Tag Archives: lgbt community

Gay and lesbian caucus hits record numbers at Democratic convention, stresses action

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Labor leader Randi Weingarten delivers a speech on the importance of reelecting Barack Obama at the first gathering of the LGBT Caucus at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

CHARLOTTE — There was much that the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Caucus celebrated when it convened for its first meeting during the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.  For the first time, all 50 states, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico, sent an official LGBT participant. Over a dozen hailed from Washington state alone.

Together, the delegates, alternates and other sanctioned staff counted 535 strong and made up 8% of the total delegate count. Couple that with the over 30 LGBT members of the national committee and the largest transsexual delegation, and the Democrats have the most gay-friendly political convention in American history.

“We wouldn’t have needed a room this size a few years ago,” quipped speaker Tammy Baldwin to the packed hall. Baldwin, an LGBT Wisconsin state representative, is running to become the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate in 2012.

Baldwin and many other caucus speakers praised the Obama administration for its support and advancement of the gay community: the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and POTUS’ personal affirmation of marriage equality.

LGBT Texas delegates throw their hands in the air during the state-by-state row call at the end of the packed caucus meeting. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

“We have to fight for a perfect union,” said Valerie Jarrett, who’s the President’s Senior Adviser. “I believe under President Obama, we’re more perfect than we were four years ago.”

The statement was met with a standing ovation and a chant of “Four more years!” But for all of the room’s excitement, the speakers did not just dwell on the community’s victories. Instead, they pointedly described how quickly they think that progress would disappear given a Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan victory.

Kathleen Sebelius — the Secretary of Health and Human services who last evening addressed the entire convention an hour before the First Lady — stressed that the changes they applauded hung on executive orders and administrative regulations. They weren’t Congress-given laws, and as such, could be reversed.

If Romney is elected, it’ll be gone in 30 days, Sebelius said gravely. “Those footprints would be gone for another decade.”

The most fiery speech of the caucus came from labor leader Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation and AFL-CIO. Her petite frame and booming voice captured attention.

“Their platform is the most repressive, anti-human being, anti-gay, anti woman, anti-children ticket,” she declared. “Are we going to reelect a president who believes that we should have the right to marry, or have a party that wants to turn back the clock on our families?”

In this room, the answer was obvious. The key to victory was staying visible and campaigning actively until election day — “the more they know us, the more they love us.”

“The people in this room have won the hearts and minds of the American people,” Weingarten said. “Because we said who we love is as important as who we are.”

Sebelius instructed the delegation to network across state lines and fine-tune their message while at the DNC, then return home energized and ready to work for the next 60 days.

“You work as hard as you can, because on November 6th, we need to continue the march to equality and the only way to do that is to reelect President Barack Obama,”  Weingarten concluded.

Washington state delegate Chris Porter attended the LGBT caucus and left motivated to work harder. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

The message hit home with Washington state delegate Chris Porter of the 7th Congressional District.

“[The thought of a Romney victory] makes me extraordinarily nervous,” Porter said, “but it also energizes me to make me want to do more. I have to knock on doors, answer questions, email my candidates and just put myself out there.”

Porter said in 2008 he applied to be a delegate, but hesitated to check the LGBT box on the paperwork. Now he wants to make himself a part of the conversation.

“The more people come out and the more people put themselves out there — inevitably those misconceptions go away and people realize, “Gee, that person is very much like me,” he said.

After this week, Porter plans to resume volunteering with Washington United for Marriage, the Jay Inslee campaign and the President’s reelection efforts with greater vigor.

“It’s important because our state is on the same precipice as our national agenda,” he said. “We’re more than the Evergreen State. We embrace everybody.”

Watch a clip of Randi Weingarten’s speech below.  

Read the original story at Seattle Times

Michelle Obama asks LGBT DNC guests for election help

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — First lady Michelle Obama was an honored guest this afternoon at a Human Rights Campaign and Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund luncheon to honor LGBT elected officials.

Fresh off her captivating prime time convention speech kicking of events on Tuesday evening, Mrs. Obama brought LGBT supporters to their feet as she asked for their help in reelecting her husband.

Michelle Obama. Photo by David Lari.

 

“Our president, my husband, has stood strong for the values of freedom, justice and equality that make this country great,” Obama said, speaking 20 minutes late though with no discernible consternation from those gathered to see her.

When she talked about ensuring that “all Americans are treated fairly, no matter who you are or who you love,” a man called “I love Barack!”

“I do too,” Obama said. “We have something in common.”

Later, she spoke about giving everyone the right to “do what Barack and I did and marry the loves of our lives.”

In asking for help in the campaign Obama turned parental.

“You see my face,” she said. “It’s my serious first lady face.” She added, to the crowd’s laughter: “My mom face. You heard me, Sasha.”

She asked LGBT voters to find five, 10 or more additional friends who can turn out to the polls in November.

The convention, she said, would “set the stage for what is at stake in the election and what should guide us over these next four years.” She asked those gathered if the democracy they envisioned meant turning elections over to “whoever buys the most ads on TV.” The crowd booed back and said, “No!”

Several high-profile LGBT and straight ally leaders were present, including convention chair and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, DNC Treasurer Andy Tobias and U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, Jared Polis and Tammy Baldwin.

Also present were New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Clinton White House advisor Richard Socarides and Diego Sanchez, Frank’s legislative assistant and Capitol Hill’s first out transgender staffer.

 

Democratic National Convention coverage is provided by LGBTQ Nation in partnership with Charlotte-based QNotes.
Read the original story at LGBTQNation

Milk: Barack Obama is a “no-brainer” for the LGBT community

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Nephew of slain gay rights pioneer says DNC host city, state critical for fall election

by Matt Comer  Editor  editor@goqnotes.com

Stuart Milk came to Charlotte’s local LGBT Pride festival last weekend on behalf of the president’s reelection campaign. Photo Credit: Jennifer Hogan/Hogan Imaging.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Barack Obama’s campaign has put a premium on North Carolina, a swing state that turned blue in 2008 for the first time since Jimmy Carter first ran for president in 1976. Placing the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina’s largest city was no accident, but the campaign is doing much more to ensure the state remains in Obama’s column come November.

Convention and campaign officials on the ground have used the national political event to mobilize volunteers for the president’s reelection bid. Members of the public seeking credentials to attend Obama’s renomination speech at Bank of America Stadium on Thursday were required to complete at least three different, three-hour volunteer shifts.

The Obama campaign is also reaching out to key constituents, including LGBT voters. Campaign surrogate Stuart Milk, co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation named in his late uncle’s name, was called to Charlotte last week. The campaign flew him up from Florida to speak at the annual Charlotte’s annual LGBT Pride festival last weekend.

Milk told qnotes that choosing Obama this November is a “no-brainer” for members of the LGBT community. He’s been inspired by Obama and his administration’s work toward equality since first meeting the president three summers ago.

“The first lady said, ‘We have a lot of work to do,’” Milk recalled. “And, the president said, ‘We will get it done.’ Everything we talked about, they’ve gotten it done.”

The Obama Administration, Milk said has been a source of “never-ending and consistent support for the LGBT community.”

The support isn’t just given at home. Internationally, Obama’s pro-equality stances have had an impact.

“That often gets lost,” Milk said. “When they give me speaking points, they never mention or tout what they’ve done globally but I can see the faces of all the young people I’ve met in Budapest or Ankara and in Istanbul and in El Salvador who hear the president supporting them and they feel connected.”

In contrast, Republicans have offered no reason for LGBT voters to cast their support toward the GOP ticket.

“We haven’t even heard anything even remotely inclusive from the other side,” Milk said. “We have too many young people who die everyday becasue they don’t feel included. We have too many who can’t celebrate their relationship and get the full benefits of first-class citizenship because of what this Republican-led Congress has done.”

North Carolina, among other states, will be critical to Obama’s success, said Milk. In fact, Milk believes the Tar Heel State’s electoral votes — 15 in all — will be among several key deciding factors this fall.

“North Carolina is one of the most important states,” Milk asserted. “It is a state that was carried by just a few thousand votes [in 2008]. It is critical that we win in North Carolina in order to keep the White House.”

Read the original story at QNotes

 

‘New Normal’ to be screened in Utah; KSL station praises ‘cordial and respectful dialogue’ with LGBT families

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The New Normal airs on NBC, Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c, starting September 11th.

Utah television station KSL, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,announced last week that it would not be airing new NBC comedy “The New Normal” due to possible rude, crude or explicit content. The comedy revolves around a male gay couple having a baby via a surrogate.

GLAAD responded by asking KSL to sit down with them and LGBT families, which KSL did. The station has not changed its position regarding “The New Normal” but did release this statement jointly with the Utah Pride Center:

In a major step today, representatives of Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV and its parent corporation, Bonneville International, met with LGBT families about the controversial TV show “The New Normal.” Following the meeting KSL representatives stated that, “We care about and value all members of our community, including LGBT people and their families, and are grateful when there can be the type of cordial and respectful dialogue we have had today.”

Brandie Balken, Executive Director of Equality Utah, upon leaving the meeting commented, “It is so important that KSL and its parent company Bonneville International have come out very publicly today and reinforced the value of all families, including LGBT families here in Utah and across the country.”

Valerie Larabee, Executive Director of Utah Pride, stated that, “As to the intent of this meeting, we’re not particularly interested in debating content, but rather in increasing the sensitivity and awareness about LGBT families. We believe after today’s meeting with Bonneville International CEO Jeff Simpson, that point was well received. We also wish to thank Mr. Simpson and his colleagues for the civility and tone of the meeting.”

At this moment where our country is so divided, we believe dialogue and communication are the best way to bridge cultural gaps. We strongly feel that our children have a right to grow up in a community knowing that their families are as important and valuable as any other. We are grateful for the opportunity to introduce our families to KSL management today and appreciate their willingness to talk with us.

Even though our meeting today was not to debate the content of the show, “The New Normal,” we are fully aware there has been a lot of attention on the potential content. We are committed to moving the conversation forward, and building community awareness and respect. Viewers will have an opportunity to make their own decision as to the content.

Additionally, the pilot will be screened in Utah, sponsored by GLAAD,Equality Utah and the Utah Pride Center, followed by a panel discussion. Details on the screening are forthcoming.

Kickstarter Enables LGBT-Themed Projects to ‘Go for Gold’

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The 2012 Olympic Games are in full swing, and a sense of worldly camaraderie has filled the air. Every four years, we enthusiastically support our respective country’s athletes in their quest to bring home the big win in the form of a gold medal. These inspiring male and female athletes make major sacrifices to represent their country in the best light.

Food for thought: Where is the LGBT camaraderie? Every day, non-athletic men and women in ourcommunity work to represent us in the best light with creative projects that are a true representation of same-sex-loving people. How can we cheer on modern LGBT pioneers with eager support in their efforts to bring home the proverbial gold medal in their respective areas of focus? The answer: Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is the premier funding website for creative projects started by everyday people. The funding website has become “the new black” thanks to the thousands of individuals who pledge millions of dollars to projects in a variety of creative fields. Kickstarter has created a new way to successfully fund projects that would otherwise sail into obscurity. This is monumental for our community. We sometimes exhaust all our efforts to bring mainstream awareness to LGBT issues and receive little fanfare. This can all change with a creative idea, supporters of that idea, and the use of Kickstarter.

In the spirit of bringing mainstream awareness to LGBT issues and going for the proverbial gold, my husband and I have started our very own Kickstarter campaign to financially support advertising efforts for our new book, The Best Workout Is “Sex”: A Gay Guide to Your Ideal Marriage. As independent, first-time authors of a book that talks about the importance of marriage equality for all, our Kickstarter will be used to encourage book retailers to carry physical copies of the title in stores around the country. It’s such a daunting task to get a new genre of relationship book noticed by mainstream stores, but there is hope. LGBT-themed Kickstarter campaigns have successfully met their goals by raising enough money to introduce something new to the mainstream before, and it will happen again. Check out a few successful Kickstarter campaigns that we can all be proud of as members of the LGBT community:

    • Drag Dad, by Bjorn Floki, was successfully funded on July 27, 2012. The project raised funds to support a documentary about a 6-year old boy named Jeremiah and his father, Tyra Sanchez, winner of season 2 of Rupaul’s Drag Race on Logo.

 

 

 

 

Kudos to Kickstarter for creating a platform in which everyday people can take their inspired project, present it to the world, and potentially meet fundraising goals to bring an idea to life. Kickstarter is indeed the new form of commerce and patronage, and this platform can be so beneficial to LGBT-themed projects seeking a mainstream audience.

Do you have an idea or project that can be a true representation of the LGBT community? Are you ready to go for the proverbial gold in your creative field? You may want to think about utilizing Kickstarter. Be inspired to create, and never be afraid to ask for the help you need. You never know who will support your vision and make your dream a reality.

Read the original story at Huffington Post

Hate, homophobia are learned attitudes

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I have been an ally for the LGBT community for many years, and in that time, I have spent a great deal of time getting to know this wonderful community of people, and their history.

LGBT people have been present throughout history, in every culture throughout the world. Homosexual orientation has also been proven to exist in hundreds of animal species. This is not just a “choice” exclusive to humans. In fact, it’s not a choice at all. Think about it. Did any of us choose who we love or are attracted to?

When I planned to move down to the Twin Cities, one of my gay friends and his partner took me in for a couple months while I searched for an apartment of my own. In the time that I lived with them, I saw no different a relationship dynamic than any heterosexual couple I’ve ever seen.

I also know several same-sex couples who are married, and some of them do indeed have children. Children who are well cared for, and are more than likely being taught that we are all unique and that’s OK.

As much as people want to grasp the “ideal” family of 60 years ago, the fact of the matter is there are all sorts of primary caretakers of children, single parents, other relatives, friends, etc., and their ability to care for these kids has nothing to do with sexual orientation or gender.

Hate and homophobia are learned attitudes that are constantly projected so unjustly in this world it’s disgusting. Homophobic bullying has resulted in many youth taking their own lives because they feel they live in a world that does not want them in it, or they can no longer put up with how they are treated by people who don’t understand them.

Knowing that, I am so grateful that one of my best friends didn’t succumb to an ordeal he went through in high school. He wasn’t even out yet but a bunch of kids beat him up for being gay. That’s something that’s stayed with him, and believe me, I want nothing more than to be able to take away the pain he’s felt because of it.

Imagine what it would be like to live day after day, hearing nothing but negativity about people like you, and living in constant fear for your safety even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

Sadie Ruge

Woodbury, Minn.

Read the original opinion at Bemidji Pioneer

Sally Ride’s Final Public Act: A Gift To LGBT Community

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“In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends and colleagues around the country.”

That was the final sentence of the announcement on the Sally Ride Science website of the death this past Monday of the first American woman to travel into space. Most newspaper obituaries, including the obituary in Sally’s local newspaper, U-T San Diego, quoted the sentence nearly verbatim, and failed to answer any questions a reader might have about the sentence.

But one journalist was more inquisitive that day. Chris Geidner, who works at BuzzFeed.com, talked to Sally’s company and to Bear Ride, her openly lesbian sister, and confirmed within a couple of hours that there was a breaking news story hiding inside a humble obit: An American hero had just come out of the closet publicly.

