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New Museum Exhibit On LGBTQ Perspectives On Equality
By FRANK STASIO & HADY MAWAJDEH - Aug 12, 2014
The Levine Museum of the New South recently unveiled a historic exhibit that spotlights the LGBTQ community of Charlotte. The exhibit features a timeline of the city’s gay community and tells the stories of average citizens that made history happen.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Janeen Bryant, VP of Education and Programs for the Levine Museum; Joshua Burford, Archivist and Assistant Director for Sexual & Gender Diversity at UNCC; and Bob Barret Ph.D.; Professor Emeritus at UNCC and Psychologist in Private Practice. More photos of "LGBTQ Perspectives on Equality" can be seen at Qnotes.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Janeen Bryant, VP of Education and Programs for the Levine Museum; Joshua Burford, Archivist and Assistant Director for Sexual & Gender Diversity at UNCC; and Bob Barret Ph.D.; Professor Emeritus at UNCC and Psychologist in Private Practice. More photos of "LGBTQ Perspectives on Equality" can be seen at Qnotes.
Museum makes history with ‘LGBTQ’
By Mark Price - August 9, 2014
The Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte recently unveiled a history exhibit that is in itself historic for the state and part of a larger national trend. Among the curators of the Levine exhibit is Joshua Burford, an assistant director for Sexual & Gender Diversity at UNC-Charlotte who is himself making history by creating the city’s first LGBT archive. It is housed at the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC-Charlotte. Called “LGBTQ Perspectives on Equality,” the show is a combination of exhibits that tell the history of Charlotte’s gay and transgender community, including the largely forgotten stories of average people who made that history happen.
The show then puts their stories in the context of the national gay civil rights movement.
It marks the first time a Charlotte-area museum has broached lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and it could well be the first exhibit of its kind in North Carolina, which has a thorny history on gay rights.
North Carolina faces legal challenges to its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and the state does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Still, at least 18,000 same-sex couples call the state home, including about 1,800 in Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham County, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
The show then puts their stories in the context of the national gay civil rights movement.
It marks the first time a Charlotte-area museum has broached lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and it could well be the first exhibit of its kind in North Carolina, which has a thorny history on gay rights.
North Carolina faces legal challenges to its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and the state does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Still, at least 18,000 same-sex couples call the state home, including about 1,800 in Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham County, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
The LBGTQ Community Discovers Its Own History
By Jessica Milicevic - Aug 5, 2014
What if you were part of a community whose history was lost, pushed aside or hidden? If you don’t know where you came from, it can be hard to tell where you’re going. If you’re a member of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender or Questioning community, this is often the case. Even for museum curator Joshua Burford, who spent eight months gathering LBGTQ historical artifacts, finding evidence that his community existed in Charlotte was difficult.
“I think that we’ve been a functional, and active and participatory community, yes, since the 1940’s,”
he said. “But celebrating our history, no. I think people really understand just how much history there is in Charlotte. So the idea that Southern LBGTQ communities are lagging behind makes people believe that the history doesn’t exist.”
“I think that we’ve been a functional, and active and participatory community, yes, since the 1940’s,”
he said. “But celebrating our history, no. I think people really understand just how much history there is in Charlotte. So the idea that Southern LBGTQ communities are lagging behind makes people believe that the history doesn’t exist.”
Virginia same-sex marriage ruling reverberates in North Carolina
By Mary C. Curtis July 30
When a federal appeals court based in Richmond struck down Virginia’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage on Monday, the effect immediately moved southward.
In North Carolina, also covered by the 4th Circuit, a similar ban — bolstered by a Constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2012 – is also facing challenges in court. As advocates on both sides reacted and politiciansinvolved in tight midterm races took a stand after this latest ruling, the scene unfolded against the backdrop of a museum exhibit that chronicles LGBT history through a Southern lens.
In announcing that his office will cease its “vigorous” defense of the state law, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said, “It’s time to stop making arguments we will lose and instead move forward.” Cooper, a Democrat, had said he could defend the law as groups and same-sex couples fought it, but had previously made his own feelings clear in his personal support of marriage equality and in an appearance at an Equality NC Foundation gala. Cooper is expected to oppose Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2016.
“It is outrageous that federal judges put themselves in the place of God by seeking to redefine the very institution that He created,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, said in a statement after the court ruling was announced. “Anyone who says that this decision in Virginia somehow strikes down North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment is wrong. North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment still stands, and no judge has found it unconstitutional.”
In North Carolina, also covered by the 4th Circuit, a similar ban — bolstered by a Constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2012 – is also facing challenges in court. As advocates on both sides reacted and politiciansinvolved in tight midterm races took a stand after this latest ruling, the scene unfolded against the backdrop of a museum exhibit that chronicles LGBT history through a Southern lens.
In announcing that his office will cease its “vigorous” defense of the state law, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said, “It’s time to stop making arguments we will lose and instead move forward.” Cooper, a Democrat, had said he could defend the law as groups and same-sex couples fought it, but had previously made his own feelings clear in his personal support of marriage equality and in an appearance at an Equality NC Foundation gala. Cooper is expected to oppose Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2016.
“It is outrageous that federal judges put themselves in the place of God by seeking to redefine the very institution that He created,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, said in a statement after the court ruling was announced. “Anyone who says that this decision in Virginia somehow strikes down North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment is wrong. North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment still stands, and no judge has found it unconstitutional.”
Exhibit highlights LGBT Charlotte’s ‘defying expectations’
By Matt Comer - July 18, 2014
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the first time in the city’s history, a local museum will showcase an exhibit exploring national, regional and local LGBT history. The exhibit, “LGBTQ Perspectives on Equality,” opens on July 25 and runs through January at the Levine Museum of the New South and is a collaboration with several organizations and initiatives.
“We get to work in a way that we’re known for — collaboration,” Kate Baillon, Levine vice president of exhibits, explains. “We get to work with a lot of members in the community to pull together this story and look at it through different lenses.”
The exhibit, comprised of four smaller exhibits, tackles national LGBT history in the “Out of the Shadows: Gay America from Kinsey to Stonewall” exhibit. Regionally, an exhibit on southern activist Pauli Murray will explore her work as a civil rights lawyer, poet, author and first African-American female Episcopal priest. An artistic exhibit, “Minding the Ts and Qs: Gender Identity,” will allow visitors to explore gender and themselves.
“We get to work in a way that we’re known for — collaboration,” Kate Baillon, Levine vice president of exhibits, explains. “We get to work with a lot of members in the community to pull together this story and look at it through different lenses.”
The exhibit, comprised of four smaller exhibits, tackles national LGBT history in the “Out of the Shadows: Gay America from Kinsey to Stonewall” exhibit. Regionally, an exhibit on southern activist Pauli Murray will explore her work as a civil rights lawyer, poet, author and first African-American female Episcopal priest. An artistic exhibit, “Minding the Ts and Qs: Gender Identity,” will allow visitors to explore gender and themselves.
