Bryan Knicely, Stonewall National Museum & Archives, Fort Lauderdale, USA: The ABCs of LGBTQ: Educating This and Future Generations on LGBTQ-history The Development of an Education Services Center

"LGBTQ youth are underrepresented in the positive social and family supports that we, as a society, expect and are overrepresented in social pathologies such as alcohol and drug addiction, homelessness, suicide, school failure and isolation."

The Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Florida is one of the largest independent LGBTQ-libraries in the United States. In their paper, the Stonewall National Museum and Archives describe the problems LGBTQ-youth face. They often suffer from social isolation and lack role models they can orientate themselves on. To change the often marginalized position of LGBTQ-youth the Stonewall National Museums and Archives, therefore, plans to start Education Services Center that will empower and support young LGBTQ-people.

What is your opinion about the plans of the Stonewall National Museums and Archives? What do you think would make this project successful? And what are your experiences with LGBTQ-education in your country?

Click 'read more' to read all of Stonewall's paper. Share, comment, discuss and enjoy!

Jamey Fitzpatrick, Mazer Lesbian Archives, West Hollywood, USA: Making it Personal

"Your eyes are everlasting, the green spark


of the blue-eyed grass of early summer,


the green-blue wild cress washed by the spring.


At twenty, yes: we thought we’d live forever.


At forty-five, I want to know even our limits.


I touch you knowing we weren’t born tomorrow,


and somehow, each of us will help the other live,


and somewhere, each of us must help the other die."

Adrienne Rich

In her paper, Jamey Fitzpatrick reminds us why the personal matters. She starts with the excerpt of a poem by Adrienne Rich and reveals how such women have influenced her own personal history. How, when in 2000 she walked into the Mazer Lesbian Archives in West Hollywood she felt empowered by the rich history of other lesbians and feminists. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Mazer Archives, she now calls for remembering and sharing with each of the women and men that helped us to become the people we are today.

What do you think of Jamey's argument that "our foothold to advance basic human rights relies on the personal"? Who were the people that inspired you? And which voices do you want to be heard louder in archives and libraries?

Click "read more" to read Jamey Fitzpatrick's whole paper. Read, comment, share and enjoy.