Even before Geidner’s reporting, I’d emailed U-T editors to note what may not have been immediately obvious: That Tam is a woman and the obituary didn’t seem to mean business partner. I also asked the U-T editors, “Does it matter?”

A short while later, I realized it does matter. While, on the one hand, public figures coming out is no big deal nowadays – did anyone spill their coffee over Anderson Cooper’s recent revelation? – this may well be the first time that someone who is already in the schoolbooks has come out of the closet.

A sentence or two now will be added to those history books, and that will matter a whole lot to gay and lesbian young people who have to cope with the harsh environment of high school, where any kind of difference, but particularly being gay, still can make one a target for bullying and abuse. (California actually has a law requiring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, history be included in textbooks.)

This was a gift that Sally Ride, said by her family to be a very private person, gave to other LGBT people upon her passing.

“Sally never hid her relationship with Tam,” Bear Ride told The San Francisco Chronicle. “Sally’s very close friends, of course, knew of their love for each other. … Sally had a very fundamental sense of privacy – it was just her nature – because we’re Norwegians.”

Bear told the Chronicle she hopes Ride’s revelation “makes it easier for kids growing up gay that they know that another one of their heroes was like them.”

Fierce debate erupted on gay-activist listservs within moments of the announcement of Ride’s death. Some people scolded Ride for not coming out during her lifetime, arguing that that would have made a bigger difference in the world. Others defended her decision not to take that step into the limelight.

Yes, Ride could have come out if she felt like it. Current-day La Jolla is not at all an unsafe place for same-sex couples. But she had no obligation to do so, and neither does any other public figure.

Not every gay or lesbian person wants to be an activist, and when a public figure comes out, he or she can be thrust into that role by the media, which start asking the individual’s opinion on every gay topic of the day.

Not every gay or lesbian person even considers his or her sexual orientation one of the most important pieces of his or her identity. For some, it’s just another thing, like being left-handed, or Episcopalian.

If anyone deserves a bit of scolding, it’s the news media, which went about its business for around 24 hours before realizing that this obituary was not a run-of-the-mill obituary and that there was a surprise, and breaking news, lurking in the list of survivors.

By the second day, there were stories everywhere about Ride’s coming out.

And I suspect this piece is one of several on Sunday op-ed pages around the country today.

American hero Sally Ride did one more great thing the day she died. She showed America, again, that LGBT people really are everywhere, including even in outer space and already in our history books.

Read the original story at UT San Diego

Michigan LGBT Activists Planning 100 Day Hunger Strike To Highlight State’s Anti-Gay Attitude

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Affirmations, LGBT Community Center, on Nine Mile Rd. in Ferndale.

We may say that we don’t wrap our tonsils around anything made up of less than 12 percent alcohol during the summer Speedo season. But the truth is, after last call, we’re removing our heels and making a mad dash to get in the front of the line at L.A. Buns or Empanada Mama for a full-fledged carbo-loading session. So we can’t even begin to fathom how difficult the hunger strike planned by Michigan’s LGBT activists will be!

To put pressure on state lawmakers ahead of the November election and draw public attention to Michigan’s hostility toward the LGBT community, gay activists from across the state will begin a 100 day hunger strike next week. Details on the gay Gandhis in the land of Mitt Romney follow.

 

All of Michigan’s LGBT community centers will take part in the effort, which begins on Monday, July 30, outside of the Affirmations center in Ferndale (near Detroit).

From a press release:

The Community Centers Network (CCN), consisting of eight lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Michigan community centers, is organizing this demonstration to protest the extreme anti-equality environment in Michigan. Top leadership from every community center will serve a solid 24 hour block of time, living on display in the front windows of Affirmations, Michigan’s largest LGBT community center, on 9 Mile Road, in the heart of downtown Ferndale.  Shifts run from 9:00 am-9:00 am and begin Monday, July 30.

