These traveling exhibits are co-sponsored with 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.
Each exhibit consists of six lightweight aluminum free-standing frames, over which are stretched six fabric sleeves printed on both sides with the exhibit narrative text, graphics and photographs. The frames are all approximately 7.5 feet high and vary in width by exhibit from 2 feet to approximately 3.5 feet. Two of the exhibits also include small battery-powered video screens that are mounted to the frames. Instructions and tools are provided. Assembly and disassembly typically take two people about an hour.
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 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.
If you are hosting this 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.
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
With Open Heart and Open Arms: LGBTQ+ Cuban Refugees and the LGBTQ+ Community’s Response to the Mariel Boatlift
From April through October 1980 approximately 125,000 refugees fled their homes in Cuba and traveled by American ships and boats to Key West in the United States. Among those who left from the Cuban port of Mariel (and thus have become known as Marielitos) were a sizable number of LGBTQ+ Cubans.
These new residents of the United States were assisted in their resettlement by dedicated members of the LGBTQ+ community, including many from Pennsylvania who assisted at the resettlement camp in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, or helped those who settled in Pennsylvania. This exhibit explores the circumstances surrounding the exodus and resettlement, focusing on the personal stories of LGBTQ+ Cuban immigrants who have since made their lives in this country.
The exhibit includes text in both English and Spanish, images of historical photographs and documents, and video clips of interviews with LGBTQ Marielitos, and those who assisted in their resettlement.
If you are hosting this exhibit, below are links to the instructions for your reference:
This exhibit is made possible through the generous contributions of the following:
The Schlegel-Deibler Charitable Foundation
The Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund
The LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania
The William Way LGBT Center of Philadelphia
Out on Campus: A History of LGBTQ+ Activism at Pennsylvania Colleges and Universities
This exhibit presents the stories of the formation of some of the earliest LGBTQ+ student organizations and activism at colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, as well as experiences and personal stories of being openly LGBTQ+ on campus.
Out on Campus: A History of LGBTQ+ Activism at Pennsylvania Colleges and Universities includes stories of eleven colleges and universities in Pennsylvania. Visitors will learn about the largest documented LGBTQ+ civil rights student demonstration on a college or university campus in the nation before Stonewall; the first known openly transgender student government president in the nation; the university students who had to sue in order to get recognition for their student organization; and many more fascinating stories of LGBTQ+ campus activism right here in Pennsylvania.
If you are hosting this exhibit, below are links to the instructions for your reference:
