Getting Queer History Out of the Closet: A Community Success Story

The LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana is a statewide collective that works to preserve Louisiana’s rich queer history. This presentation will discuss the origins of the organization in 2013 and trace its growth over the last thirteen years. The need that gave rise to this project was the regrettable fact that much of queer history remains in the closet. Until recently, the study of LGBT+ history was the domain of academe. Queer Theory and Gender Studies began to emerge in university humanities departments in the early 1990s, a time in which primary source (archival) material was scarce. A few repositories and museums began focusing on queer history in the 1980s, but this was at a time when most LGBT+ people did not necessarily want to document their history. For to do so would mean risking arrest, eviction, employment termination, family and social ostracization, and institutionalization. The phenomenal success of the LGBT+ Archives Project has occurred alongside a major paradigm shift in societal attitudes toward queerness.

This presentation will discuss some of the aforementioned successes, including the creation of an oral history initiative, effective annual programming, a digital archive, and the establishment of a queer history exhibit space in the French Quarter. In addition, the presentation will explore the organization’s collaborative relationship with archival repositories, libraries, and museums across Louisiana.