About The AIDS Memorial Quilt

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The AIDS Memorial Quilt

History of the Quilt

In June of 1987, a small group of strangers gathered in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their goal was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This meeting of devoted friends and lovers served as the foundation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Today the Quilt is a powerful visual reminder of the AIDS pandemic. More than 48,000 individual 3-by-6-foot memorial panels — most commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS — have been sewn together by friends, lovers and family members. This is the story of how the Quilt began…

Activist Beginnings

The Quilt was conceived in November of 1985 by long-time San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones. Since the 1978 assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, Jones had helped organize the annual candlelight march honoring these men. While planning the 1985 march, he learned that over 1,000 San Franciscans had been lost to AIDS. He asked each of his fellow marchers to write on placards the names of friends and loved ones who had died of AIDS. At the end of the march, Jones and others stood on ladders taping these placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The wall of names looked like a patchwork quilt.

Inspired by this sight, Jones and friends made plans for a larger memorial. A little over a year later, he created the first panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of his friend Marvin Feldman. In June of 1987, Jones teamed up with Mike Smith and several others to formally organize the NAMES Project Foundation.

Public response to the Quilt was immediate. People in the U.S. cities most affected by AIDS — Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco — sent panels to the San Francisco workshop. Generous donors rapidly supplied sewing machines, equipment and other materials, and many volunteered tirelessly.

The Inaugural Display

On October 11, 1987, the Quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It covered a space larger than a football field and included 1,920 panels. Half a million people visited the Quilt that weekend.

The overwhelming response to the Quilt’s inaugural display led to a four-month, 20-city, national tour for the Quilt in the spring of 1988. The tour raised nearly $500,000 for hundreds of AIDS service organizations. More than 9,000 volunteers across the country helped the seven-person traveling crew move and display the Quilt. Local panels were added in each city, tripling the Quilt’s size to more than 6,000 panels by the end of the tour.

The Quilt Grows

The Quilt returned to Washington, D.C. in October of 1988, when 8,288 panels were displayed on the Ellipse in front of the White House. Celebrities, politicians, families, lovers and friends read aloud the names of the people represented by the Quilt panels. The reading of names is now a tradition followed at nearly every Quilt display.

In 1989 a second tour of North America brought the Quilt to 19 additional cities in the United States and Canada. That tour and other 1989 displays raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for AIDS service organizations. In October of that year, the Quilt was again displayed on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.

By 1992, the AIDS Memorial Quilt included panels from every state and 28 countries. In October 1992, the entire Quilt returned to Washington, D.C. and in January 1993 The NAMES Project was invited to march in President Clinton’s inaugural parade.

The last display of the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt was in October of 1996 when The Quilt covered the entire National Mall in Washington, D.C. The 1,000 newest blocks – those blocks received at or since the October 1996 display – were displayed the weekend of June 26, 2004 on The Ellipse in Washington D.C. in observance of National HIV Testing Day.

The Quilt Today

Today there are NAMES Project chapters across the United States and independent Quilt affiliates around the world. Since 1987, over 14 million people have visited the Quilt at thousands of displays worldwide. Through such displays, the NAMES Project Foundation has raised over $3 million for AIDS service organizations throughout North America.

The Washington, D.C. displays of October 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992 and 1996 are the only ones to have featured the Quilt in its entirety.

The Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and remains the largest community art project in the world. The Quilt has been the subject of countless books, films, scholarly papers, articles, and theatrical, artistic and musical performances, including “Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt” which won the Academy Award as the best feature-length documentary film of 1989.

The Quilt has redefined the tradition of quilt-making in response to contemporary circumstances. A memorial, a tool for education and a work of art, the Quilt is a unique creation, an uncommon and uplifting response to the tragic loss of human life.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive

The mission of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive Project is to preserve the powerful images and stories contained within The Quilt while expanding our AIDS awareness and HIV prevention education efforts.

