicle.
One copy of The Long Road exhibit makes its first stop at the Bucks County Visitors Center in Bensalem, PA.
One configuration of The Long Road exhibit.
Closer look at three of the panels.
One of four video players that are part of the exhibit.
Commissioner Lori Schreiber speaks in favor of passage of a non-discrimination ordinance for Abington Township, Montgomery County, during a meeting of the township's board of commissioners. Video courtesy of Michael Barbiero.
Supporters and activists gather for an ordinance party celebrating the passage of twenty local non-discrimination ordinances in Montgomery County, photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Montgomery County LGBT Business Council.
The Long Road to LGBTQ+ Equality in Pennsylvania is a traveling history exhibit that chronicles the efforts that activists have undertaken in Pennsylvania to achieve full equality for LGBTQ+ people. With the lack of success in passing statewide legislative protections from discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and education, activists have been working for more than five decades to obtain these protections one battle at a time, one municipality at a time. The exhibit uses case studies of several cities and townships to highlight not just the political struggles, but the personal stories as well. This exhibit debut in mid-February 2019, in the 50th anniversary year of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal event in the LGBTQ+ movement toward equality.
This exhibit tells these stories through historical narrative, photographs and video of oral history first person accounts of activists involved in the struggles to achieve protection from discrimination. Along the way, they faced some of the very discrimination they were seeking to protect their community from, including harassment, physical assault, arson, and bombings.
Three copies of this exhibit traveled throughout Pennsylvania beginning in February 2019 (one copy will travel beginning February 2020). If your organization would like to host and provide a suitable venue to display the exhibit, send a request by email to history@centralpalgbtcenter.org. A digital copy of this exhibit is also available on line here.
If you are hosting The Long Road exhibit, below are links to the instructions for your reference:
For the most up-to-date list of municipalities in Pennsylvania who have passed ordinances offering protection from discrimination for LGBTQ+ people, visit the Pennsylvania Youth Congress web site.
Sponsors
This exhibit is sponsored by the PA LGBT History Network, whose mission is to engage people in discovering Pennsylvania’s LGBTQ+ history, historic sites, history projects, artifacts and archival collections, and to facilitate collaboration between the organizations, institutions and individuals that provide stewardship of this heritage. Become a part of the Network on Facebook, or join our Google Group.
This exhibit is made possible through the generous contributions of the following:
The Schlegel-Deibler Charitable Foundation
The Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund
The Montgomery County LGBT Business Council
And individual contributors
Justin F. Robinette, Esquire / The Discrimination Lawyer
Along with in-kind support from:
John Anderies, John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives of the William Way LGBT Community Center of Philadelphia
LGBT Center of Central PA
Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections
Pennsylvania Youth Congress
William Burton
Chad M. Ruegsegger
Barry Loveland, exhibit curator
We thank them for their generous support!
If you would also like to help support the exhibit moving throughout Pennsylvania, donate here.Thank you.