To date all of the more than 48,000 panels that make up The Quilt have been professionally photographed in both 4″x 5″ transparency and 35mm negative formats, creating a permanent visual record of the most compelling symbol of the AIDS pandemic. Additionally, these images have been digitized and made available on this website, enhancing display activity and HIV prevention education programs.

This process continues today, and will remain ongoing as long as new panels are submitted and new blocks sewn together.

Most panels are accompanied by letters, biographies and photos, all of which speak to the experience of life in the age of AIDS, documenting the effect on those lost and those left behind. These “documentary” materials, when combined with the Quilt panel images, make a rich tapestry of information – a legacy to future generations.

The next goal of The Archive Project is to analyze and catalog each panel of the Quilt for both visual and textual content using descriptors developed with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. This information will be combined with the letters, biographies, and photos submitted by the panel makers into an accessible and globally available database. We hope that soon, The Archive Oral History Project will collect stories and testaments from panel makers on video.

Besides the HIV prevention education benefit of such a database, we can only begin to imagine the many ways such a resource might be used. A student in the rural South exploring her heritage might search for all the panels that contain kente cloth, read about the memorialized persons’ lives, and access video interviews with the panel makers to learn about the significance of the African patterns. An art historian might browse through the Quilt panels to discover when and how late twentieth-century cultural mileposts, such as computers and compact discs, first appeared as visual images in American iconography. A researcher might use the panels and letters to study the grieving process. The possibilities are inexhaustible.

The Archive Project ensures that the Quilt and those it remembers live on. The database and oral histories will chronicle the pandemic in very real, very human terms for generations to come. They will serve as a permanent memorial to those who have died, inspiring future generations with their valuable lessons about our lives, loves, community and society.

For more information about the AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive and how you can help support this effort, please send an e-mail to archive@aidsquilt.org.

“Save America’s Treasures” Grant

In 2005, The NAMES Project Foundation was awarded a prestigious “Save America’s Treasures” Federal Grant. Thanks to this $100,000 matching grant, The NAMES Project has brought on board nationally preeminent textile conservator Judith Eisenberg to work with NAMES Project Archive Project Manager, Teresa Hollingsworth on an ambitious, multiphase, collections conservation plan that will preserve the integrity of The Quilt, continue the Foundation’s mission of collecting, caring for and displaying Quilt section, and building the infrastructure to sustain The Quilt for generations to come.

Public displays are an important part of The Quilt’s mission and for 20 years, The Quilt has been an active participant, partnering with organizations across the country to help educate against HIV/AIDS. As many as 3,000 blocks of Quilt are displayed ever year and that means The Quilt is handled frequently and exposed to dust, sunlight and humidity that are detrimental to its overall condition. The current conservation effort will develop a set of standards and procedures that will help us keep The Quilt on the road while doing all we can to ensure the longevity of this unique American treasure.

Eisenberg is currently the principal conservator in textiles and costume for The Jewish Museum in New York; the conservator of textiles and costume for exhibitions for the Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust; the textile conservator for The Rubin Museum of Art in New York; as well as the principal in Judith Eisenberg Textile Conservation.

Archive Project Manager Hollingsworth is the current manager of the Traditional Arts Program for the Southern Arts Federation (SAF) in Atlanta, Georgia, and as such she coordinates the annual Folklorists in the South meeting, co-manages Southern Visions: The Southern Arts and Culture Traveling Exhibits Program, oversees agency ADA/Accessibility (Americans with Disabilities Act) activities, and coordinates international exchanges for the SAF.

Save America’s Treasures is a national effort to protect America’s threatened cultural treasures including historic structures, collections, works of art, maps and journals that document and illuminate the history and culture of the United States.” Established by Executive Order in February 1998, Save America’s Treasures was originally founded as the centerpiece of the White house National Millennium Commemoration and a public-private partnership that included the White House, the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Read more about the AIDS Memorial Quilt at aidsquilt.org